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Bravely Default Sales Top 1 Million Units Worldwide, Square Reconsiders Final Fantasy Strategy - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 28 July 2014 / 8,617 Views

Square Enix has announced that the 3DS RPG Bravely Default has sold more than one million units worldwide. The game has sold just 400,000 units in Japan and over 600,000 units everywhere else.

A free-to-play version of the game is available on the 3DS eShop. This version contains the first four chapters of the game. Players can pay 2,000 yen for the other five chapters of the game.

Bravely Default is a spiritual successor to Square Enix games from the Super Nintendo, such as Final Fantasy V. It is a turn based fantasy RPG that borrows elements from older Square Enix games. The success of the game has made Square Enix examine its strategy for Final Fantasy.

"In the past, when we developed console games with a worldwide premise, and we lost our focus," said Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda. "And not only did [those releases] end up being games that weren’t for the Japanese, but they ended up being incomplete titles that weren’t even fit for a global audience."

"On the other hand, there are games like the JRPG [Bravely Default that] we made for the Japanese audience with the proper [and familiar] elements," he added. "[That] ended up selling well around the world."

Bravely Default sales in Japan are similar to Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Sales for Final Fantasy games have been on the decline. Final Fantasy XIII sold one million units in its first day in Japan, while Final Fantasy XIII-2 hasn't reached 700,000 units.


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24 Comments
oniyide (on 28 July 2014)

why did it take THIS long to figure out?

  • +9
swbf2lord oniyide (on 28 July 2014)

It didn't. This is old news, save for the sales figures. Not sure why they're reporting that Square Enix is "reconsidering" their strategy just now. I read an article with that exact quote about Bravely Default's success months ago.

  • +1
oniyide oniyide (on 29 July 2014)

fair enough but months ago is STILL too long, should have figured this after xiii

  • 0
drake_tolu (on 28 July 2014)

Much happy... one of the best JRPG of gen.
The second in my opinion. (Only Xenoblade is better...)

  • +3
painmaster212 drake_tolu (on 28 July 2014)

Xenoblade and Bravely Default aren't in the same video game generations though... Even if it was, i still wouldn't put it above other great JRPGs such as Lost Odyssey, Radiant Historia, The Last Story, Persona 4 Golden and Trails in the Sky from that generation. You got to admit, the 2nd half of BD greatly declines the overall game.

  • +3
Michael-5 drake_tolu (on 28 July 2014)

Arguable.....I'd say Bravely Default is better then Radiant Historia, Persona 4, and Trails in the Sky. However Lost Odyssey, The Last Story, Ni No Kuni, Fire Emblem Awakening (8th gen), Fire Emblem SD & HoL, Valkyria Chronicles, Ni No Kuni, and maybe even the Tales of series are better. Then there are all the PSP remakes like FFT, Star Oceans and Tactics Ogre........

Also I like the 2nd half better! The game was so repetitive and bland at the start.

......but Bravely Default is probably the 2nd best JRPG for 3DS so far (behind Fire Emblem).

  • 0
MARCUSDJACKSON (on 28 July 2014)

Get back to FF7

  • +3
Michael-5 MARCUSDJACKSON (on 28 July 2014)

:-/.......Honestly Bravely Default does feel a lot like FFIX, if they put a bit more time into it, this could be on par with PS1's greats.

  • 0
FallingTitan (on 29 July 2014)

seem's like people at square don't know what they are doing for the last 15 years. But yeah Bravely D was great!! Loved it. First square game I bought in FOREVER

  • +1
JazzB1987 (on 28 July 2014)

If they mean by "reconsidering final fantasy strategy" making actual Final Fantasy games for Nintendo platforms that will end in sales then its a good thing. Everything Nintendo got so far was spinoff stuff.

  • +1
FujiokaMidori (on 29 July 2014)

I read about this many weeks ago, and wrote a pretty lengthy commentary on the topic, so I'll just say something real quick... and that is that A Realm Reborn is the best FF in over 10 years. I enjoyed it more than X. XIV has many old-school FF stuff on it, and after 1.0 fiasco, it feels amazing to see how much care and love square put into the game. And then there's Bravely Default. Should SE remain on this path, the 8th Gen will continue to see amazing J-RPG games from them comming out.
It was so riddiculous when I read that CoD inspired the team behind XIII... so glad all of that is over now.

  • 0
Michelasso FujiokaMidori (on 01 August 2014)

FF XIV: ARR better than FF X? Sure, if you liked FF XII…

It's still a great MMORPG, though!!

  • 0
Michael-5 (on 28 July 2014)

I'm confused, players can play the first 4 chapters free and then pay for the next 5 in Japan? That would make 9 chapters.....there are only 6 in the game.

  • 0
OmegaRed421 Michael-5 (on 29 July 2014)

There is 8...9 if you consider the alternate ending as a different chapter.

  • 0
ikki5 (on 28 July 2014)

good, Final Fantasy has been dying with the way they have been taken it. XII was... ok, I played some of XIII and was done pretty much. I have no interest in VX because I know it is probably going to be similar to the crap that XIII had. Though with this, I hope they learn a lot from Braverly Default and really improve on the series because I used to absolutely love it. Now... it is just another RPG series to me.

  • 0
HylianSwordsman (on 28 July 2014)

HAHAHAHAHA! That quote is from April Fools, yo!

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/31/bravely-defaults-success-west-making-square-enix-rethink-jrpgs/

Word for word from that article. The article is dated the day before April Fools, but the quote is from a supposed interview that was published in Japan, where it was already April 1st.

  • -5
ryuzaki57 (on 28 July 2014)

FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns were slaugthered by the press. How much would BD have sold without the general praise? The comparison isn't fair. Btw, last time I've checked SE flagship title was still FFXV, not Bravery Second

  • -7
oniyide ryuzaki57 (on 28 July 2014)

not sure what you mean. One game got slaugthered cause it probably wasnt good the other didnt because it was good.

  • +1
IkePoR ryuzaki57 (on 28 July 2014)

Games usually get praised when they're good and slaughtered when they're shit.

  • 0
ryuzaki57 ryuzaki57 (on 29 July 2014)

think what you want, BD shipped 1m thanks to the praise, LR shipped 1m without the praise, that is to say on its qualities alone

  • 0
garywood ryuzaki57 (on 30 July 2014)

Yeah and the vast majority of those Lightning Returns sales were because it has the name 'Final Fantasy' on it. Adding a well known name is a huge sales booster. Look at Resident Evil 6. What an absolute turd of a game. Sold nearly 5 million.

  • 0
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