The good news just keeps on pouring in for Square Enix and its latest outing, Final Fantasy 16. The PlayStation 5-exclusive title recently became the platform’s fastest-selling exclusive after it enjoyed one of the series’ best outings with more than 3 million copies sold in less than a week. As it stands, FF16 is now the most successful true PS5-exclusive product as it has eclipsed Returnal and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Now, FF16 has even outsold every other PS5 game at launch in Japan, a list that includes Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy, the latter of which is easily one of the most successful entertainment products in history.
- Final Fantasy 16 outsold other PS5 games at launch in Japan.
- The game sold 336,027 copies, quadrupling Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy sales.
- The decision to delay FF16 for more polish has sparked Game of the Year talks.
- A PC port for FF16 is expected no earlier than late 2024 or early 2025.
As per Famitsu, FF16 sold 336,027 copies in its launch, which nearly quadruples the numbers posted by Elden Ring (90k+), Resident Evil 4 Remake (89k+), Gran Turismo 7 (73k+) and Hogwarts Legacy (67k+).
It’s safe to say that the decision to delay FF16 to give it more polish was well worth it, especially as it has ignited GOTY talks – another first for the series.
All told, FF16 marks a significant milestone for Square Enix and Final Fantasy. In recent years, the franchise has been mired with troubled development, with Final Fantasy XV infamously taking more than a decade in development and still releasing as an incomplete product.
After being announced in 2020, FF16 came out on June 22 and everything has been smooth sailing since. Despite breaking its initial promise by releasing a small Day One patch and a slight hiccup with older PS5 units reportedly overheating, it can be argued that the biggest problem FF16 has is that it’s a marked departure for the series, which the review bombers duly noted on Metacritic.
Nevertheless, FF16 proves that Square Enix still has it in them to release an all-timer that isn’t a remake or a sequel (every Final Fantasy is its own game, so they’re technically not sequels to each other).
This should give the particularly stingy company something to celebrate as it prepares for yet another highly anticipated release sometime early next year with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth sometime early next year and Kingdom Hearts 4 on the docket as well.
As for FF16, it’s unclear if Naoki Yoshida and the rest of the crew have plans to release post-launch content for the game, as the focus of the game’s development has been to ensure that it’s as polished as can be at launch. However, it’s guaranteed that FF16 will get a PC port at some point in the future but probably not any earlier than late 2024 or early 2025.
Speaking of PlayStation 5 exclusives, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is hopping over to another platform in July as it shatters its exclusivity and becomes available on the PC.
