Final Fantasy VII Remake is perhaps the most popular and sought after remake in the history of gaming. There was a lot riding on this game, as it marked the first time in history Square Enix has ever completely remade a classic title.
The gamble definitely paid off. Square Enix announced via the game’s official Twitter account that Final Fantasy VII Remake has sold more than five millions copies, including both physical and digital sales.
We’d like to share a Midgar-sized THANK YOU to everyone who has supported #FinalFantasy VII Remake.
We shipped and digitally sold over five million copies worldwide, which has made #FF7R the highest selling digital release on the PlayStation platform in #SquareEnix history! pic.twitter.com/f6vaDSHukD
— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) August 7, 2020
“We’d like the share a Midgar-sized thank you to everyone who has supported Final Fantasy VII Remake,” Square said on the game’s official Twitter. “We shipped and digitally sold over five million copies worldwide, which has made Final Fantasy VII Remake the highest selling digital release on the PlayStation platform in Square Enix history.”
Final Fantasy VII Remake was released during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, during a time in which most major retailers were closed or operating under severely reduced hours.
As such, many players had no choice but to purchase the title digitally through the PlayStation store. When you pre-order a title digitally, it has to be paid in full right away. The title is then automatically downloaded to your console a few days before release, but remains inaccessible.
Then, on midnight on the day of release, you’re able to start playing right away without having to wait for the game to download.
Despite the scarcity of physical retail locations, Square Enix sold a whopping 3.5 million copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake in the first three days immediately following launch.
As the game is currently a PlayStation 4 exclusive, that makes it one more in a series of massive exclusive hits for the console throughout 2020. Not only did Final Fantasy VII Remake put up such amazing numbers, but The Last of Us: Part 2, another long-awaited PS4 exclusive title, sold 4 million copies in its first weekend alone.
On top of that, Ghost of Tsushima, the PlayStation 4 exclusive feudal Japan samurai adventure, sold phenomenally. It garnered 2.4 million copies in its first three days. That makes Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima the fastest selling debuting exclusive IP in the history of the PlayStation 4, beating out the previous record holder, Horizon Zero Dawn.
High-selling exclusives with sequel potential, like Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Spider-Man, The Last of Us, and Final Fantasy VII Remake, will play a huge part in sales for the PlayStation 5 console when it debuts in the holiday 2020 season.
