UK Boxed Charts: Final Fantasy 16 Scores Fifth Biggest Launch of 2023

Final Fantasy 16 has secured the top spot in the UK boxed charts, marking a notable debut. However, its physical sales are substantially lower than those of Final Fantasy 15, released in 2016, with a 74% decrease. This disparity can be attributed to the fact that Final Fantasy 16 is exclusive to the PS5, whereas its predecessor was available on both PS4 and Xbox One, and the PS4 had a larger install base at the time of its release. Another significant factor is the surge in digital sales since 2016, which will likely mitigate the decline when digital data is included. As a result, Final Fantasy 16 becomes the fifth fastest-selling boxed game of the year so far, following The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and the remake of Resident Evil 4. The arrival of Final Fantasy 16 has pushed Zelda down to second place, with sales dropping 35% week-over-week. Other new entrants in the charts include Sonic Origins Plus at number three, with the majority of its sales coming from the Switch, and Aliens: Dark Descent and Crash Team Rumble at numbers 11 and 15, respectively. In terms of recent titles, F1 2023 has fallen to fifth place with a 51% sales drop, while Street Fighter 6 has slipped out of the top ten to 21st place with a 36% decline. Diablo 4 has also experienced a 37% sales tumble, dropping to eighth place. Conversely, Forspoken has seen a 46% rise in sales, moving up to 12th place, marking its third consecutive week of sales growth.