Final Fantasy XIII: From $90 to $40 in 2 Months
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Feb 12, 2010 03:59 JST
- Tags: Akihabara, Final Fantasy, Production Controversy, PS3, RPG, Square Enix
Top marathon simulator Final Fantasy XIII is now being sold at bargain prices online and in Akiba stores thanks to plummeting sales and mountains of excess inventory, with the price having dropped from an admittedly outrageous ¥9,240 to ¥3,980 in the few months since its much heralded release.
Previously the game was available second-hand and in promotional sales at rockbottom prices, but not in regular retail.
The game is fast dropping out of Japanese game charts, now selling a few thousand copies a week.
Even Play-Asia is apparently having trouble shifting the game, with a $40 discount adding insult to injury.
Although thankfully for Square Enix initial sales were healthy, with this performance it now seems unlikely the game will be able to achieve long-seller status – compare to Guns of the Patriots, which with 5 million copies sold, 650,000 in 2009, is now the best selling PS3 exclusive.
Whether all this is down to word spreading of the game’s questionable design or some other factor is an interesting question.
In any case it appears Square Enix has long since mastered the art of buying favourable reviews, so international retail success seems possible all the same.
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Its $40 now bitches now lets go!!!!
That's really a lose-lose situation for SE. they tarnished their brand by giving huge discount like a cheap product. In the future people will expectedly wait to purchase after an eventual discount. And I am sure those 1.7 mil+ folks who bought it at full price aren't gonna be too happy about their purchase seeing it is now at the bargain bin price.
Well consindering that people who reserved their copy of the game I believe will get Free bonus content on Xbox 360 and PS3.
As for the people who didn't.Well they have to buy the bonus content.
Pretty sure they won't - there was no special code included with the pre-ordered versions that I'm aware of.
Well, we can always hope for an "oh here's all the cities we omitted" patch somewhere in the nearest future.
(sarcasm)*
I guess Square Enix is screwed.
Those 1.7 mil+ folks probably weren't too happy with the game itself if this drop is the word-of-mouth effect.
I am curious how the pro-FF13 fans who criticized the anti-FF13 reviews would explain this drop.
I won't buy till it's 20 -_-
No, wait for it to drop to $4.
I won't buy it until it's worth zero...
I don't want this shit even for FREE !
I won't even look at my friends playing it!
They'll have to pay me to play
I won't even read articles about it!
With such a huge price cut on play-asia I feel like I bought my copy too soon.
Damn I got suckered!!
It still looks pretty expensive on all the online stores to me. (I only searched for brand new copies)
Yeah, right, onii-tama.
I borrowed one to play from a FF-fag friend, who bought it on the first day.
The game is a piece of crap by the way.
It kinda reminded me of playing Mario on NES.
It had less polygons and the girls vere not cute though.
The game is a Piece of shit that's why.... New Super Mario Bros Wii price hasn't gone down! Kishishishi!!
as if nintendo would care if it sold bad they would just release another stupid wii mote gimmick game.
Calling the New Super Mario Bros Wii a "wii mote gimmick game" testifies of not being a proper gamer.
You're an idiot.
nah, New Super Mario Bros Wii is a pretty decent game - too bad it's one of the very few decent games on the wii...
New Super Mario Bros. Wii just sucks, this has nothing to do with "being a proper gamer".
^ and I bet you haven't even played it at all
We're tsundere for it. We say we don't like it but we're still going to play it.
I'm always willing to at least try a game before I call it shit. However, I don't think sancon hates it, rather, 2ch and various gamers of japan hate it.
...because they played it
the price made me wanna buy it but the comments making me change my mind... so i'm just waiting for MMX9 for PS3, don't let us down Capcom, u gotta kick square enix's butt! Here is ur chance!!
lmfao who saw this coming....
"Even Play-Asia is apparently having trouble shifting the game, with a $40 discount adding insult to injury."
The noobs(I can't call them rpg-gamers)who would buy the game. I can't help but think the noobs rating the game are new to the whole Final Fantasy franchise..For god sakes, they gave it full 5 stars.. The type of people who would have you believe the game is good.
Well, whole Final Fantasy franchise is a piece of crap
Wow... How very idiotic of you. I wonder, can you back up what you are saying? No I would guess not.
"In any case it appears Square Enix has long since mastered the art of buying favourable reviews"
Without question. If there's a game reviewers think is good but you don't enjoy, they are obviously corrupt. I don't think there is any other possible explanation for high review scores.
Take Borderlands, for example. Reviewed quite well but I don't actually care for it much. Therefore 2K Games were dishing out bribes under the table.
On a serious note, SE seem to be making more 'love/hate' games recently, but in truth that's been the case all throughout the series. If I'd had a penny for every time I'd heard: "I think FFV is underrated", "FFVII is overrated", "VIII is the best/worst in the series!" "X was annoying" "XII had an awful battle system"...
XIII, after hearing from the people I've spoken to who have played it, is just more of the same. XII was controversial because of its Gambit system, this is controversial because of the linearity. Whoop-de-doo.
other FFs what their problems thats true, some gameplay aspects didn't reach all its users expectations...
but with FF13 it's different, it's not just about lacking in a feature or two, it's the whole fucking game...
for example, you might complain all you want about FF12, but it wasn't a bad game gameplay-wise, gamers simply didn't like it
in FF13 you don't have the option to like it or hate it, because there isn't enough content to be liked..
This Anon speaks the truth!!
Seriously though, this news surprises me. I suppose people aren't so stupid after all and, dare I say, actually have the capacity to hear each other out for once instead of simply feeding the hand that bitch slaps them.
Holy shit that's a lot of copies to offload. Looks like the FF bubble finally burst. Might pick up a Japanese copy if the price drops further.
It's part of the Gay trinitiy
Aya hirano is ugly
Final fantasy is a shit game
And china has shit quality
Not everyone on Sancon does, I know I don't think she is.
I'll try it before I flame it, though the sales aren't a good indication.
China has been known for shit quality OUTSIDE of Sancon for a long, long time now. That's up to China to change.
More like:
Equality now are trolls/shit
China is shit
The middle east is even worse shit than China.
Admins need the drama. Square/FF died with Spirits and Enix anyway. Enix is likely doing as they please to further kill any remnants of it.
Well now that the price has dropped, time to buy it
Mm... Those Lyrical Box Set of the MSLN A's PSP game (to the right of the pile of FF XIII games) is more worth your money.
You get a delicious Limited Edition Figma Nanoha. (^.^)
It's kind of funny how the games news magazines are saying FFXIII is a great game and yet here I'm seeing it doing poorly in Japan
Anything else that's around those FF games in the pictures are more worth the money, perhaps.
metal slime on the first pick xPP
Why is it every single time when the site mentions something unfavorable or unpleasant or bizzare to "something", commentors sprung up and blabs about "Why does SanCon hate *something*, Why does SanCon like to bash *something*, Why is SanCon so racist to *something*", even though it's just a selected news just to stir up some page views and comments...
"Top marathon simulator". Artefact, that has to be one of your better acts of cynicism. I lol'd hard.
It is a ******* tunnel.
I'm sorry but a rpg isnt supposed to be an on-rails type of game, which basically thats what this is, where the hell is the free roaming, where are the towns, where are the awesome subquests, and why did they put level capping on the game, what the hell, it may have a good story, but calling this a rpg is an insult to FF fans.
shame on you SE, I'm very disappointed in you.
I just hope that Versus XIII will have towns and a world map like the screenshots I saw a couple months back.
ps: why the hell did Square and Enix merged, now they dont have any real competition, and it shows in the games theyre making now
It doesn't even have levels.
lolwut, FF games never had a good story
OBJECTION!
some of the past FFs have had great stories. Too bad it seems the more recent ones focus more on the pretty graphics...
go play a visual novel game if you want stories that much.
I swear people as stupid as you should be put down for the sake of humanity.