Final Fantasy XV - Sales Thread

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DrBretto

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#41
The PS4 numbers weren't the numbers I was questioning. Didn't think there would be an easy source to tell me how many of something was sold by 2009. Some were saying as high as 9 million. That's a big gap for something easy to google. Thanks for the info, though.
 

APZonerunner

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#42
The PS4 numbers weren't the numbers I was questioning. Didn't think there would be an easy source to tell me how many of something was sold by 2009. Some were saying as high as 9 million. That's a big gap for something easy to google. Thanks for the info, though.
Pretty easy, tbh, mate. Here's a news article from one week before FF13 landed celebrating 4 million consoles sold: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/117478/Wii_Tops_9_Million_PS3_4_Million_LTD_In_Japan.php

It is the third google.com result for "ps3 4 million japan". It's also the 5th AND 6th result for "ps3 december 2009 sales japan". So, yeah, it's easy to Google. People are just lazy, or don't want to see the dire nature of the situation.
 

DrBretto

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#43
Pretty easy, tbh, mate. Here's a news article from one week before FF13 landed celebrating 4 million consoles sold: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/117478/Wii_Tops_9_Million_PS3_4_Million_LTD_In_Japan.php

It is the third google.com result for "ps3 4 million japan". It's also the 5th AND 6th result for "ps3 december 2009 sales japan". So, yeah, it's easy to Google. People are just lazy, or don't want to see the dire nature of the situation.
Thanks for the info, but what I meant was, people seemed to have different sources saying different things, so I was looking for what someone who would know which source is the right one. I trust you, so I'll go with yours :p
 

Squirrel Emperor

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#44
NeoGAF keeps a record of Media Create numbers too. Will need to have an account to view older threads.

PS3, when all was said and done, did around 10 million in Japan so that's probably where the 9 million comes from.
 

DrBretto

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#45
NeoGAF keeps a record of Media Create numbers too. Will need to have an account to view older threads.

PS3, when all was said and done, did around 10 million in Japan so that's probably where the 9 million comes from.
That sounds like it. The guy was suuuper adamant though, that's the only reason I was curious. I noticed on AP's link, it also mentions the Wii hitting the 9 million mark on the same page, so I'm also wondering if he maybe misread that same article. I dunno.
 

Guitar (pseudo)God

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#46
Pretty easy, tbh, mate. Here's a news article from one week before FF13 landed celebrating 4 million consoles sold: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/117478/Wii_Tops_9_Million_PS3_4_Million_LTD_In_Japan.php

It is the third google.com result for "ps3 4 million japan". It's also the 5th AND 6th result for "ps3 december 2009 sales japan". So, yeah, it's easy to Google. People are just lazy, or don't want to see the dire nature of the situation.
If only Nomura was still director, the sales would have been 700K.

Just out of curiosity, I did some cursory Googling to see what the best-selling PS4 games in Japan were. Don't know how the numbers have changed in the intervening months, but there wasn't a game > 500K (http://kotaku.com/the-five-biggest-selling-ps4-games-in-japan-1785728990). FFXV should be able to (be the first?) sell 1M, but it's quite evident that the landscape has changed dramatically.

Wonder how these sales fit with their internal projections? Surely they weren't expecting to hit the halcyon heights of the pre-PS4 days..?
 

DrBretto

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#47
People are just lazy, or don't want to see the dire nature of the situation.
I just re-read this, and I have to take exception to it. That's pretty prejudicial. Not everyone looking for clarification on something is denying something. I feel like making that assumption is kind of insulting. My life, for example, would be completely unchanged no matter how many people in Japan bought a video game.

Edit: I don't think you're a bad person, BTW, because I've been guilty of doing the same thing, but I had to mention it just so you can maybe try to have a little more faith in the members here. The internet out there, sure, but everyone here is pretty reasonable..
 
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Squirrel Emperor

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#48
FFXV should be able to (be the first?) sell 1M, but it's quite evident that the landscape has changed dramatically.
Second week sales for Final Fantasy see a significant drop so it could struggle to achieve that.

Basically Final Fantasy has become a mid-teir IP in Japan. It’s not the juggernaut like it once was. What’s going to ultimately matter is how it does in the US and China.
 

DrBretto

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#49
Was it a juggernaut over there? I thought it was mostly only a big thing in the west. At least that's what a lot of DQ fans tell me, haha :p
 

APZonerunner

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#50
Was it a juggernaut over there? I thought it was mostly only a big thing in the west. At least that's what a lot of DQ fans tell me, haha :p
DQ was always the bigger game, but they were both juggernauts over there once upon a time. It's just no longer the case for FF. I'll be curious if FF15 can reach 1m now in Japan, because this is what FF sales tend to look like in Japan lifetime vs week one:


I just re-read this, and I have to take exception to it. That's pretty prejudicial. Not everyone looking for clarification on something is denying something. I feel like making that assumption is kind of insulting. My life, for example, would be completely unchanged no matter how many people in Japan bought a video game.

Edit: I don't think you're a bad person, BTW, because I've been guilty of doing the same thing, but I had to mention it just so you can maybe try to have a little more faith in the members here. The internet out there, sure, but everyone here is pretty reasonable..
I don't think it's unfair to say people are lazy and people on both sides have an agenda - they either want to paint it as all the shifting market in Japan or paint it as the game being a failure; truth is somewhere in the middle. It wasn't a dig at anyone specific.
 
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Guitar (pseudo)God

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#51
Second week sales for Final Fantasy see a significant drop so it could struggle to achieve that.

Basically Final Fantasy has become a mid-teir IP in Japan. It’s not the juggernaut like it once was. What’s going to ultimately matter is how it does in the US and China.
Looking at those sales numbers, it seems like every IP is now mid-tier in Japan. :)
 

DrBretto

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#53
It wasn't a dig at anyone specific.
It's all good, I kinda just took it personally for a minute there.

I just wanted to reiterate that even though I'm a fan of this game, the only agenda I have is the truth.

I would not expect it to exceed 1m at that rate, either. Guitar God has a pretty interesting point, too, though. If it's the trend for everything else, or everything else in the genre, then it doesn't necessarily mean the same level of doom and gloom. Or at least not specifically SE. Though, if there's no console JRPG market there at all, then that doesn't bode well for any fan of the genre at all, FF fans included.
 

Squirrel Emperor

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#54
I don’t think the genre itself is really the problem. Because if you look at the handheld side of things, titles like Pokemon and Dragon Quest still perform well and titles like Persona and Fire Emblem (an IP that was on the verge of death but is now seen as very important for Nintendo) are seeing growth and rising in popularity. One thing all these titles seem to have in common is consistency. They're not drastically changing their identity so that familiarity is still intact, even though there may be some new gameplay mechanics and a different story being told.

It might just be a simple matter of the Final Fantasy brand itself needing a nice big jolt. Let Final Fantasy compete against Final Fantasy instead of targeting popular trends like both Final Fantasy XIII (Call of Duty) and Final Fantasy XV (open world games in the west) have done. Focus on balance (gameplay, story, world design, visuals etc...) instead of being so heavily lopsided like we all just experienced with Final Fantasy XV (first half vs. second half differences) because that's one way to polarize the fan base.
 
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DrBretto

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#55
I don’t think the genre itself is really the problem. Because if you look at the handheld side of things, titles like Pokemon and Dragon Quest still perform well and titles like Persona and Fire Emblem (an IP that was on the verge of death but is now seen as very important for Nintendo) are seeing growth and rising in popularity. One thing all these titles seem to have in common is consistency. They're not drastically changing their identity so that familiarity is still intact, even though there may be some new gameplay mechanics and a different story being told.
But, if the numbers Guitar God posted aren't being misreported, FFXV would be the highest selling PS4 game in Japan. Wouldn't that squarely mean that it's not the problem? Or at the very least looking at Japan's sales numbers isn't telling the story some think it is? It seems like more of a Japan problem than a Final Fantasy problem.

My concern for the genre is based on that genre necessarily coming out of Japan, and if there's no market there for big budget AAA JRPGs, then that would hurt the chances of there being more of them. I don't consider handheld games to be the same genre. Though, one could argue that FFXII though FFXV also are no longer JRPGs, either.
 
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Nova

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#56
I don’t think the genre itself is really the problem. Because if you look at the handheld side of things, titles like Pokemon and Dragon Quest still perform well and titles like Persona and Fire Emblem (an IP that was on the verge of death but is now seen as very important for Nintendo) are seeing growth and rising in popularity. One thing all these titles seem to have in common is consistency. They're not drastically changing their identity so that familiarity is still intact, even though there may be some new gameplay mechanics and a different story being told.
Thats still comparing two different hardware markets, especially handhelds which were dominate in japanese sales.

As for bolded lets not forget that despite Fire Emblem Awakening's critical success it was still met with very polarizing reaction towards the hardcore fanbase from it's style/difficulty to dumbed down map design gameplay, there is a reason why Fates released with 2-3 different versions of it while aiming to please to core and casual audience.
 
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Guitar (pseudo)God

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#57
But, if the numbers Guitar God posted aren't being misreported, FFXV would be the highest selling PS4 game in Japan. Wouldn't that squarely mean that it's not the problem? Or at the very least looking at Japan's sales numbers isn't telling the story some think it is?
*Pseudo. :)

Here's some more reading: http://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xv-sells-690-471-retail-copies-in-its-fir-1789772176
Couple of points:
  • Famitsu puts the numbers higher, like 711K. So I revised my what-if-Nomura-directed estimate to 712K
  • More interestingly, retailers are 60-80% sold through. I'm guessing SE had an idea what the market was going to be like and didn't overship. Lessons learned from the Wada era.
@Squirrel Emperor, I think this Final Fantasy game is already competing against other Final Fantasy games. It is a massive shakeup of certain conventions, while staying true to the series' roots. I, for one, am glad they took on an open world. Of course the team would take cues from contemporary games, but theirs is a unique take on it. I just wish it was larger - we'll see what happens with their updated.

And this fanbase is so schizophrenic any game in the series is polarizing.
 

APZonerunner

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#59
But, if the numbers Guitar God posted aren't being misreported, FFXV would be the highest selling PS4 game in Japan. Wouldn't that squarely mean that it's not the problem? Or at the very least looking at Japan's sales numbers isn't telling the story some think it is? It seems like more of a Japan problem than a Final Fantasy problem.

My concern for the genre is based on that genre necessarily coming out of Japan, and if there's no market there for big budget AAA JRPGs, then that would hurt the chances of there being more of them. I don't consider handheld games to be the same genre. Though, one could argue that FFXII though FFXV also are no longer JRPGs, either.
The main thing is that there's only 400,000 less PS4s in Japan than there were PS3s, but FF15 sold to a significantly lower portion of existing PS4 owners than FF13 did to existing PS3 owners. Why is that? Is that the market, or the game, or both?
 

DrBretto

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#60
The main thing is that there's only 400,000 less PS4s in Japan than there were PS3s, but FF15 sold to a significantly lower portion of existing PS4 owners than FF13 did to existing PS3 owners. Why is that? Is that the market, or the game, or both?
It's clearly the market. Did you click on his links? FFXV is literally the highest selling PS4 game in Japan.

I don't have any problem understanding your point. I'm saying that this other data makes it meaningless.

We have the same issue when comparing stats for baseball players of different eras. It's looking like Japan is in a "dead ball era". In baseball, we compare stats to others in their own era, it gives a much better idea of relative value. If FFXV is the single highest selling PS4 game in Japan, then the problem is not this game, it's the market.

You strike me as a reasonable guy, I can't imagine you could come up with a different conclusion.