Not sure where you bought FFXVI for less than $25 digitally but going by history of sales at least in the US, the base game , its $18 less than Clair Obscur

But honestly who would even buy the base game for FFXVI at this point?

The DLC is actually worth getting in FFXVI, its not just cosmetic costumes like Clair Obscur's deluxe edition gives out.

Even when on sale, the game is $5 less than Clair Obscur's base game

If SE took FFXV's sales approach (which is dont keep prices high even after a delayed release), FFXVI sales numbers would have been better but they are being stingy with their delayed/drip feed strategy and its affecting all their games , not just Final Fantasy XVI - same thing's happening with FF7 Rebirth.

Its definitely got the Palworld feel to it , in terms of popularity and how unpolished the game looks lol

I'm likely gonna get it when it goes on sale next year - the publisher's track record shows that their games tend to go down in sale for 50% or more in a year or so.

So the popularity it has right now and the fact that the game will likely get heavily discounted, I can see it inching closer to FFXVI's sales but all that is to blame for SE's handling of their game releases.

Edit: Speaking of Palworld, completely forgot about it, I should get it lol

I'd have to go back and check but I can't imagine I'd have paid anymore than 30 euro for FF16 on PSN, it's a game I'd pay around 25 for. Perhaps there was a PS+ discount on it, the yellow coded discounts on there.  

I've been around this industry in one form or another since the NES was king, and I've seen some stuff. And one thing I'm confident about is FF16 becoming a beloved game ten or so years from now. For whatever reason (I believe I know why, but I'll save that for a later date), it's gotten the Dreamcast-Mario Sunshine-Wind Waker treatment online despite being a straight-up amazing game and one of the best mainline FFs, and someday, it'll get its due. And, much like the aforementioned, I'm proud to say I thought it was great in its time... because it is.

Funny thing is, people hated on FFXIII when it came out but started liking it when XV came out, same thing with XV and XVI - people are liking XV now because of XVI - seen several people outside of this site saying how much better XV was lol

Guess gotta wait for FFXVII to come out to change the public reception lmao.

I havent played and finished FFXVI properly yet myself but I did try out the demo and loved it. I dont mind the gameplay changes especially being a Devil May Cry fan (the battle designer for FFXVI was the battle designer for Devil May Cry) and I love how dark the storyline is - exactly what I wanted FFXII to be but it failed to be as dark as FF Tactics was but XVI's storyline is the closest to a dark story like FF Tactics.

I'm planning to play it on Steam in the future (want to finish 7 Remake, Crisis Core and Rebirth first lol)

I gave that game a 10, I over looked the VA and story, my rating scale hits snags like that when a game is a madterpiece on many levels but falters in others. Here the lipsync being the only flaw which alleviates and becomes a non issue after a few hours and Ben Star being Ben Star is a bit oft putting but it's near flawless at release. Like trying to find flaws and it is hard. Also, here I have the backing of not only journos but the gamers too, wavering between 9.6 and 9.7 user scores and only 10% of people on PS5 have gotten to where the game becomes masterpiece level. It started off great, got phenomenal and just doesn't slow done at getting better on all fronts. This is a whole other story, what I'm playing right now is not even my genre style of game and I love it beyond what words can express, no hyperbole, I like the idea of these games but never has one exceeded an 8, it transcends people's genre tastes and there is so much I could say but I don't wanna spoil it, let's just say the story is on par with the best of the recent golden age of television on all fronts, camera work to performances to... other things I can't spoil.

Dreamcast was liked even during its time. It just wasn't a PlayStation 2. Wind Waker didn't take a decade to be liked. It was mocked at Space World but once it came out those who did buy it loved it. I was one of them. Sunshine still sucks lol. FFXIII, FXV, FXVI do suck still. I know people want to feel special and be trendy and pretend some bad games are somehow underappreciated when no. They still are what they are.

I still think that way too.

Granted I don't really think they per-say suck... they are just missing that "magic" that older titles had.
Sunshine is by far, my least favorite 3D mario game (and by a long shot, like it was a poor 3D mario game).
I'd say the same is true for FF15,16, they rank near bottom, when ranking ff games (though not bad games per-say).

I think 13 has a fantastic vibe that holds it up, 15 is mildly decent held up a lit from coming off the fantastic film Kingsglaive set in that universe which would have made a much better game but 16 is certainly the most mediocre game ever crafted. You couldn't make a more average game if you tried, they literally made a single player MMO, in fact the side content in FF14 is more realised than some of this games main quest content and those little exclamation mark quests in 14 that know one does unless they are extremely bored are better than the side quests in 16.