Sakaguchi says Final Fantasy VI didn’t sell well in the U.S. when it originally hit the SNES
Some have been under the impression that Final Fantasy VI was a disappointment from a sales perspective in Japan whereas it sold moderately well in America. However, this isn’t actually true.
Hironobu Sakaguchi, who produced Final Fantasy VI, has now cleared things up. It turns out that is was the United States is where the RPG didn’t sell. He added that Final Fantasy VII “actually did very well in Japan.”
Interestingly, bigger characters were used in future Final Fantasy titles – starting with Final Fantasy VII – due to the response to VI. Sakaguchi is also “mystified” by VI’s newfound popularity in the west.
“In terms of numbers, [Final Fantasy VI] didn’t sell in the States. It actually did very well in Japan. I’m mystified, because I see [Americans] are playing the [mobile] version. I think size of the characters really matters to an American audience, so from Final Fantasy VII onward, we used bigger characters. [I think] that’s why Final Fantasy VII took off. But I am kind of mystified [by VI’s current popularity in the West], because [Americans] didn’t buy Final Fantasy VI back then.”
