Stranger of Paradise sales in Japan are some of the lowest in the series
It's the fourth-lowest selling Final Fantasy spin-off to date in Japan, selling less than 50,000 copies in its first week.
It’s been a weird ride for Final Fantasy fans when it comes to the latest spinoff. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin turned a lot of heads when it was first shown off. Some looked towards it in confusion, others treated it with derisive laughter. After Square Enix changed up its marketing strategy and released some demos, however, more people have come around to it and have been enjoying the game after it launched last week.
Yet it seems like it wasn’t enough for some players. While the game is topping charts in Japan, Stranger of Paradise sales aren’t great compared to other Final Fantasy games. It ranked amongst the worst launch sales in the series, being the fourth-worst spinoff saleswise in its first seven days.
To put that into perspective: only Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers have sold worse than this game in their first week.
What do these low Stranger of Paradise sales mean?
It’s important to note: these sales reports are only counting physical sales in Japan; digital sales and units pushed outside of Japan haven’t been counted yet. And according to Famitsu, it’s the highest-selling game physically in the country. So while the game isn’t a flop, it does point towards it being a fairly unpopular Final Fantasy game.
Given the mixed critical and user reviews, that’s not surprising. While some enjoy the game’s combat and cheesy story, others view it negatively compared to other games in the series. Issues with the PC port on Epic Games Store (which just seems to be the norm with Square Enix’s PC ports) have negatively impacted the game’s user score on sites like Metacritic.
Have you gotten your hands on Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin yet? What do you think of it? Let us know!
