Final Fantasy XV may have topped the latest Japanese software charts, but there's no escaping the fact that it has suffered the worst Japanese debut of any mainline single player Final Fantasy title since Final Fantasy V. From Final Fantasy VII to Final Fantasy XIII, every numbered single player release has shifted at least 1.5 million copies at launch. Final Fantasy XV managed just 690,000. That tells you everything you need to know about the current state of the Japanese home console market.
If you've been keeping up with the Japanese charts over the last few years, though, you'll know that these sales figures don't exactly come as a surprise. This generation has been full of disappointing numbers for supposed blockbusters, and the few titles that do perform well during their opening week are usually very quick to fall down the charts. The simple truth is that Japan isn't anywhere near as interested in home consoles as it used to be. There are countless factors that feed into this conclusion - like the constantly expanding mobile market - but exploring them all here would take a few thousand words and more time than we can afford.
Still, it's worth noting that Final Fantasy XV's 690,000 sales aren't that bad when you stop and look at how well other big franchises have fared since the launch of the PlayStation 4. In fact, breaking the 500,000 mark in Japan in a week is a rarity these days, so in that sense, Final Fantasy XV can still be considered a blockbuster release - it's just that the term 'blockbuster' doesn't mean as much as it used to.
[source neogaf.com]
Comments 36
but world wide was the best selling Day one FF game ever, so i think Square will be happy with it
Not surprised really considering the reduction in quality of some of the recent main entries, confusion surrounding the online ones, sequels to sequels, type-0's etc.
Wow, that's a shame. If anything, the crazy simple/easy battle system is probably what held it back there.
Worse than 13 even? Are X-2 and 13-2 and 13-3 included?
Any thoughts on people buying digital in Japan? I'd never do it for a game like this, but I don't know the usual % in Japan who buy digitally.
700k in a week still sounds like a good number to me though. Isnt the PS4 install vase in Japan just past 2 million? Thst would make this 30%. No, that can't be right. Will/has TLG do anything close to that? (I forgot the Japanese release date.)
Oh man, research to do, I'll be back.
I think another problem is that it's four guys - worse being that Noctis is heir apparent so the other three are just basically muscle and variously skilled man-servants.
@rjejr No, XIII-2 and Lightning Returns aren't included. Same with X-2. Only the mainline FF games.
Like said in the article, i didn't really think home consoles sold well in japan. I wonder if that number is physical copies only as well. You would think a game that basically looks like it was meant for a japanophile audience would sell well over there....
Man, it's sad how much console gaming has died in Japan. All hail our new mobile overlords.
Nintendo still seems to do fine but everybody else does sh*t. It'll be interesting to see Dragon Quest XI's PS4 numbers.
@ShogunRok Thanks. I went and read the neogaf article you linked to and some other stuff. I still see the nearly 700k number as being good based on all the other info, but man, those FF games sold nuts. But now ain't then.
What other game has sold 80k PS4 in 1 week? Many Squenix doesn't see any of that money, but I'm sure Sony is happy w/ any game that can do that.
Will be really interesting to see what the FF7 remake does. Can't wait to find out more. How many? How long? How much?
@rjejr Yeah, FFXV didn't sell badly when you take the shrinking market into consideration. It's a product of the times, having to deal with numerous negative factors that previous games didn't have to.
The Japanese have jumped ship I wonder why? I have no idea what the mobile game's are like that they play but they obviously offer something that console's don't, and we all know how hardcore and skillfull the Japanese are about their gaming and how they love a game they can get their teeth into.
That's nothing. If DRAGON QUEST XI doesn't shift more then a million copies at launch when released, I think we can declare the console industry dead in Japan.
Because Pokemon and Last Guardian? Also, Japan is irrelevant for the console market in terms of numbers, just like Xbox doing well in the US is irrelevant.
After FF13, a lot of people simply can't trust the Final Fantasy brand anymore. And after all, this started out as a FF13 spinoff. They should have just scrapped the remains of the FF13 cursed legacy and started fresh.
@Dakt How is it milking the games are totally different every time. The gameplay is different the only thing that is the same is the name......
Wow im shocked
it's about 250% better than XIII-3. considering that it dropped from 1.5m to just over 250k during the course of the XIII-saga, i'd say XV has done alright considering how much reputational damage has been done. i've watched some XV broadcasts on live from playstation, and it looked more western (ish) than japanese than i would have expected. i've not played any FF, aside from one of the XIII demos (XIII-2 i think), but i kind of would have expected more of a japanese asthetic vibe compared to what i've seen of XV, so that might also play a factor in its supposed lacklustre sales figures?
@ShogunRok "having to deal with numerous negative factors that previous games didn't have to."
And all the negative factors Squenix threw in it's way like they were trying to get it to fail -
10 year dev cycle
season pass
other DLC
expensive bundle w/o the season pass or DLC
last minute game delay
releasing the Tuesday AFTER Black Friday
Her'es the list of the top 20 game sales n Japan as of Feb 2016. Yeah, I know it's 10 months old, but still, this is TOTAL sales of the top 20 games on PS4 back then (pre Unaahrted 4 and R&C) andnothing comes close to the first week of FFXV.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – 425,971
Knack – 400,888
Dragon Quest Heroes – 327,019
Call of Duty: Black Ops III – 310,238
Bloodborne – 209,985
Fallout 4 – 206,712
Grand Theft Auto V – 196,795
Star Wars: Battlefront – 187,434
Dragon Quest Builders – 170,168
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – 155,598
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – 149,337
Yakuza 0 – 146,510
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD – 140,048
Yakuza Ishin! – 134,010
Yakuza Kiwami – 131,205
Destiny – 125,900
Battlefield 4 – 113,928
Battlefield Hardline – 113,061
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – 102,716
Watch_Dogs – 99,323
Here's the top 5 as of August. I gues sU4 didn't do to well?
5. Dark Souls III (release date 3/24/2016)
321,931 copies sold
4. Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below (2/26/2015)
329,934 copies sold
3. Call of Duty Black Ops III (11/6/2015)
356,468 copies sold
2. Knack* (2/22/2014)
400,888 copies sold
1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (9/2/2015)
438,478 copies
Persona 5 is probably around 400,000.
So FFXV may be going downhill, but it's still kicking everybody else's butt in Japan. I feel better now.
To be fair I can't remember the last time I saw a PS4 game anywhere near those figures, so surely this is a success? Not to mention that XIII probably did some damage to the name and you have many more factors these days that the likes of the PS1 games wouldn't have had to contend with
@rjejr Few people consider X-II, XII Ravenant Wings, XIII-II and Lightning Returns as mainline FF.
@Frank90 But they are more mainline than not. Ever play that tower defense game on PSN? That's a spin-off. Or Crystal Chronicles series of games. Or Crisis Core I'd say is a spin-off. Or any of the multtide of fighting games involving FF characters. But I think X-2, XIII-2 and XIII-3 are still part of the main numbered games. Even if X-2 is one of the worst games I've ever played, FF or otherwise. It's nto a spin-off, it's just not a whole round number, but it is part of the main series of games. Chocobo Racing isn't.
@rjejr Oh but I agree with you, but our opinion isn't the general consensus, and yeah, while XIII-II and Lightning returns kind of saves XIII, X-II is one of the worst jrpg ever made.
@Frank90 I found the game fun. My favorite Final Fantasy was 7. I loved 8 never understood the hate with that game. Final Fantasy 9 was great.
@rjejr thanks for the comparison. After reading some comments here, who think FFXV has bad sales because it is a boy group etc, I almost got angry.
The Japanese market works completely different. Actually having a "boy band" would make many more Japanese buy the game. If they put some stupid idols in the game as main cast, even more would buy it. Seeing what Japanese play every day here is an embarrassment for every real gamer. Japan is not a market anymore for AAA games with great story-telling and interesting or serious topics. They all are playing crap games or mobile pachinko now.
@Mahe I trust Final Fantasy will be great World of Final Fantasy was awsome. The only thing I hate about Square-Enix is their terrible store.
@Flaming_Kaiser To me is XII > VI > VII >> Everything else. But maybe 7 remake will be able to put on the top to me!
That said, I don't know but maybe XV is on the top 3 to me.
@Frank90 I'm playing it now and finding it fun. Even the story, while not leaving me all too involved so far, is interesting to follow and piece together - something I sadly failed to say about SaGa 3, for one. What I enjoy most is the dresssphere system, though, and I like the battle system (including the fact that abilities can be learnt and accessed in real time) more than FFX's. And while XIII needed no saving in my book (I only had a couple technical issues one or two of which did get fixed... alas, saboteurs still kept doing debuffs "by the book" if left to themselves XD), its sequels blew me away to the point where I have trouble viewing the three entries as separate now. So that's a tough plank to reach anyway IMHO.
The Land of the Rising Handheld indeed. No wonder Square Enix is still among the big guns supporting Vita in Japan. Depending on Switch's actual power, such numbers and the game's overall success may combine to all but guarantee a port. But time will show; I still have X-2 to finish and XII dilogy to beat anyway.
@Dakt ironically, one of those mobile releases is pretty much the best freemium out there in my experience.
It's been a handheld market for a while now. In a few years when they can play it on the go they'll gobble this game up.
@tatsumi "thanks for the comparison" You're welcome. Though it looks like I got a bit carried away. Oh well, I think it sold well enough all things considered.
I gave up after walking around on the train, chapter 9 maybe.
I found it so disjointed, plodding and pretty unenjoyable to be honest so it's destined for eBay.
Well, another way to put it into perspective is that it is the best selling ps4 title ever in Japan. With its first week's sales alone.
Why do you think Nintendo is bringing out the Switch? So they can corner the mobile market alongside the console one.
@RedMageLanakyn This looks more west-aimed, really. Look at things like Idolm@ster, Senran Kagura, or the Atelier series and you'll see games more aimed at Japanese and western otaku tastes. FF has always played second fiddle to Dragon Quest in Japan, as well.
Tap here to load 36 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...