Sales figures have revealed thatFinal Fantasy 16is the UK’s best-selling retail release this week, although its launch sales are reportedly 74 percent lower than that ofFinal Fantasy 15.After two years since its reveal, this week marked the long-awaited launch of Final Fantasy 16. While critical reception for the game has been largely positive so far, it seems that it might not have made as much of a splash asSquare Enixwould have hoped when it comes to the game’s sales, at least when it comes to physical retail releases in the UK.Related:We Need To Talk About Slavery In Final Fantasy 16As reported by GamesIndustry.biz head Christopher Dring, UK sales figures show that, while Final Fantasy 16 is the number one retail release this week, its sales figures are around 74 percent lower than the last mainline entry in the series, Final Fantasy 15. Dring shared the data on Twitter while commenting that the launch wasn’t a “particularly strong one” for the series.[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/Chris_Dring/status/1672991348734017544[/EMBED_TWITTER]Although this might send some Final Fantasy fans into a panic, there are several factors at play here. For starters, Final Fantasy 16 was always going to have a smaller install base than Final Fantasy 15 since it’s exclusive to PS5, whereas 15 was available on a range of consoles. It’s also worth considering that Final Fantasy 15 released closer to the end of a cheaper console generation, which means that more people had access to the systems needed to play the game.Also, as noted by Dring, this doesn’t take into account the game’s digital sales, which are obviously a much bigger part of the equation now than they were when Final Fantasy 15 was released. This is also just indicative of the sales figures in the UK, so it could be a different story for other parts of the world. While it is a bit disappointing to see the sales figures being so much lower than Final Fantasy 15, it doesn’t necessarily mean that 16 is doing badly and is hopefully more indicative of the shift towards digital sales.That being said, this likely won’t come as much of a surprise to Square Enix,as it was reported by journalist Imran Khan before Final Fantasy 16’s launch that pre-orders for the game were below Final Fantasy 15’s and that the studio was “panicking” about it. This lower figure was also taking into consideration Final Fantasy 16’s PS5 exclusivity, which either indicates a bigger push towards digital sales, or less interest in the game when compared to the last mainline title.Next:The Voices Of Commander Shepard And Solid Snake On Their New VR Shooter And Old Friendship
