In a story from Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda on the “volatile yet alluring gaming sector,” he mentioned that sales for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XVI surpassed 3.5 million units worldwide. He also discussed the successes and failures of other Japanese games from the past few years. [Thanks, Kabutan!]
Yasuda brings up Final Fantasy XVI when discussing how Japanese IPs will soon become widely popular around the world. He predicts that Bandai Namco and Sony Group will have a large hand in that. Bandai Namco has anime going for it, whereas Square Enix has had successes like Final Fantasy XVI and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. However, he also warns investors of the unpredictability of the gaming sector, since Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai was a failure compared to other titles in the same series. It’s not a stable market since the difference between a “good” game and a “bad” game is quite drastic, even if they belong to the same IP.
As a note, Square Enix had announced in June 2023 that sales for Final Fantasy XVI on the PS5 had passed 3 million units. This includes both digital and physical copies. Since the game is now available on the PC, it would mean that Square Enix only sold around 500,000 copies on both PS5 and PC since June 2023.
The full report looks at the shifting stocks for various gaming companies, as well as why certain games failed while others succeeded. For example, he noted that Koei Tecmo’s Rise of the Ronin and Capcom’s Kunitsugami: Path of the Goddess both led to dips in their respective companies’ shares. He believes this is due to the games’ names and confusing contents as to why the audience didn’t like them. However, he also points to the success of Sega’s Metaphor: ReFantazio, which adds a new story and characters to a foundation familiar to those who played the Persona series.
Final Fantasy XVI is readily available on the PS5 and Windows PC.
Published: Mar 13, 2025 06:30 pm