Can it sell 10 million??

If you have been frequenting gaming news sites over the last few days you've probably seen the story that some of FFXV's development staff have stated the game needs to sell 10 million units to be a success. They later came out and clarified that was merely an "internal objective" but I would not be surprised if that is SE's expectation. The game has been in development for so long and if you add up all the press over the years, the Uncovered event, the anime, the movie and development costs it makes sense.

This is also the same company that was disappointed when Tomb Raider sold 3.5 million in it's first month when they were expecting to sell around 5-6 million. Which led to Microsoft footing some of the bill for the sequel.

I normally don't concern myself with sales but there is a part of me that worries Square could go the way of Konami, but instead of Pachinko machines they will focus on mobile development if they don't rake in enough cash from the huge big budget mainline FF games we're so used to receiving. I love FF XV's direction and I want to see more of this from SE!

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So these are the sales of the Final Fantasy games from highest to lowest (worldwide number is on the far right, so VII sold 9.72 million) If you had asked me a year ago if I thought XV could reach VII's numbers i would of laughed in your face. However the gaming industry is a lot bigger than it was in 1997, the game is also multiplatform. Hell even The Witcher 3 is over 5 million units and that game is super niche.

So, over the next couple years, do you think it will be able to hit the 10 million mark?

The Witcher is anything but niche nowadays, though.

Still, I think they can do it. Considering how fast the Ultimate Edition sold out, I'd say it's on the right track.

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Originally Posted by Fynn

The Witcher is anything but niche nowadays, though.

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It is definitely more popular than it was when Witcher 2 came out, I still gotta imagine the brand recognition is nowhere near Final Fantasy.

I would clarify that the overall numbers for the FF sales count ports, and releases as well so VII's number also involves the PSN and Steam sales and considering the game has such great word of mouth it easily had good sales but those numbers still mean the most popular entry in the franchise take nineteen years to obtain.

XV is probably not going to reach those types of sales number, regardless of word of mouth, but I do believe it will sell pretty well regardless just doubtful it will reach those numbers. It doesn't help it's being released in a time where the franchise's credibility is still recovering among the fanbase, something that is not lost on Tabata and the development team, so it will be very interesting to see how the game fares in September.

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Originally Posted by Tyson

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Originally Posted by Fynn

The Witcher is anything but niche nowadays, though.

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It is definitely more popular than it was when Witcher 2 came out, I still gotta imagine the brand recognition is nowhere near Final Fantasy.

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It was also a highly critically acclaimed game. Brand recognition will only get you so far. To break those kind of numbers the game actually has to be good. FFVII did not break records because it was a FF game. It's because it was great.

I think it will have to receive stellar early reception to pull it off.

It's unlikely though. Very few games manage to pull off 10 million+ sales. Even of the most famous franchises in video gaming (including FF) breaking ten million sales is extremely rare.

Has there even been a JRPG that's managed to do it? FFVII took thirteen years to break 10 million sales, so I'd hardly say it counts.

I think it is doubtful. My guess is that it sells right around 6 million over ten years.

I'm skeptical of 10 million.

I think it'll probably do similarly to FF8, FF10 and FF13, so about 7-8 million.

It'll depend massively on how good it is though. This series isn't a definite purchase for me like it used to be so it will depend on how well it reviews.

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Originally Posted by DMKA

Has there even been a JRPG that's managed to do it? FFVII took thirteen years to break 10 million sales, so I'd hardly say it counts.

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Except for FF7, just Pokemon games. Which I realise most people don't even consider as JRPGs, but they pretty much are.

I think it will sell less than FFXIII, unless it receives 9-10 scores across the board.

Well, this game has a more ARPG battle format so it's going to naturally be a turnoff to some of the lovers of the FF series, so it's going to lessen some sales. Already seen some FF fans not be into this game and are waiting for World of Final Fantasy instead.

Though, on the other hand, it's going to bring newer fans into the series who might of been not into the FF series before.

Only the future has the answer. :shrug:

Will it reach 10m? Probably not, but it is also a long term goal so who knows maybe it will in another decade.

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Originally Posted by Tyson

If you have been frequenting gaming news sites over the last few days you've probably seen the story that some of FFXV's development staff have stated the game needs to sell 10 million units to be a success. They later came out and clarified that was merely an "internal objective" but I would not be surprised if that is SE's expectation. The game has been in development for so long and if you add up all the press over the years, the Uncovered event, the anime, the movie and development costs it makes sense.

This is also the same company that was disappointed when Tomb Raider sold 3.5 million in it's first month when they were expecting to sell around 5-6 million. Which led to Microsoft footing some of the bill for the sequel.

I normally don't concern myself with sales but there is a part of me that worries Square could go the way of Konami, but instead of Pachinko machines they will focus on mobile development if they don't rake in enough cash from the huge big budget mainline FF games we're so used to receiving. I love FF XV's direction and I want to see more of this from SE!

Attachment 67784

So these are the sales of the Final Fantasy games from highest to lowest (worldwide number is on the far right, so VII sold 9.72 million) If you had asked me a year ago if I thought XV could reach VII's numbers i would of laughed in your face. However the gaming industry is a lot bigger than it was in 1997, the game is also multiplatform. Hell even The Witcher 3 is over 5 million units and that game is super niche.

So, over the next couple years, do you think it will be able to hit the 10 million mark?

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No

You know, I think it just might. From what I have seen so far XV is looking like the most ambitious Final Fantasy yet. It also seems like they're truly adhering to modern design principles now. They tried to modernize FF with XIII but it turned out with awkward and confused design, but this doesn't seem to be the case for FFXV. Still, XIII still managed to sell 7 million in its lifetime. There are some complications though like Japanese consumers abandoning home consoles; Japanese sales have always been a large percentage of FF sales. But I think with the hype, marketing, and the design choices they're making with XV it has potential to be the best selling FF game yet.

Considering how over 40 million PS4 units have sold thus far, it is possible that FFXV reaches that goal mark. The marketing has been getting pushed harder and harder as the release date gets closer. When was the last time a mainline FF game got this much marketing if you exclude the online ones? The only one I can think of FFVII to be honest. None of the other titles had their own short anime besides FFVII and FFXV at this point. Only FFVII and FFXV have a CGI movie taking place at some point in the story. If i'm wrong on all of this, please correct me.

Probably. I think there are enough fans that either really want to play it, or are marginally interested to buy it. Alienating their female fanbase was a poor move if they really NEED this game to succeed, though.

Also, it probably won't sell 10 million copies right away. So I guess that's a factor as well--how long they have to sell 10 million.

If it becomes critically and socially acclaimed (ie, is genuinely good according to the masses) then I think it will do better than FFXIII, which garnered 7.5m based on the table in the opening post of the thread. 10m, I think, is a good target but not a good requirement to be considered a success.

Sidenot: I always find it odd that sales for FFXIV are listed so low when there are allegedly 5m accounts created for it. I wonder if the sales are only for physical copies and not downloads.

I think it can make it. Especially if they eventually do a PC release. The amount of marketing this game has is crazy.

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Originally Posted by Ffamran mied Bunansa

I think it can make it. Especially if they eventually do a PC release. The amount of marketing this game has is crazy.

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Yeah, if they keep a strong marketing campaign going to where even non fans knows this game is coming out they might be able to pull it off.

Given the unbelievable hype they created at the Uncovered event, even if they don't reach that goal, I don't see what else they could do at this point to increase sales.

Between an anime, a CGI movie on the scale of Advent Children, and the triple digit collectors edition that sold out in under a day, I'd say the effort they put in has been reflected well thus far in the pre-sales.

XV looks to be the most promising FF in a while. I think I'll probably get it once it's released on PC. I don't think I've said that about a FF game in about a decade. XII was OK but otherwise there hasn't been one since 8 or 9 that I was actually excited about.

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

I would clarify that the overall numbers for the FF sales count ports, and releases as well so VII's number also involves the PSN and Steam sales and considering the game has such great word of mouth it easily had good sales but those numbers still mean the most popular entry in the franchise take nineteen years to obtain.

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That's not true for the VGChartz numbers. Those are retail copies of the original game only. The FF7 numbers have been the same on there for years.
On top of those numbers, it sold a million on steam (http://steamspy.com/app/39140) and god knows how many on the various PSN stores and now on cellphones. So FF7 is probably around 12 million sales now.

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Originally Posted by Randy

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

I would clarify that the overall numbers for the FF sales count ports, and releases as well so VII's number also involves the PSN and Steam sales and considering the game has such great word of mouth it easily had good sales but those numbers still mean the most popular entry in the franchise take nineteen years to obtain.

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That's not true for the VGChartz numbers. Those are retail copies of the original game only. The FF7 numbers have been the same on there for years.
On top of those numbers, it sold a million on steam (http://steamspy.com/app/39140) and god knows how many on the various PSN stores and now on cellphones. So FF7 is probably around 12 million sales now.

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Looks like I was wrong on that bit of info, but my point was that even VII didn't reach those numbers in the first year of its release. As it stands, the closest actual total sales numbers I can find is around 11 million units sold as of 2015, so 12 million may not be too far off by today.

With that said, it will be interesting to see if FFXV will be good enough to have that kind of lasting power.

Yeah well FF7 was one of those games that rode on a wave of gossip for quite a while. So many people were talking about it. I remember everyone who liked games in my class at school was talking about, even though none of us knew what it was (no previous FF games in Europe recall). They just really successfully marketed it as a kind of "this is a big deal" thing.