John-ShepardDoes Final Fantasy XV really need to sell 10 million copies to turn a profit?
Some people thought that's what game director Hajime Tabata meant when he said the anticipated title would have to push that many units in order to be considered a "success."
But Tabata has now clarified his comments. In a statement to Famitsu (as translated by Novacrystallis ), the Square Enix boss said that was the ideal number for the team; i.e., how many copies the devs would like the game to sell. It's not necessarily the number they need to hit to make money. Obviously, Tabata admitted that 10 million is a pretty lofty goal but the publisher is clearly going to push the hell out of this game, if that massive "Uncovered" event is any indication.
As a frame of reference, Final Fantasy VII , which originally released in 1997, is the best-selling game in the franchise at 11 million. Of course, that number was reached over several years, but it's also worth noting that the industry was a lot smaller then, too. As for how many copies FFXV will sell, or how many it needs to sell for Square Enix to turn a profit, well, that all remains to be seen.
Final Fantasy XV is set to launch on September 30 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. There is currently a new playable sample, titled the Platinum Demo, available if you wish to try it; here's the trailer:
Related Game(s): Final Fantasy XV
FFXV took like 10 years to complete, does that mean the budget is huge?
Only if all of the ten years they were working on this game, which isn't the case. More time, means more staff hours.
And it's not like all staff in the credits are involved the whole time. Different people are responsible for different things, and while there's definitely a core team, you can be sure that most people in the credits were only there for their lvl of contribution. (A few months, perhaps before reassigned to similar work on something else.)
I think…selling 10 million – while a cool goal and all…is probably a bit tough for FFXV. I bet 5 million – most likely.
They're trying to really get this game out there and have it be accessible to all the players. Free demo, free anime, free movie – they really wanna get this game out there.
Well I kinda doubt even in the long run they'll sell that many. MGS V: The Phantom Pain sold…like 5-6 million? KHIII is a possible contender for 10 million considering how many people have been waiting for that game.
I think they need to sell more than 10 mil. It changed hands and was remade so many times under different engines and had all these different systems and went from PS3 to PS4 to Xbox One and the whole things has been a money pit. And it's unwieldy. Tomb Raider cost $100 million to make. This thing must be massively worse.
FFXV took like 10 years to complete, does that mean the budget is huge?
And it's not like all staff in the credits are involved the whole time. Different people are responsible for different things, and while there's definitely a core team, you can be sure that most people in the credits were only there for their lvl of contribution. (A few months, perhaps before reassigned to similar work on something else.)
Only if all of the ten years they were working on this game, which isn't the case. More time, means more staff hours.
I think…selling 10 million – while a cool goal and all…is probably a bit tough for FFXV. I bet 5 million – most likely.
They're trying to really get this game out there and have it be accessible to all the players. Free demo, free anime, free movie – they really wanna get this game out there.
Well I kinda doubt even in the long run they'll sell that many. MGS V: The Phantom Pain sold…like 5-6 million? KHIII is a possible contender for 10 million considering how many people have been waiting for that game.
I think they need to sell more than 10 mil. It changed hands and was remade so many times under different engines and had all these different systems and went from PS3 to PS4 to Xbox One and the whole things has been a money pit. And it's unwieldy. Tomb Raider cost $100 million to make. This thing must be massively worse.