The first Final Fantasy VII Remake sales numbers are in from Square Enix, revealing that the RPG sold more than 3.5 million units in its first three days. The Final Fantasy VII Twitter account posted the news, saying the number is cumulative between physical shipments and digital copies sold.
We’re proud to announce we shipped and digitally sold over 3.5M copies of #FinalFantasy VII Remake in 3 days!
All of us would like to raise our Buster Swords to say THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us during launch, we hope you’re all enjoying the game! #FF7R pic.twitter.com/4m93Op7O9I
— FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (@finalfantasyvii) April 21, 2020
These numbers only include the first three days since Final Fantasy VII Remake’s release on April 10, and they don’t take into account any additional sales figures over the last week. For the most part, this lines up with early player figures from Gamstat that showed Final Fantasy VII Remake as the third-highest PS4 exclusive launch ever, though the Gamstat numbers rely on players being online so it can scrape that data from the PSN API. In fact, Final Fantasy VII Remake may have even beaten out God of War when it comes to sales numbers. The beloved Sony Santa Monica game moved 3.1 million units in its first three days. However, this comes down to the difference between “shipped” and “sold,” with the former meaning units shipped to stores to sell, and the latter being copies actually sold and in consumer’s hands.
Lots of misinformation online that Final Fantasy VII Remake had a bigger launch than Spider-Man PS4 or God of War. Not true
FF7 Remake SHIPPED 3.5 million in 3 days.
God of war sold through to consumers 3.1 million, and Spidey 3.3 million. SHIPPED numbers were much higher
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) April 21, 2020
With a huge shift to digital sales, however, and a relatively botched launch from a physical perspective due to the ongoing pandemic, it’s unclear just what Final Fantasy VII Remake’s actual total “sold” figures look like. The scraped data from the PSN showed at least 2.3 million people playing within the first three days, so somewhere in the remaining 1.2 million difference lies the actual sales figure.
To add some context to these numbers, the multiplatform Final Fantasy XV shipped 5 million units at launch, but early analysis indicates that overall sell-through on Final Fantasy VII Remake is actually higher, despite shipping less and releasing on a single platform. Again, unprecedentedly high digital sales may factor heavily into that.
Final Fantasy VII Remake shipment and digital sales have totaled 3.5 million units in 3 days
Shipments are lower than Final Fantasy XV. Which shipped 5 million units day 1. However sell through appears to be higher on VII. Physical production issues likely lead to lower number https://t.co/CrmcUF3Xno
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) April 21, 2020
Reports are still pouring in about these sales figures, including that more than 1 million are attributed to Japan. In any case, it’s clear that Final Fantasy VII Remake is a resounding success story for Square Enix, and the critical reception matches the commercial figures we are seeing. Its ending is creating a lot of discussion and buzz—both for those who loved it and people who weren’t too thrilled by some changes.
Square Enix is already hard at work on the second part of the Remake saga, but information on its final release timing remains thin.
