Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Sells Around 2 Million Copies Following Drop in Sales in Japan : Games : Gamenguide

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was said to have sold around 2 million copies based on PS5 daily active user data as the game recently experienced a drop in sales in Japan.

It is relatively rare that the public is treated with direct sales data from video game publishers and Square Enix, in particular, is somewhat notorious for keeping this information in the dark. This means that interested parties would usually have to resort to trying to determine commercial success through other means.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's Sales

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was found to have sold around 2 million copies based on player data and follows a recent drop in sales in Japan.
(Photo : Square Enix / Screenshot taken from official website)

One way of figuring out a game's sales data is by looking at player tracking data, which is exactly what Ampere, an entertainment analysis firm, did for the recent PlayStation 5 exclusive. The game launched on Feb. 29, 2024, and Square Enix has not yet given fans any concrete information on how well Final Fantasy VII Rebirth sold.

One question that this data raises is how Final Fantasy VII Rebirth did compared to other games in the franchise. One example is Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the original PlayStation 4 version, which was found to have sold 3.5 million copies in just three days, according to PushSquare.

On the other hand, Final Fantasy XVI, which Square Enix sent mixed messages regarding the game's success compared to the company's expectations, sold around 3 million copies at launch.

Now, based on acquired player data, it seems that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has not been able to match up to previous titles in the Final Fantasy franchise. However, it is also important to note that direct sequels typically struggle to keep pace, particularly when previous installments have proven to be highly popular among fans.

This is, after all, because not everyone who bought Remake will have enjoyed it, which means there would be a decline in the number of people who will buy the game's sequel. However, selling at least 2 million copies is still somewhat impressive but makes many fans wonder whether it has met Square Enix's expectations.

Drop in Sales in Japan

Despite being a highly anticipated sequel, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth experienced a massive 90% drop in sales in Japan since launch. A recent report noted that the game's sales were sitting at 287,138 after two weeks on store shelves, said The Gamer.

While these numbers are considered relatively normal for a PlayStation 5 exclusive in Japan, it was found that 262,656 of these sales were actually made during the first week of launch. This means that in the game's second week, only 24,482 copies were sold.

This comes as the original game debuted with more than 700,000 copies sold in its first week of launch and 70,000 copies in the following week. It is also important to consider the circumstances surrounding both releases.

This is for the fact that these numbers are only for the physical copies of the games and the PlayStation 5 has a model that only works with digital game copies. Furthermore, Final Fantasy VII Remake was released in the latter stages of the PlayStation 4's lifecycle when there was a larger player base compared to the PlayStation 5, according to Level Up.