Two of the year’s biggest titles,Diablo 4andFinal Fantasy 16, are set to go head-to-head competing for players' attention releasing only a few weeks apart.Diablo 4has already been released and quickly become Blizzard’s fastest-selling game to date, butFinal Fantasy 16has made a memorable first impression with its demo and other early previews ahead of its release. Some may be curious if this could give it the momentum to overtakeDiablo 4’s popularity at launch. However,Final Fantasy 16’s PS5 launch exclusivity could mean thatDiablo 4is able to stave off the competition, at least for the time being.
As two long-awaited entries from highly-acclaimed franchises,Diablo 4andFinal Fantasy 16both carry a great amount of hype with them.Diablo 4’s massive commercial success is evident of just how much players had been yearning for an expansive new ARPG from the series, and the critical success of the game shows that Blizzard delivered on fan expectations.Final Fantasy 16could pose strong competition, however, given its similarly fabled status among the gaming community, but being exclusive to the PS5 at launch means the game won’t necessarily be directly competing withDiablo 4across all platforms.
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Diablo 4 Could Reign Supreme this Month Due to Final Fantasy 16’s PS5 Launch Exclusivity
The recent entries in theFinal Fantasyseries have launched on consoles first before coming to PC later down the line, except for the MMOFinal Fantasy 14.Final Fantasy 15launched for PS4 and Xbox One back in 2016 before coming to PC in 2018, andFinal Fantasy 7Remake first launched for PS4 in 2020 with the enhancedFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradecoming to PC in 2021. This exclusivity trend tends to isolate the player base for the series at launch, only broadening later on once the game hits other platforms like PC, andFinal Fantasy 16being exclusive to PS5at launch could end up hurting the game’s initial sales, if to a small degree.
However,Final Fantasy 16is a timed exclusive and theoretically release on other platforms like PC in the future. The game’s producer Naoki Yoshida has stated that development on aPC port ofFinal Fantasy 16wouldn’t happen by the end of that time period, even if it did. This release schedule would follow the past trend ofFinal Fantasygames coming to PC about a year after launching on consoles but could make it difficult forFinal Fantasy 16to beat out a multiplatform title likeDiablo 4in the same launch month.
Diablo 4has a distinct advantageoverFinal Fantasy 16being available on PC as well as Playstation and Xbox consoles, meaning it has access to a wider audience right from its launch. This multiplatform release likely contributed to the huge sales volume the game has seen in the weeks since it launched.Final Fantasy 16might end up breaking sales records when compared to other entries in the franchise, but it will be harder for it to see the same sales numbers asDiablo 4in its launch month due to its release being limited to only PS5.
WhileFinal Fantasy 16might have difficulty competingwithDiablo 4during its launch month, it has the advantage of having essentially two launches: one when it initially releases exclusive to PS5 and another around a year later when it comes to PC and perhaps Xbox consoles as well. This release strategy has seen a similar sales spike for past entries and is likely to repeat the trend forFinal Fantasy 16.Diablo 4might see sales bumps in the coming year as well as its seasonal content rolls out, but in terms of the launch month competition, the lack of a PC release forFinal Fantasy 16on launch could makeDiablo 4the bigger seller.
Final Fantasy 16launches on June 22 for PS5.
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