I didn’t count on Last Fantasy XVI to be one of many 12 months’s greatest lightning rods for gaming controversy however right here we’re. The Sq. Enix action-RPG hasn’t even been out a full month, and followers are already dropping it over how nicely the sport could have offered. It’s already crossed 3 million copies shipped worldwide (good!) however offered much less nicely in Japan and has already fallen off a cliff in its second week (dangerous!). Now gamers are parsing PlayStation 5 set up bases and firing again at company analysts to defend the consideration and hype of probably the most beloved gaming franchises ever.
Right here is a few essential context. Last Fantasy XVI is the primary new entry within the sequence in seven years and comes as some longtime followers are determined for a large “W.” After a decade plus of middling sequels that by no means fairly rose to the narrative and cultural affect of the height SNES and PlayStation years, they need one thing of a comeback exterior of remakes (Last Fantasy VII) and MMOs (Last Fantasy XIV). On the identical time, Last Fantasy XVI eschews a few of the extra typical trappings individuals affiliate with the franchise like turn-based battles and convoluted improve techniques. On prime of that, grim fantasy hit Sport of Thrones is among the inspirations, and you’ll really feel that continuously all through the 45-hour sport.
This primordial soup of gamer emotions has made a lot of the discourse across the sport utterly unhinged. Is Last Fantasy XVI good or dangerous? Is it actually a Last Fantasy sport? What even is a Last Fantasy sport? Any criticism—like across the sport world’s erasure of individuals of shade or its underwritten feminine characters—has been handled by a few of the most fanatical devotees, in traditional Last Fantasy villain trend, like an assault on god itself. And now followers are riled up concerning the greatest gamer debate of all of them: how nicely is the sport promoting?
Prepare for some math. Sq. revealed on June 28 that the sport shipped 3 million copies in its first week. That doesn’t totally equate to precise gross sales, nevertheless it was a powerful quantity nonetheless for a third-party PS5 unique. Nonetheless, there have been troubling indicators. The sport debuted at primary within the UK, however bodily gross sales dropped by 78 % the next week. Knowledge out of Japan informed the same story. Famitsu reported 336,027 bodily copies offered within the sport’s first week, and solely 37,763 the second, an 88 % drop.
However the worst information gave the impression to be within the comparisons to earlier Last Fantasy video games in Japan. Although each video games confronted comparable second week drop-offs, Last Fantasy XV offered 716,649 bodily copies to begin in 2016 and Last Fantasy VII Remake offered 702,853 bodily copies in the beginning in 2020. Last Fantasy XV additionally shipped 5 million copies globally its first day, in comparison with 3 million for the most recent sport. This culminated in a Bloomberg Japan report on July 6 calling out the obvious gaps. It even included a damning quote from Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda calling it a “powerful end result,” blaming it partially on pre-release advertising and marketing that made the sport seem to be one thing indifferent from the sequence’ historical past.
Final Fantasy XVI defenders, nonetheless, are fast to level out mitigating factors. The PS4 set up base was over 50 million items on the time of Last Fantasy XV’s launch, whereas the PS5 had offered solely 40 million items as of April. The Japan gross sales knowledge additionally doesn’t observe digital copies, which now make up a majority of most sport gross sales. Within the UK, the launch cut up for Last Fantasy XVI was 56 % digital to 44 % bodily, pointing to many hidden gross sales that simply aren’t captured within the present bodily knowledge. Last Fantasy XV additionally launched on Xbox as nicely, whereas Last Fantasy XVI is PS5 solely (although in hardly any Xboxes offered in Japan, making that roughly irrelevant for the information there).
Even when Last Fantasy XVI’s numbers are robust total, they aren’t fairly blowing anybody away. As an alternative, they’re including gasoline again onto the ever-burning hearth over Last Fantasy’s core identification and continued existence, particularly round attempting to cater to a broader viewers versus doubling down on RPG nerds. “Some say FF16‘s weak gross sales are attributable to components out of Sq. Enix’s management,” tweeted Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki. “No, it wasn’t. It was Sq. Enix that determined to launch the sport on PS5 solely, on June 22, at $69.99. Nobody else’s.”
RPG Web site proprietor Alex Donaldson was extra cautious. “Primarily based on the standard digital share of titles in Japan this era that we /do/ find out about, except FF16 has unusually giant digital numbers, it’ll nonetheless be about 20% behind 15,” he tweeted. “And that’s not the tip of the world, innit—however is attention-grabbing to have a look at to contemplate the long run.”
All the angst across the sport’s gross sales started even earlier than it was launched, with a report that Sq. Enix was fearful about dangerous pre-order numbers and producer Naoki Yoshida touting an “18-month plan” to extend the sport’s gross sales utilizing group engagement and word-of-mouth. The sport ultimately coming to PC, and presumably Xbox Collection X/S, would possible be one other a part of that post-launch progress technique. All of which is why Yoshida reportedly wasn’t that involved about gross sales in the course of the sport’s first week. Even when tremendous followers are. True to kind, they need to see quantity go up—or determine excuses for why it’s not.
We’ll get a greater concept of how the sport’s truly promoting as extra gross sales knowledge is launched within the coming months. Till then, followers can chill and simply get pleasure from the truth that the sport itself, for all its issues, shortcomings, and divisive departures, remains to be fairly wonderful.