The Final Fantasy series has now sold the same amount of copies as GTA 5

Final Fantasy 16
(Image credit: Square Enix)

The Final Fantasy series has surpassed 180 million total sales around the world since its launch.

Square Enix just announced the new sales figure over the past weekend, in a post that also revealed a Final Fantasy 16 musical is coming to Japan next year in 2024 (thanks, Noisy Pixel). If big sales numbers and musical adaptations are your cups of tea, this news must be doing something special for you.

Speaking of Final Fantasy 16, the latest game will have helped the series reach the new milestone, chipping in three million copies sold as of last month shortly after launch. That also makes Final Fantasy 16 the fastest-selling true PS5 exclusive to date, and it's not a particularly close race.

This is the part where we'd usually compare Final Fantasy's series sales to other series's, but where do you even begin comparisons to a series that's been around for 36 years now? It's well ahead of the likes of Resident Evil with 135 million copies sold as of late last year, but survival horror doesn't really compare in a mainstream sense to a fantasy RPG series.

What might just blow your mind is that Final Fantasy has just hit the same sales milestone as GTA 5. No, that isn't the entire GTA franchise - it's just GTA 5. Rockstar's 2013 game has sold the same number of copies in 10 years as the Final Fantasy series has sold in roughly 36 years of existence. Of course, it's not really a fair comparison to Final Fantasy, but it's still an entertaining one.

Final Fantasy 16 might have just pushed the series over 180 million copies sold, but with Final Fantasy 14 ongoing, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth set to launch next year, the series is far from taking its foot off the gas.

Head over to our guide on the best Eikons and builds in Final Fantasy 16 if you want to put together a killer Clive.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.