The most recent mainline entry in the storied Final Fantasy franchise has hit a major milestone. Square Enix has announced that 2016’s Final Fantasy XV has now sold more than 10 million copies world wide, well over 5 years since it initially launched. The company made the announcement on the official Final Fantasy twitter page where they thanked the fans for their continued support for the title. With 10 million units shipped, this makes Final Fantasy XV one of the most entries in the entire series, with the reigning kings of those statistics being Final Fantasy VII and most recently Final Fantasy XIV.
There are a few factors that more than likely lead to this impressive feat. Firstly, the game was one of the most anticipated entries in the Final Fantasy series, leading to a level of hype that the franchise hadn’t experience since Final Fantasy XIII’s launch in 2013. It also helped that Final Fantasy XV was originally a spin-off for XIII named Final Fantasy XIII Versus, before that project was canceled and the team was reformed into a mainline entry one. Another reason for the success is due to the DLC packs, which then carried over into an even more complete edition of the game dubbed Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition, which accounted for a large number of those numbers.
Thirdly, that Royal Edition, was ported to PC, making the game even more readily available to a much wider audience. Lastly, the game was included in the PS Plus Collection when Sony’s PlayStation 5 launched and made a wide array of AAA titles completely free to own as long as you had a subscription to their online service. The game was definitely different when compared to its previous entries, but it did build upon a massive overworld and a more than welcomed battle structure. It was also generally well received upon release, which was improved upon over time as Square Enix ensured constant patches and content through its existense.