FF7 Remake well received in Japan despite lockdown – but Switch hardware sales plunge as supply tightens

The latest sales figures are in from Japan, and thanks to the openness of sales reports from the region we can see some of the impact that Corona is having on the sector. 

The initial lockdown on the 7th of April didn’t go as far as many European equivalents, as can be seen from the strong sales of Final Fantasy 7 Remake at retail, which launched three days later on the 10th of April. 

The game sold a whopping 702,853 copies, which was 95.9 per cent of those shipped, showing that the game was in high demand and many would have missed out, with copies sold out in many stores. All this despite many retail stores, particularly in Tokyo, closing their doors. 

“A sales plunge to 25,000 units, largely as a result of worsening supply constraints following the company’s decision to put a brake on the shipment of the devices.”

Commenting on the sales, the Famitus Marketing Data Service noted that “Although its opening sales were down slightly compared to Final Fantasy XV, which launched with 720,000 copies sold on PS4 and Xbox One in November 2016, factoring in the fact that the game has been extremely hard to find ever since its release day, FFVII Remake’s debut can quite reasonably be regarded as more promising than that of FFXV.” 

On the hardware side, the launch of the game caused a spike in PS4 sales, continuing the well-known trend of big RPGs selling hardware in the territory, even this late in the console cycle. With combined PS4 and Pro sales up from under 20,000 to over 79,000 that week. 

The Switch on the other hand “experienced a sales plunge to 25,000 units, largely as a result of worsening supply constraints following the company’s decision to put a brake on the shipment of the devices.” Combined sales of the console had been close to 400,000 only three weeks earlier, thanks to Animal Crossing, they then fell to 280,000 and 154,000, before falling to its current level.

That said, hardware sales for the week are still 59 per cent up year-on-year. While software is up a whopping 382 per cent. Alongside FF7 Remake, that’s down to Animal Crossing: New Horizons continued success, with another 292,876 copies sold, bringing the total to 3,324,660, and putting it up alongside all-time best sellers on the platform in Japan, such as Smash Bros, Pokemon Sword and Shield and Splatoon 2 (all around the 3.5m mark).

Expect sales figures next week to fall drastically, though, as the lockdown really bites.