Two of the year's biggest titles, Diablo 4 and Final Fantasy 16, are set to go head-to-head competing for players' attention releasing only a few weeks apart. Diablo 4 has already been released and quickly become Blizzard's fastest-selling game to date, but Final Fantasy 16 has 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 overtake Diablo 4's popularity at launch. However, Final Fantasy 16's PS5 launch exclusivity could mean that Diablo 4 is able to stave off the competition, at least for the time being.
As two long-awaited entries from highly-acclaimed franchises, Diablo 4 and Final Fantasy 16 both 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 16 could 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 with Diablo 4 across all platforms.
Diablo 4 Could Reign Supreme this Month Due to Final Fantasy 16's PS5 Launch Exclusivity
The recent entries in the Final Fantasy series have launched on consoles first before coming to PC later down the line, except for the MMO Final Fantasy 14. Final Fantasy 15 launched for PS4 and Xbox One back in 2016 before coming to PC in 2018, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake first launched for PS4 in 2020 with the enhanced Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade coming 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, and Final Fantasy 16 being exclusive to PS5 at launch could end up hurting the game's initial sales, if to a small degree.
However, Final Fantasy 16 is 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 a PC port of Final Fantasy 16 wouldn't happen by the end of that time period, even if it did. This release schedule would follow the past trend of Final Fantasy games coming to PC about a year after launching on consoles but could make it difficult for Final Fantasy 16 to beat out a multiplatform title like Diablo 4 in the same launch month.
Diablo 4 has a distinct advantage over Final Fantasy 16 being 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 16 might 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 as Diablo 4 in its launch month due to its release being limited to only PS5.
While Final Fantasy 16 might have difficulty competing with Diablo 4 during 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 for Final Fantasy 16. Diablo 4 might 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 for Final Fantasy 16 on launch could make Diablo 4 the bigger seller.
Final Fantasy 16 launches on June 22 for PS5.