Final Fantasy XV - Sales Thread

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APZonerunner

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Honestly given the state the game went through, the fact that its managed to achieve this much is nothing short impressive imo, especially with how it was marketed.

Great to see its halted the franchise decline in performance in spite of growth.
The much-mooted 'franchise decline' is a myth anyway; it's been flat now 3 times in a row at around 6m to 7m. (I think when all's said and done, 15 will ship similar numbers to 13, which managed just over 7m by the end). The challenge for SE is that for them that isn't enough, they really want 8-10 or to get beyond 10 ala Skyrim, Witcher etc.
 
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DrBretto

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I'm not sure they need the 8-10 so much as they need to sell the crap out of the DLC.

Well, I mean, they obviously WANT as much as possible, and more units out there means more people to buy DLC, but that's where the profit is.
 

xXShuyaXx

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We also have to consider that, FFVII may have sold over 10 million, but it took over a decade to reach those numbers through various remasters and releases. Even FFXIII is half a decade old, so statistically, FFXV barely over a month after release reaching 6 million is no feat to be laugh at. Ignoring the shipped/sold details, it is a fact that FFXV is the fastest growing title in the series.
 
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APZonerunner

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We also have to consider that, FFVII may have sold over 10 million, but it took over a decade to reach those numbers through various remasters and releases. Even FFXIII is half a decade old, so statistically, FFXV barely over a month after release reaching 6 million is no feat to be laugh at. Ignoring the shipped/sold details, it is a fact that FFXV is the fastest growing title in the series.
It's in line with 12/13. 13 crossed 6.2 million in 12 days (if we time-shift the Western launch so they place at the same time as Japan, anyway) - it only sold a further 600,000 in its entire lifetime on console, most of it deeply discounted (then just below that number again on Steam). Remakes aside, these games are very, very front heavy.

FF7, for instance, sold 9.8 million before ANY rereleases (aside from the PS3/Vita DL release). It's over 11 million now, but steam, PS4 etc - they only added couple million. Front-loaded.
 

Jubileus

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It's in line with 12/13. 13 crossed 6.2 million in 12 days (if we time-shift the Western launch so they place at the same time as Japan, anyway) - it only sold a further 600,000 in its entire lifetime on console, most of it deeply discounted (then just below that number again on Steam). Remakes aside, these games are very, very front heavy.

FF7, for instance, sold 9.8 million before ANY rereleases (aside from the PS3/Vita DL release). It's over 11 million now, but steam, PS4 etc - they only added couple million. Front-loaded.
I'm not too familiar with this stuff so genuine question here: the games mentioned didn't have DLC or any future content to look forward to.

So once the sale was made, that's it, which would probably explain the front heavy sales.

What with the future DLC and story patches being available soon, wouldn't these be a good incentive for both new and old players to keep investing in the game? And thus keep boosting up the sales steadily over time?

This way, 10 mil sales sounds possible.

That's just my take on it but not sure if it's applicable to the actual industry itself.
 

Ikkin

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It's in line with 12/13. 13 crossed 6.2 million in 12 days (if we time-shift the Western launch so they place at the same time as Japan, anyway) - it only sold a further 600,000 in its entire lifetime on console, most of it deeply discounted (then just below that number again on Steam). Remakes aside, these games are very, very front heavy.

FF7, for instance, sold 9.8 million before ANY rereleases (aside from the PS3/Vita DL release). It's over 11 million now, but steam, PS4 etc - they only added couple million. Front-loaded.
FFXIII's a bit weird due to a lack of a proper International version, isn't it? The FF Wiki says that there was an International version on 360 (which basically didn't exist in Japan) and a free update for the PS3 version of the game, which would presumably result in a lack of a meaningful bump from the International version.

FFXV's not going to get most of its sales from Japan, obviously, but I'll be really surprised if Squenix doesn't put out a separate FFXV Complete disc release internationally once they've finished updating the game, which should give it better future sales prospects than FFXIII (especially since its reputation is a lot better than FFXIII's). And then there's PC, which could also be a bigger factor if Tabata has his way and includes major graphical improvements... or if a healthy mod scene builds up around it and goes all KotOR2 on the "unfinished" content.
 
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What with the future DLC and story patches being available soon, wouldn't these be a good incentive for both new and old players to keep investing in the game? And thus keep boosting up the sales steadily over time?
I don't think it works like this. DLC isn't really a big incentive for new people to buy a game. It's meant for people who already have it to keep spending money on it. Only a Complete Edition can give it a boost in sales but even then it won't be too big.
 
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Lulcielid

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FFXV is number 5 on Germany with more than 200K copies sold.
https://www.biu-online.de/blog/2017...en-computer-und-videospiele-im-dezember-2016/
(thanks @Infest for the news)

Don´t know how FFXIII fared in Germany.

EDIT:
It got the BIU-platinum sales award: >200k For comparison FF XIII only got the gold award: >100k even though it was out for 7 more months
https://twitter.com/FinalXV/status/819249040881807360

EDIT 2:
FFXIII got the Platinum Award for >200k in October: https://www.biu-online.de/blog/2010/10/10/biu-sales-award-gold-und-platin-fuer-fifa-11/ … Still, took it 7 months vs. FFXV in 6 weeks.
https://twitter.com/koozek/status/819252392122286080
 
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buddhafied

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I don't think it works like this. DLC isn't really a big incentive for new people to buy a game. It's meant for people who already have it to keep spending money on it. Only a Complete Edition can give it a boost in sales but even then it won't be too big.
Yes and no. I agree with you the DLC alone won't be a big incentive. Like you said, they are meant for people who already spent on the game. However, the GoTY/Ultimate version of the game: game + all DLC version does help to push games, IMO. There are always people who expect that to come, and with FFXV released so close to other AAA games such as Pokemon Sun and Moon, some people might decided to wait out until the Ultimate version to come out.

Regardless, still happy the game generally sales well.
 

APZonerunner

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FFXIII's a bit weird due to a lack of a proper International version, isn't it? The FF Wiki says that there was an International version on 360 (which basically didn't exist in Japan) and a free update for the PS3 version of the game, which would presumably result in a lack of a meaningful bump from the International version.

FFXV's not going to get most of its sales from Japan, obviously, but I'll be really surprised if Squenix doesn't put out a separate FFXV Complete disc release internationally once they've finished updating the game, which should give it better future sales prospects than FFXIII (especially since its reputation is a lot better than FFXIII's). And then there's PC, which could also be a bigger factor if Tabata has his way and includes major graphical improvements... or if a healthy mod scene builds up around it and goes all KotOR2 on the "unfinished" content.
The reason SE has cooled their jets on international versions in Japan is because they began to sell much worse and because the changes they made for international releases are gradually diminished because of the close releases (IE, FF10 international features the English VO and the later added bosses, but FF13 they added no significant content). But in real terms: FF10 international didn't even add an extra 150k. It's just not as worthwhile to do the international versions any more, that's all. They also didn't make an enormous amount of money to begin with. I'm still not really sure what the deal was with the 360 rerelease, but I assume it was some sort of tie-up with MS Japan; MS paid a chunk of FF13's marketing budget worldwide.

I don't think FF15 will get an 'international' version but given the state they launched the game in and all the fixes they're making, I fully anticipate a rerelease before the end of the year. But like FF7 and FF10 international and even the markedly different FF12 International Zodiac Job System only sold 109,000. Basically: they're not significant. So, nah, it doesn't really impact the performance of FF13 in real terms, no. I don't think a 'complete' 15 release will shift much more in Japan than that either, especially since with patches there's less incentive to buy now (whereas with 10, the only way to face the new bosses was to cough up over again).

I'm not too familiar with this stuff so genuine question here: the games mentioned didn't have DLC or any future content to look forward to.

So once the sale was made, that's it, which would probably explain the front heavy sales.

What with the future DLC and story patches being available soon, wouldn't these be a good incentive for both new and old players to keep investing in the game? And thus keep boosting up the sales steadily over time?

This way, 10 mil sales sounds possible.

That's just my take on it but not sure if it's applicable to the actual industry itself.
Tabata's talked about this, yeah. He wants FF games to have longer tails. With that said, tail tends to be less about DLC support typically in the industry. It doesn't tend to have an enormous impact. Mainly DLC seems to encourage people to not trade in/sell back rather than encourage people to buy in the first place.

FF15 has done really well, so it's not to be down on it, but I don't expect its sales drop-off to slow or level out, leave alone spike back up to any significant degree. The market has changed but not that much. I think it'll largely perform in line with the rest of the FF series in recent years. Those outliers with the enormous tails like Skyrim are, well, outliers.
 

APZonerunner

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Very good figures in the US:

"Final Fantasy XV was the second best-selling title for December 2016... Final Fantasy XV experienced the best console launch month in the history of the franchise (since tracking began in 1995) selling 19 percent more new physical units than Final Fantasy XIII in its launch month and 54 percent more in total dollar revenue including digital full game sales."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...are-battlefield-1-lead-2016-us-game-sales-npd

This goes some way to wiping out the losses in Japan!
 

Jubileus

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Great launch month indeed!

Now what are the chances of XV breaking VII's record of most sales before getting any kind of re-release?
Dunno but I can't wait to find out. The team must be very pleased and happy with these findings.

I know a couple of people who are waiting for all the DLC and story patches to be completed before they decide to purchase or not.

So if these content end up being great, I think it'll push more people into buying it if they keep hearing good things about it.
 

Ikkin

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Great launch month indeed!

Now what are the chances of XV breaking VII's record of most sales before getting any kind of re-release?
Do we actually know what VII's sales were before the PSOne Greatest Hits re-release? And are you talking in the US, or worldwide?
 

APZonerunner

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Great launch month indeed!

Now what are the chances of XV breaking VII's record of most sales before getting any kind of re-release?
Literally impossible unless some sort of miracle happens. Before a second release it won't pass 10, leave alone 7 or 8, I don't think, because large gains in some territories are solid but also not quite offsetting the drop-off in others. These are really good results all the same.