Final Fantasy statistics

The Final Fantasy series has sold 173.2 million units across all of its games.

(Source: VG Chartz)

• Final Fantasy sold 2.13 million copies.
• Final Fantasy II sold 1.37 million copies.
• Final Fantasy III sold 3.86 million copies.
• Final Fantasy IV sold 3.49 million copies.
• Final Fantasy V sold 2.88 million sales.
• Final Fantasy VI sold 3.80 million copies.
• Final Fantasy VII sold 14.10 million copies.
• Final Fantasy VIII sold 9.60 million copies.
• Final Fantasy IX sold 5.83 million copies.
• Final Fantasy X and X-2 sold 20.80 million copies.
• Final Fantasy XI: Online sold 1.77 million copies.
• Final Fantasy XII sold 7.71 million copies.
• Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 sold 11 million copies.
• Final Fantasy XIV: Online sold 1.45 million copies.
• Final Fantasy XV sold 10 million copies.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake sold 5 million copies.

This is the best place to start because it gives us a clear indication of how many sales the Final Fantasy series has accumulated over the years and how the series has performed. Right off the bat, we can see that the Final Fantasy series is one of the best-selling video game series of all time, as 170 million is an absolutely colossal number of sales for any game to have. The most popular game is Final Fantasy X and X-2, with 20 million sales, but other releases aren’t that far behind.

Final Fantasy XIV offset the decline of the non-MMO game market in 2022.

(Source: Games Industry, Game Developer)

• Square Enix’s net sales increased by 9.8% during 2022, totaling $2.84 billion worth of sales.
• The sales of non-MMO games declined during this period as well.
• However, this decline was lessened by a steep increase in Final Fantasy XIV’s subscribers brought on by the release of the Endwalker expansion.
• Square Enix’s Digital Entertainment sector had a 6% increase in sales, resulting in $2.1 billion.

Even though Square Enix did not have a mainline Final Fantasy release in 2022, its sales were improved by a sharp uptake in Final Fantasy 14 players who started playing the game more following the Endwalker expansion. This was good news for Square Enix as Final Fantasy is a fundamental franchise for them and it was a sign that things were still fine for the company despite declines in sales.

Final Fantasy XIV hit 27 million registered players in 2022.

(Source: Game Developer)

• This was a 3 million player increase compared to 2021.
• The reason for the high player count is the everlasting appeal of the Final Fantasy series as well as the fact that the game is free-to-play up till level 60.
• The game receives expansions all the time, with the second expansion being Heavensward.
• The game was so popular in 2021 that Square Enix had to halt sales for the game twice, mostly to add more space to their servers.
• The game will most likely reach 30 million players sometime in 2023.

This is another important milestone for the Final Fantasy series because Final Fantasy XIV was so well-received and to see it still prospering years after its release bodes well for future releases. The game is free-to-play so it’s easy for new players to get into the game and the constant addition of expansions keeps things fresh and enjoyable, so we can expect the game to hit the 30 million mark sometime in the future.

Square Enix is selling Final Fantasy statues worth $12,000.

(Source: Automaton Media)

• The statues are based on Yoshikata Amano’s key art for Final Fantasy VI.
• The statues are limited to only 600 units worldwide, with 150 of them reserved for Japan.
• The creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi did not approve of the statues and asked Square Enix if “this was it”.
• The $12,000 price tag is in the upper level when it comes to statues, as a $10,000 statue is still too expensive, even for Prime 1 Studio.

Video game merchandise is known for fetching some pretty high prices after some time has passed, but recently, merchandise has been skyrocketing in price and an example of that is the statues that Square Enix is offering fans in 2023. They are on a 1/6 scale of the original and are extremely well-made, but some collectors, specialists, and even the creator of Final Fantasy have expressed concerns with the pricing and asked if that is really what Square Enix is planning to do. There’s something for everyone, but there is also a point where novelty becomes pretentious.

Square Enix is adding NFTs to the Final Fantasy franchise.

(Source: Decrypt)

• Square Enix partnered with Enjin, a blockchain gaming firm so they can release Final Fantasy NFTs.
• The NFTs are not going to be exclusively digital since some of them will be physical in the form of statuettes, action figures, as well as trading cards.
• Some of them are being made for the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII.
• The trading cards will be released for $4/pack, and each card can be redeemed for an Enjin NFT on their site.
• Square Enix is taking a conservative and cautious approach to NFT as it is a volatile market.

Of course, it had to be something to do with NFTs… NFTs are one of those things that were received with a lot of criticism because they have been proven to be pyramid schemes designed to generate a large amount of money for purchasing essentially nothing. However, they can be a useful tool to draw popularity to a game or to a specific cause, and it seems like Square Enix is doing just that by cautiously entering the NFT market.

Final Fantasy XV had 10 million players in 2022.

(Source: Push Square, Twitter)

• The game’s first release was in 2016.
• This milestone makes Final Fantasy XV one of the best-selling entries in the series in general.
• For comparison, Final Fantasy VII sold upwards of 13 million copies.
• Despite some criticism, the game is still beautifully represented by the Luminous engine and is a solid contestant for the Final Fantasy VII remake.

This is just a neat statistic about the success of Final Fantasy XV in the competitive gaming market of 2022. It is among the best-selling Final Fantasy games and has been received quite positively in the community as a great Final Fantasy game in general.

Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier accumulated 1 million downloads in two days.

(Source: Destructoid)

• The game was released on the 17th of November 2021 as a Final Fantasy battle royale.
• Players can create their own characters as they set to 75-man battles reminiscent of all the best aspects of the Final Fantasy series.
• The game was well-received and Square Enix celebrated by awarding players with free Shinra Pack Tickets and Chocobo Food.

Yes, Final Fantasy has a great freemium mobile game that anyone can pick up and play without the need for any previous knowledge about the franchise. Mobile games tend to rake in a huge amount of profit when they are executed well, as we have seen with Stardew Valley and its mobile version. It’s a great game and definitely worth picking up if you have nothing else to play.

MZ’s Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire made $1 million per day in November 2018.

(Source: SensorTower)

• This equated to $30 million for the entire month across the App Store and Google Play combined.
• 42% of spending was in the United States.
• 18% of spending was in Japan.
• 52% of the total revenue for the game was brought by iOS.
• 48% of the total revenue for the game was brought by Google Play.
• The game earned over $485 million within its first year.

Here is another Final Fantasy mobile game that is notable because it generated a tremendous amount of profit for MZ. A game generating $1 million per day is insane and keeping that income consistent for more or less an entire month is even more impressive. It’s definitely one of the better games out there, although it isn’t a purely Final Fantasy game, since it’s a strategy game.

Final Fantasy XIV found a virtual solution to the housing crisis.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Players in Final Fantasy XIV are able to purchase virtual land and housing in the same.
• There were some issues with the housing since certain players were able to purchase everything and leave nothing for others.
• Square Enix solved this issue by increasing the available land on the server as well as limiting the real estate that each player can purchase, down to one house per person.
• Of course, this is not a suggestion on what to do in the real world since that usually doesn’t hold any water, but it’s interesting to see where game developers go when they have to solve issues.

This is an interesting thing that happened in the Final Fantasy community as the game reached a housing crisis comparable to the one happening in the United States. It got so bad that Square Enix had to intervene and limit the amount of land and number of houses that a single player can have, which solved it in turn.

Square Enix’s sales declined without a major 2022 Final Fantasy release.

(Source: Eurogamer)

• Square Enix recorded net profits of $1.9 billion for the year, which is 7% lower than 2021 year-on-year.
• The company’s operating income was $310 million, which is 18% lower than the same period of the previous year.
• Square Enix released 6 games in 2022, but it had no major Final Fantasy release, while 2021 had the Final Fantasy VII remake.
• The company is expecting improved sales in 2022 with the release of Final Fantasy XVI.

This is something that is bound to happen with a company as massive as Square Enix since its sales hinge heavily on its flagship games, and 2022 did not see a major Final Fantasy release, which resulted in a loss of profits. However, the loss was not as extreme as you would expect since it had other games buffering its profits for a mitigated loss.

Final Fantasy XIV: Online had 73.63 million hours watched on Twitch in 2022.

(Source: SullyGnome)

• The game was broadcast for 5 million hours.
• There were 8,406 players watching the game on average.
• On average, there were 574 channels streaming the game.
• It had a viewer ratio of 14.6.
• The highest number of viewers the game had was 94,679.
• There were 127,213 broadcasters streaming the game.
• It was ranked #40 based on its average viewer rank.
• It was ranked #28 based on its average channel rank.
• It was ranked #34 based on its peak channel rank.

And finally, we have to take a look at how Final Fantasy XIV: Online has performed on the Twitch scene since it is arguably the most popular Final Fantasy game in 2022 and that fact is apparent when you look a the total hours watched for the game, as well as the total number of broadcasting hours. The quality of the game makes it very appealing to audiences that want to enjoy watching it, whether it be for the gameplay exclusively or to interact with their favorite streamer.

To sum up

This marks the end of everything we have to say about the Final Fantasy franchise! As you can see, the history of the game is littered with ups and downs, but the newer games take the spotlight as they are the ones that are still making moves on the market and working toward furthering the series as a whole through new releases improving on the mistakes of their predecessors. After more than 35 years on the market and millions of sales, the Final Fantasy series is still going strong as graphical quality improves and developers have more and more ambition and love for the games they create. We sincerely hope that you have enjoyed all of the information presented here and that we’ll see you again for the next series!