The biggest game release in Japan this generation did not disappoint in the sales department.
According to data collected by VGChartz, Final Fantasy XIII sold roughly 1.4 million copies in its first week of availability at retail in the land of the rising sun. 1.25 million were standalone copies while another 100k were copies bundled with the PS3. Will it become the best selling Final Fantasy game in Japan? That's an answer that can't be given right now, the PS3's install base is only three times the size of Final Fantasy XIII, which means we should see a heavy drop in sales with anywhere from 200k-250k in the second week.
PS3 already sold 75,000 units last week in Japan so over 100,000 would have been sold without Final Fantasy XIII. When the bundle is factored in, it's expected that PS3 hardware sales should rise 175,000 to 225,000 units for the week.
Also, Final Fantasy XIII sales numbers are in line with previous titles which tend to rise about 20 percent from day one to week one. Stories have been circulating claiming that the game will not do as well as its predecessors, but sometimes the best analysts are the gamers themselves. Do you think FFXIII will outperform previous titles, or is the PS3 install base just too small in Japan to overtake the likes of FFX? Let us know in the comments below.
UPDATE: According to Famitsu, FFXIII sold 1,516,532 copies in the first week (as of December 20th). Also, the game helped boost PS3 hardware sales with 245,406 units sold last week in Japan. Great numbers.
12/21/09 Ernice Gilbert
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