Over 56% of Final Fantasy 16 UK Launch Sales Were Digital, But the Charts Only Count Physical

Digital is way too popular not to count it anymore. Also NG+ in Final Fantasy is totally awesome.

Buying games Digital is more convenient for me I don’t have to make a 30 to 40 minute drive just to buy a video game

@4kgk2 Internet shopping has existed for a few years now mate

@Splat Unfortunately some storefronts, platforms or publishers don't provide digital sales data, and more often than not, that digital data is paywalled even to outlets.

So until both of those things changes, sales charts are by and large meaningless as an objective look at sales. Though even now through extrapolation and the idea of "roughly half of sales are digital" you can still get some rough estimate.

@4kgk2 of all the reasons to go digital I've never seen anyone utter this one before 😂

So the initial physical sales of FF15 were almost double of digital and physical sales of FF16 combined, right? And MAYBE there were digital sales of FF15 as well. Still looking pretty mediocre for FF16. EDIT: Replace „almost double of“ with „69 % higher than“

These physical charts have always been half the story. Not just now that Final Fantasy got bumped from number 1.

Im still confused about digital. I do get the convenience of having games on the SDD and i'm not critical of those who chose to buy from the store.

But i paid £51 for FF16 on disc, whereas it was £70 on PSN - And i was able to put that £19 towards buying Octopath Traveller 2 which i found (physically) on sale for £29.99

I do agree with @Splat though. Sales data now has too many caveats to paint a full picture, so it makes little sense to exclude digital from the count.

@Kanji-Tatsumi I don’t want to wait for shipping. I can play games I preordered from psn right when they release.

@Rob_230 psysical being cheaper is only a privilege of the biggest countries, usually it's the opposite.

@Rob_230 I used to only buy physical but over time I've found the convenience of not having to switch the disc, or locate it in the first place, as well as being able to go to someone's house and download my games on their PS, are just worth the slightly higher cost. I used to have about 60 PS4 and PS5 discs but I sold them all recently just to get rid of the clutter. It's also great for if you move house, or go on holiday, if you have everything digitally - all your books, all music, all games and no extra baggage.

With FFXVI I had a tenner off due to that PS Stars thing so it was only a few quid more than a disc and I got to start playing at midnight which felt worth it to me.

@Cherip-the-Ripper actually, plenty of people have said the same. As for internet shopping that has been mentioned, you have to be home when the delivery is made (many people don't work for home), you tend to get an email that your package will arrive by x time, but then it takes another day. If you miss the delivery you have to go to the local post office, etc. At least that was my experience in the UK with Amazon, Shopto and the like. With digital at least it's hassle-free. Not saying one is better than other, just commenting on the point you made.

@Rob_230 I'd agree, but I bought FF16 for the listed £64.99, but paid less than that via voucher codes/wallet funds and PS Stars. About 15% off via PSN wallet fund codes, and £5 off from PS Stars. Plus more PS stars points for the actual order to use again in future. I also have wallet funds for my next game already sitting there at the discounted price too, money I'd always be spending on games, and if a sale pops up, I'm paying next to nothing for that next game

I do agree RRP's on the PS Store aren't competitive most of the time, but there is not really a gulf if you are buying a new game digitally in this way compared to buying a game at its highest price on disc (and let's not even mention those who mess around with the Turkish store to get things dort cheap) discs are still good for people who like to play and sell, and the second hand market, but that's a totally different group of gamers. Once discs are phased out, a closer watch will have to be kept on the digital stores though, to make sure they aren't excluding those people for too long

@Rob_230 there are websites like Shopto and Cdkeys that offer a huge discounts on psn cards. So, for example you pay £85.99 and you get £100. So, a £70 game doesn't cost you £70. Plus, if you buy digitally, you get PSN points from PS Stars that you cash in for extra top up cards. I got a £20 one the other day for playing games and buying some games digitally.

I will always buy physical unless it's a game in a sale, main reason is so that I can get two thirds of my money back by selling the game on ebay after I've finished with it, money that can go towards my next game. If physical didn't exist then I wouldn't be getting many new releases anymore so hopefully physical sales still stay relevant and to me over 40% being physical sales is still quite relevant.

I don't understand why you wouldn't go physical - unless you have a disc only console - as I got the game cheaper on disc than the digital store was selling it for.

@naruball I've never had to be home for a delivery. Not even food shopping unless it has alcohol in it. Maybe this changes by region?

Why are so many people trying to draw a better picture of FF16 sales numbers than it actually is? SE will tell you that the sales numbers are disappointing, and suddenly almost everyone here will blame SE for having unrealistically high expectations (which they probably aren’t in this case), and that FF16 is „criminally overlooked/underrated/whatever“.
Maybe it’s just a game which doesn’t appeal to too many people. I can say that it contains way too much over-emotional chatter and bland stereotypes for my taste (based on playing the demo).

Do people not know how to add games to their digital wish list? People are acting like only physical games go on-sale lol.

@Matroska perhaps. I was in Edinburgh when I ordered games online. If it was more than one or it was a special edition, I had to be home.

@K1LLEGAL What I was just thinking lol. I'm deeply amused we got an article damage controlling for FFXVI dropping from the top so quickly, even though we all know digital copies are usually half or more of total sales for big releases.

The implication seems to be that if digital sales were included, it'd have remained #1, but we don't actually know that, do we?

@Max_the_German haha. I like you mate, cheers.

@Max_the_German one could ask you, why are you trying to do the opposite? You're ignoring the fact that, unlike ff15, ff16 is
1. an exclusive
2. launching on a smaller userbase
3. launching outside the Christmas period where sales are higher

"Maybe it’s just a game which doesn’t appeal to too many people"

3m in just a few days is an amazing result for 99.9% of the games being released. Most games, even really good ones, struggle to sell even 1m copies lifetime.

Mine was a digital purchase, I couldn't risk Royal Mail letting me down when I booked the day off work haha

@Max_the_German 3 million sales for a game that has released only for PS5 at the moment is very respectable. You compared them to FF15 but that released on PS and Xbox at the same time so the sales for that were always going to be higher as there was a larger install base out there.

Why do so many people buy it digitally while it’s much more expensive and you can’t resell them afterwards? Most people have a PS5 with disc drive, right?

I see whenever a PlayStation Exclusive gets an article the haters never fail to come out.

The game is excellent, sold 3 million in a few days and is rated an 88 metacritic, there's no denying this will be a successful game, no matter how many want to play it down.

@4kgk2 You know there are webshops, right? 😋 Can’t remember the last time I bought a game in a physical store.

@Rob_230 I used to be a physical only guy, but I’ve shifted towards digital.
Don’t get me wrong I’d never trade in my P5 Day 1 steelbook edition, but the convenience has too much upside.

I don’t buy a lot of Day 1 games just the pre-load & knowing that the game is ready to go after work makes up the difference.

@Ralizah yea well it’s frustrating after we get article after article touting 70% of a game’s sales being on Playstation when they know that is only half the picture. It’s always incomplete. And now it’s to do with an exclusive being on the wrong end of that it’s become an “issue”.

I actually think FFXVI has done well for being a single console (no PC, Xbox, Switch or last gen) release. It’s up against the zeitgeist that is Tears of the Kingdom. The damage control is unnecessary.

@Kevw2006 I have heard multiple times on this site that Xbox players don’t buy Final Fantasy games unfortunately (though somehow my day one FFXV copy was an Xbox copy 🤷‍♂️ as was my Royal Edition).

Anyway I wonder how Alan Wake 2 will chart…

It's starting to look like the only place XVI sold significantly less than 7R is in Japan and is where the -500k sales mainly came from. And that's honestly expected considering how alarmingly fast that place became ninty fanboy land and how badly PS5 software has fallen off there. That it even sold as much as it did there and with a 80-90% sell through to boot is honestly shockingly good lol

@Rob_230 I'm in Mexico and the situation is all the contrary: I get far better prices in the PS digital shop than any retail, in this country, they never discount a physical game, and is a recent game is impossible, for instance, I can get Jedi Survivor for a 20% discount un the digital shop, in a retail is still around $80 everywhere. I know that in the USA/UK you can get very good deals from the retailers, never in this country.

@Rob_230 Yes. And you can lend it or sell it if you want.

So when any game is sold is it fair to say that more are sold digital than physical now? Or is physical still more on sales?

@Snake_V5 At least on PlayStation platforms, more sales are digital than physical these days. Usually it's the majority, over 50%, for games that also get a retail release.

why has it taken years to write this article? youve been quoting incomplete uk sales data for years

Digital will be more popular moving forward. Covid just made it happen faster than it was going too.

Isn't this what people have been saying for years, with regard to physical sales.

How come it's only an issue now that it's talking about an exclusive and one that is underperforming? When it's a multiplatform game, nobody cares and celebrates the charts because playstation has higher physical sales percentage.
Pretty funny to be honest

@PixelDragon Thanks for explaining. I can understand your reasons. The only thing I don’t recognize is the “very little resell value”. I can easily resell new games for at least 75% of what I bought them for, so essentially I’m paying 25% if I don’t keep them.

I still buy physical occasionally, Amazon tend to put AAA games on sale (or just cheaper much earlier than a PlayStation sale). I got Hogwarts Legacy a month ago for £48, when I bet it won’t be discount online for a long time. I don’t care about resale, I’ve never sold a game in my live (still got the Atari 2600 Combat cartridge!)

I always buy physical unless it's a crazy deal on PSN. As many stated, physical games are cheaper in stores than the digital version.
And I don't change the disc until I platinum a game, or at least complete it as much as possible.

@Kevw2006 Exactly! But SE will still be unhappy with the figures.

@naruball I agree that there are several reasons for lower numbers compared to FF15. That’s the reason why I don’t get this „setting in a better light“. Results could be much better with a release in November, and that’s a decision by SE themselves.

@K1LLEGAL Yep. When it's a PS version of a game on top, there's lots of flexing in the comments about how superior the platform is.

When it's something else, suddenly there's a lot of "b-b-b-b-b-b-but digital!" comments.

FFXVI has sold reasonably well for what it is. The problem, I think, is that a lot of online rhetoric had people thinking it's the new hotness and is going to sell like God of War or something.

It's funny how well modern Zelda sells. The series never pulled in numbers like this prior to BotW.

Tell me again, why are we so obsessed about how this game is selling?

I bought it physical myself and considering there is no PS4 game, this is not a bad release if 10% of PS5 owners bought FF16.

The fetch quests are horrible imo but the action displayed on screen is wild. Sometimes the game looks awesome but in other area's it looks a lot less.Not the best game for me personal but it is a FF made for almost everybody.

I'm pro physical (cheaper too) but it will disappear because the full game isn't even on the disc any more + the internet is always needed because of patches etc. I get that part. A game not been playable any more when you are offline/internet or servers are down, is a bit of a concern tbh. I hope there will be a final download to use a game offline when the game is like, too old.

@Mitsui actually I think the PS5 has now sold more than the PS4 did in a similar time frame I might be wrong tho in Japan. The problem is the weird issue of PS5 software just not selling there at least where physical copies count. Who knows how digital is

Not having to store discs is a big deal at this point in my life. I'm at the stage where the clutter and storage space are bigger concerns than paying a little bit extra for the game.

So I think it's important to provide both, this isnt even a new take. People have been saying that for 15+ years now.

On the other side. Digital is just a distribution channel, not a replacement for physical media.

I think it's important to note that bad language used to communicate with the consumer base likely accounts for 40% of those digital sales. Number of people who think the disc is just a key and don't know the whole damn game is on the disc which has convinced them to just pay the digital tax is honestly just staggering.

I always thought games companies didn't reveal digital sales, but apparantly gsddata know all (except Nintendo's). Makes me wonder why the figures are not more commonly reported.

Edit, that said, gsddatas site doesn't seem to provide easy access to any figures from a quick browse.

Physical for me. It was £10 cheaper 🤷‍♂️

Was this reported by Square-Enix? Not doubting you guys, just seems odd you'd leave out the source of this report. You might as well be saying some bloke at the pub told me haha

In this case it has sold around 6mil, a commercial success for the whining SE then

@Ichiban they source at the end, gamesindustry.biz, and they source gsddata.

@2here2there no square have confirmed 3 million total

I’m 54% through the game (love how faithful the game is with the percentages) and love it. I’m trying to not burn out so I’m playing the backend of RE4 (chapter 13) then going back. Bought physical because the deluxe steelbook looked awesome!

@Balosi Thank you! Apologies for my ignorance, booking in an appointment at Specsavers right now!

Always physical for me. £40 day one compared to £65 on the store and ill easily be able to sell it for 40 when I'm done

I wonder what the budget for this game was.

Such a fun game, Final Fantasy name or not.

@Novs that's just not true, i live in mexico and you can found a lot of second hand cheap games on things like facebook marketplace, just bought miles morales for ps5 for around 20 bucks.

@LordBakemono this is not what I'm talking about, people are discussing how they are buying physical releases day one a lot cheaper than digital.

@KundaliniRising333 I'm curious about the marketing budget specifically but I think a "preview from SE" helps...

Budget - too much
Sales - below expectations/ not enough

@Novs lol and i quote you " psysical being cheaper is only a privilege of the biggest countries, usually it's the opposite." but sure buddy

@LordBakemono you should learn what context is. Though it's true that in 4 countries I have lived in, games have almost never been cheaper on physical, even on sales. I'm glad Mexico is not like that and that you can enjoy that.

Digital sales are hidden so the opposition doesn't know how popular something is.

Interesting fact, Atari used to Do a similar thing with their arcade cabinets, not using sequential numbers so the competition couldn't buy an asteroids cabinet or whatever and know how many had been sold up til that point..

Only the tax man knows how many they sold digitally!

@KundaliniRising333

If you've seen the end credits of the people who were involved, it's truly jaw dropping. I fast forwarded it either stick and it still took forever!!

@naruball I got final fantasy 7 remake a full week before it came out through shopto.
So early I actually couldn't stream it or even take screen shots, the ps5 prevented me from doing so!

As for having to be in, shopto put games through my letterbox

@Kanji-Tatsumi probably the best comment I've ever seen on this website, well-done .🙏

With all due respect why do sales charts even matter to the great unwashed like ourselves? If you like a game super if you don't also fine. I mean sales figures are only going to matter to the people who make the game as I understand it's part of the metric on if they get bonuses but I don't really care if FF16 sold well or not. I still want to play it. Not going to stop me. As for digital. Its obvious that was going to be the major method of selling a game when the consoles are much cheaper