FF VI Rebirth Japan release, a new low for the Franchise, Switch still number 1 in sales

Seems even the once biggest Japan seller has hit a new low. FF VI Rebirth wasn't enough to take the top spot, nor was it enough to take the bottom spot in FF releases. I blame the poor sales on the stupid name. Should have been called FF VI Remake part 2

Final Fantasy XVI for PlayStation 5 opened at 336,027 copies sold back in June 2023. And the original Final Fantasy VII Remake opened at 702,853 copies sold in April 2020—although that was to an install base of 9.1 million PlayStation 4s, versus today’s 5.3 million PlayStation 5s.

On the hardware side, the Switch family sold 62,531 units, the PlayStation 5 family sold 48,067 units, the Xbox Series family sold 2,351 units, and the PlayStation 4 family sold 1,722 units.

Get the full sales charts below.

Software Sales (followed by lifetime sales)

1. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix, 02/29/24) – 262,656 (New)
2. [NSW] Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 02/16/24) – 14,480 (103,523)
3. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo, 10/20/23) – 11,643 (1,767,792)
4. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! (Konami, 11/16/23) – 9,708 (998,957)
5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 9,251 (5,728,200)
6. [NSW] Shin chan: Shiro of Coal Town (Neos, 02/22/24) – 7,352 (28,945)
7. [NSW] Goblin Slayer Another Adventurer: Nightmare Feast (Bushiroad Games, 02/29/24) – 6,822 (New)
8. [NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 5,613 (4,239,708)
9. [NSW] Matsurika no Kei -kEi- Tenmeiin Iden (Idea Factory, 02/29/24) – 5,537 (New)
10. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 5,468 (3,458,115)

Rankings 11 to 30 will be announced on March 8.

Hardware Sales (followed by lifetime sales)

1. Switch OLED Model – 51,250 (6,787,979)
2. PlayStation 5 – 41,786 (4,613,083)
3. Switch Lite – 6,979 (5,759,478)
4. PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 6,281 (732,266)
5. Switch – 4,302 (19,733,798)
6. PlayStation 4 – 1,722 (7,922,006)
7. Xbox Series S – 1,221 (303,471)
8. Xbox Series X – 1,130 (257,671)
9. New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 13 (1,192,865)
   
   Source

@mesome713: Is this just physical? Because if so this is irrelevant.

I also think alot of people are waiting for the inevitable trilogy bundle.

I keep saying that FFVII Rebirth is overhyped by everyone, that the games sales performance will disappoint as there is a limited audience for it.

Told you so.

@silentchief: it is just physical.

As steam is the only semi open/open store where people can keep track of sales numbers. Or at least it was. Pretty sure people can hide their purchases now.

Japan likes physical sales though.

Dragon Quest Monsters 3 had a huge issue when physical copies ran out, and SquareEnix had to get Japanese gamers to buy digital.

Then this doesn't mean anything. I wouldn't be surprised if once digital comes in it's sales will probably be much closer to remake.

It confused me the hell out..

All the sales numbers are physical only. It was the worst physical sales in the franchises history. That FF XVI and Remake number is physical sales only debut. Also majority of the PS5 consoles sales are being scalped to China. That's why the software sales are so low. And it's still being beat to death by an 8 year old console. There's no way to sugar coat it.

Physical sales are declining every year, buy I expected PS5 sales to crash as it is becoming completely irrelevant as they port all their exclusives to PC.

@silentchief: Seems they should have ported this poor thing faster. Square not gonna be happy this their worst debut ever on their most expensive game ever. Hope that Sony money was worth it.

Yikes.... I wonder why? Game should've debuted higher based on the hype and reception of the first part. Maybe Japan also knows that remakes are mostly meh?

It can't run on Switch and would have barely sold on Xbox and PC. It's also nowhere near their worst debut ever... that goes to Forspoken.

Once Digital sales are in it won't be as bad as people think.

did worse than XVI on bigger install base

Possible ps5 owners got their hands on a gameplay rich experience like Helldivers 2 and have been rehabilitated?

FF VI Rebirth?! I hope that's real in the distant future.

Anyway, that's embarrassing tbh.

At least FFVII Rebirth is excoosive.😏

You think there are a lot of people waiting about 10yrs in the hope for a triple bundle lol, that's some stretch you got going there.

SE should have put it on Steam day 1, but they're dumb. Hope that Sony check was worth it.

And Xbox.

Oppff

I think releasing it in 3 games was stupid. I'll buy them because I loved the original but there's going to be alot of people that lose hype for it and there's going to be others who just wait for the complete package. I do think when the complete trilogy comes out it will be sold together and probably sell well over a long period of time. Regardless releasing it on Xbox wouldn't have increased sales by more than 10%.

To be frank that is embarrassing.... for japan. Dead gaming market no wonder devs been shifting focus to west.

@silentchief: All I heard was you think. You have no idea what they will do when the 3 games are out. They will most likely move onto milking the next FF remake.

And you don't know what % it would be if it was on Xbox.

All just speculation at this point.

Remember the ratio between PC and PS5 gamers for Helldivers 2 is 4 to 1. PS gamers don't buy games.😏

Physical sales for a game in Japan that I'm enjoying greatly troubles me. Thus, I will cease enjoying said game. Thank you.

@sakaixx: Actually it's embarrassing for cows.

Especially since Sony has no first party games for the next 18 months, and if they're not buying this then the Japanese cows must be watching too much porn on their PS5's lol.

Kind of unfortunate but this won’t affect my enjoyment of the game. I’m having an absolutely fantastic time with it. The simple fact that this game exists is good enough for me.

Physical sales are down across the board. We don't have the full picture without digital sales figures.

Physical sales are declining across the world, including Japan.

@Chutebox: Um don't you buy your games physically?

If so this should indeed worry you. The less physical sales the sooner digital takes over and becomes a monopoly.

The name of Final Fantasy used to mean so much more.

Stellar Blade and Ronin is published by Sony.

But they are not first party.😓

Stellar Blade was announced for Xbox before Sony stepped in to money hat the game, It was not an idea by Sony nor was it commissioned by Sony. They bought the ip after the announcement trailer.

As for Ronin, that one i'm not too sure about, but it's being made by a third-party dev, and again moneyhatted by Sony.

None of these games were pitched by Sony's own devs and Sony is not funding them, they bought the rights to the ip. simple as that.

MLB the Show is coming out soon.

The rumors are the next FF remake is FF9 and it will be one game.

No but it would be significantly lower as every multiplat is. Games always sell significantly worse on Xbox and that's a fact.

Final Fantasy is the Sonic of RPGS.

You made me choke while eating.😂

They should have launched this game with the PS Portable that is rumored to be in the works. Its pretty clear that nobody in Japan plays video games on anything but a portable device, and if you want to be successful, you must be on one.

@uninspiredcup: Have you played Sonic Frontier?

I'm not touching this till all 3 parts are out.

You want to know what happens when you disparage Final Fantasy. You want to know what happens. This happens.......

Except for launches, physical dominates.

This is why the low stock of DQM 3 was a problem.

Well, it's a Baseball game that has been released every year since 2006, it's also on Xbox and on Gamepass, so its best played on Xbox due to price, not really good from Sony lately.

It especially makes sense in Japan where people generally live in smaller houses and smaller appartements, where saving on any kind of space (like massive amounts of game boxes) is a plus.

Except its Japan where physical sales still are big.

O man, this is sad. That's 40-20% still on the shelves. Guess game will be getting discounted in 3-5 months to help move copies. Insane this could happen to their most expensive and biggest release ever. Sad times.

What? Didn't Japan get the memo that Tifa's boobs may or may not be slightly bigger than they were in Remake? What gives?

No they just don't play the games as long. From what info we have HD 2 sold better on Playstation.

It's also a real hit on both PC and PS5, with 57% of sales coming on the PlayStation, and the rest on PC.