It’s a general rule of thumb: if a JRPG doesn’t sell well in Japan, then things do not bode well for other markets around the world – and if that JRPG is carrying the Final Fantasy brand and doesn’t sell well in Japan, well then those Mayan 2012 apocalypse rumours may very well be true.

Despite getting a 40/40 in Famitsu, sales of Final Fantasy XIII-2, which was released in Japan last month, are not looking hot. In its first week of sales, it only managed to move 500,000 copies, making Square-Enix execs poo a little.

Now, 500,000 copies may sound like a lot – but for a Final Fantasy game in Japan, that’s actually pretty bad. In comparison, Final Fantasy XIII sold three times as many copies in its first week – and even J-Pop, Charlie’s Angels-esque Final Fantasy X-2 moved 1.5 million copies in its first week.

Further indiciations of trouble: according to an article on Gamerevolution, the author witnessed stores in Japan already selling second-hand copies of the game – 3 weeks after launch.

Any Final Fantasy fan will tell you – one does not simply resell a Final Fantasy game (I still have my PS1 copy of FF7).

The game was also initially being sold at 7,000 Yen (R740) but has now been discounted to 5,500 Yen (R580) – indicating that Squeenix is really trying to shift sales here.

The silver lining here might be that bad sales means that Square-Enix might be forced to pull out their trump card and actually release a Final Fantasy 7 remake. That, or they could keep making buckets of cash with their other IPs, which seem to be doing pretty well.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is set to be released here on 3 February 2012, and expect MyGaming’s review soon thereafter.

Source: Gamerevolution