Ben-DutkaWhen one examines the statistics correctly, one can't help but be blown away by Japan's collective interest in the recently released Final Fantasy XIII .
Early reports indicated that Square-Enix had shipped anywhere between 1.6 and 2 million copies of the hotly anticipated RPG when it launched last week. Reports soon followed that over 1 million copies had already been sold, but we finally have a more official confirmation from Japanese sales tracker, Enterbrain. According to PC World citing Enterbrain, FFXIII has now sold over 1.5 million copies in Japan and Square-Enix fully expects them to hit the 2 million mark very soon. Now, there are a few things to remember: firstly, the game has only been available for four days. Secondly, it's only available for the PlayStation 3 in Japan (the Xbox 360 version doesn't exist there) and the installed PS3 user base in that country stands around 4 million. This being the case, it means that nearly 40% of all PS3 owners in Japan already own FFXIII and it could very well be half before the month is out. To add one final bit of perspective, the best-selling PS3 exclusive in Japan before FFXIII was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots , which has only sold around 700,000 units in total since it released over a year and a half ago.
But here's the thing: we're only talking about the existing PS3 user base. If FFXIII is this popular; if apparently the whole of Japan wants this thing, they need to own a PS3. Therefore, don't be surprised to see a huge spike in PS3 sales in the Land of the Rising Sun and…well, it has already begun. Enterbrain says sales of Sony's machine have already topped 250,000, which is about 100,000 more than when the system hit another high point after the big price drop in September. In short, FFXIII is the biggest PS3 title by a long shot in Japan and for one final compare-and-contrast piece, FFXII sold 2 million copies all told. And that was on the raging PS2. Sony ought to be happy with FFXIII, yes?
Related Game(s): Final Fantasy XIII
