An article posted by Ronan90.
http://www.finalfantasyunion.com/news/fi...--616.html

Quote:Final Fantasy has been Square Enix's signature property for some time now, and perhaps at the present time, they need it to be successful more than ever. Final Fantasy XIII itself has been hugely anticipated ever since it was announced all those years ago, and Yoichi Wada has now voiced his expectations for the title. Surprisingly though, they are rather lower than most people would have probably expected as he only expects the title to shift around 6 million units worldwide.

While this may seem like a large figure in itself, it's actually quite the opposite when compared to previous Final Fantasy titles. It's even more surprising given the decision to release the game on the Xbox 360 as well, a move which was done to increase sales. Has the appeal of Final Fantasy really fallen this far?

In recent times, only three Final Fantasy games have sold less than 6 million copies, and they were Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X-2, and Final Fantasy XII - two of which were the last iteration to appear on the console. The first games to appear have generally sold the best, so the 6 million prediction shows that Square Enix have very low expectations.



What's even more alarming though, is that no Final Fantasy game per generation has ever sold more than the first iteration. This effectively means that unless Square Enix has a master plan, they expect sales to drop even further for Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy XV, should it ever be made. It signals a continuing decline in the sales of mainstream Final Fantasy titles, and it's surely something that must be worrying Square Enix.

Here's hoping that Final Fantasy XIII blows the predictions out of the water when it's released.

So what do you guys think?
Personally, I wouldn't be here on gaming union if it wasn't for my interest in Final Fantasy (versus) XIII and me checking out FXN.
You can't argue with the figures though. The last game to sell really well in FF standards was FF X.
I, however, believe that XIII has a lot more appeal than games like IX, XI and XII. I think they were some of the worst games in the FF series (meaning they are still good though lol)

I think the reason why IX didn't sell well was the fact that... after VIII's life like graphics they went all child-like with the art style and a lot of people (including myself) didn't like it.


..XI of course was online meaning a lot of FF fans didn't even bother trying it because they don't like MMO's. But it is still making SE a lot of money.

As for FF XII.. the producer Yasumi Matsuno got ill and had to step down causing changes to the story/characters and many delays (People started to get annoyed). It had a great structure with the open world map, all the customisation.. but the storyline was meh with rubbish character development.

I think FF XIII and Versus XIII will do extremely well. The battle system for XIII looks really solid and judging from all the news and recent translations it's story looks amazing.

Versus XIII we still don't know a lot about, but a prince with kickass powers, teleportation flying swords. Whats not to like?

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I would say it boils down to people being tired of whats become a one trick pony. FFT will always have a place in my heart, but after that...I'm not so sure any of their other games rank on my list. Part of making a successful game is making a really memorable character (lolcloudsephiroth), and I really don't feel any of their latest brands have had characters that really wow me. Maybe if they mixed it up a bit? A non-white main character to really jostle their trend? Id play a game about a latino man from the fantasy/future dual wielding laser swords to fight a dragon!

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I want to see how FF sells on a current gen console (excluding handhelds). If XIII and vXIII sell well then we could see a possible comeback for mainstream Final Fantasy. I don't know why SE's prediction is so low, I don't see how XIII will sell only 6,000,000 copies, especially over 2 consoles.

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