Final Fantasy 16 demo starts exponential spike in pre-orders

Joshua Rosfield looks down on his older brother Clive as a fire rages in the background — (Image credit: Square Enix)

Pre-orders for Final Fantasy 16 have spiked at one Japanese retailer following the release of the upcoming game's demo.

On June 12, the Final Fantasy 16 demo launched, and very shortly after pre-orders for the game spiked at Japanese retailer COMG. As we can see over on nichebarrier.com, pre-orders for the game were sitting at around the 70s-80s at the start of the month, however as soon as June 12 hit, the number of pre-orders shot up into the 90s, and way up into the 100s by that weekend.

As of the time of writing (June 20), pre-orders for Final Fantasy 16 at this particular store are sitting at 157 - with just a couple of days to go until release. The biggest change we've seen in the numbers so far happened between June 18 and 19 where 29 pre-orders were placed in just 24 hours. We can only assume that several people gave the demo a try on the weekend and were compelled to place their order very soon after.

It's worth noting that these are physical pre-orders at a single Japanese retailer, and that they're not indicative of the global market. That big spike in sales, however, is unlikely to have been entirely limited to COMG, which could mean very good news for Square Enix.

If you're still undecided about playing the next installment in the Final Fantasy series, it seems the demo could be enough to convince you. Very quickly after its launch, the demo was a hit with fans with one player calling it "the next generation of Final Fantasy." It also features subtle references to the series' past so long-time fans are sure to get a lot out of it.

The Final Fantasy 16 demo focuses on Clive’s teenage years and lasts a few hours, giving you more than enough time to get familiar with the new characters and gameplay. Speaking of Final Fantasy 16's gameplay, fans of Nier Automata and Kingdom Hearts will be glad to hear that Final Fantasy 16 was co-developed by both PlatinumGames and Kingdom Hearts 4's dev team - so don't be surprised if the upcoming RPG's battles feel a little familiar.

You can get an idea of what we're in for with our Final Fantasy 16 preview.

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.