Square Enix seems happy with Final Fantasy 16 sales, but imagine if it released on more than just PS5

Square Enix has revealed that it is not concerned at all with the sales of final fantasy 16 until now. The game, released exclusively for PS5 on June 22, shipped and sold a combined 3 million units digitally in its first week.

The figure is below recent releases in the series, and while Square Enix never officially revealed sales targets for the game, it’s still lower than one would anticipate the next main entry in the storied Final Fantasy series would sell.

But, according to Square Enix, the game’s sales are “extremely strong.” The publisher’s argument is that the installed base of PS5 is smaller, compared to that of PS4 when Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which sold 3.5 million copies in three days, launched exclusively on the platform.

“With 38 million PS5 consoles shipped globally (as of March 31, 2023), Final Fantasy 16 sales surpassed three million units worldwide within days of its June 22, 2023 release,” Square Enix said. IGN.

“Considering the sales figures of the acclaimed Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the difference in the size of the PlayStation 4 install base at the time of this title’s release, we can see that the connection rate of Final Fantasy 16 is considerably high, given the PS5 install base.”

The company added that while it’s happy with the game’s performance so far, it “will continue to carry out a wide range of initiatives to encourage more people to play the game.”

Differences between a remake and a new mainline entry aside, sales of Final Fantasy 16 also lag behind Final Fantasy 15. That game was released in 2016 and managed to sell over 5 million units at launch, making it the fastest-selling Final Fantasy (a record that has yet to be broken).

Of course, the main difference here is that Final Fantasy 15 was released simultaneously on PS4 and Xbox One. The game would later hit over 6 million sales just a couple of months later, long before it even came to PC.

While Square Enix’s argument has merit over Final Fantasy 16’s connection rate versus previous titles, the situation isn’t much different than when Final Fantasy 15 released. That game came out in November 2016, three years into the life of PS4 and Xbox One.

Final Fantasy 16 released in June 2023, two and a half years into the life of the PS5. Right now, there are over 38 million PS5 consoles in circulation. Around the release of Final Fantasy 15, there were more than 50 million PS4along with more than 30 million Xbox One consoles.

While Final Fantasy 16 will undoubtedly continue to sell more in the months and years to come (as the PS5 install base grows and the game drops in price), Square Enix is ​​being disingenuous. The company ignores the existence of the Xbox Series X and S consoles, as well as PC. Perhaps, if the game had been released on more platforms than PlayStation 5, its first week sales would have matched or even surpassed Final Fantasy 15’s.

Even outside of comparisons to previous Final Fantasy games, all three figures are pretty poor when viewed alongside blockbusters like Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, and so many modern titles with existing roots.

If anything, sales of each new mainline Final Fantasy game should grow the fan base; easily clashing with the biggest releases of the year. This should have been even easier to achieve for Final Fantasy 16, considering it was designed as a proper action game, inspired by God of War and Game of Thrones, all things that position it well to be many gamers’ first foray into the series.

Unfortunately, the longer Square Enix continues to pretend that the PlayStation is the only console out there, any audience willing to dive into the series will have to look elsewhere if they don’t own a PlayStation. Hopefully sooner or later Square Enix realizes that it needs to meet players where they are.