The Final Fantasy audience isn't small, but it has been shrinking ever since FFVII.  Each title following has seen a drop in sales, and as much as the following FF games were hyped, they didn't seem to pick up new fans.

Its not like a Seriessuch as Dragon Quest, which has a rock steady fanbase.  Or Tales, which fluctuates between sales on each title.  Or Persona, which has seen a steady rise in each title.  Final Fantasy has seen a steady drop ever since FFVII.  Sure, FF might reverse this trend from the last major title which sold 5.5 million due to it being on two combined systems and having been hyped for 5 years.  However, it probably won't by much.  And there's little hope it will be able to even surpass the sales of FFXII because it doesn't have the benefit of coming out on the PS2 with such a high userbase and near the end of its main console lifetime.

Any way you look at it, FFXIII is going to be a struggle to even obtain the regular numbers of a main series Final Fantasy title, let alone be some record breaking HD title like SE is trying to hype it.

The 9.7 is only the original PS1 release. The international re-release and PSN sales push it well over 10 million. The PC version adds even more sales on top of that.

He doesnt say that in this interview.

For gods sake, your on a  sales website, please do some research

FF7 (Ps1) > FF10 (PS2) > FF8 (PS1) > FF12 (PS2) > FF9 (PS1)

thats the rankings in terms of sales

"obviously" declines since FF7

if anything the franchise declined after FF7 & then regained fans with FF10, then dropped with FF12 but STILL managed to outdo FF9's sales

Wrong. 9.7 is counting the PC version and all the re-releases the game has got. Dont trust vgchartz numbers that easily, check other sources.

@ Kenryoku_Maxis:

 So coming out on PS2 in late 2006/early 2007 right when the next console generation was starting and after the next installment in the series has been announced was somehow a benefit?

Do you have anything to back that up? Looking online has just given me broken links.

Famitsu's LTD for it (3.2m) and SE's own reports. 9.7 millions is shipped, counts PC version, and all the re-releases. The only thing it doesnt count is the game's recent release on PSN.

FF VII sold 9.340k on PS and PC together.
http://www.square-enix.com/jp/ir/e/explanatory/download/0404-200308040000-01.pdf

OT: It won't outsell FF VII.

This is what I wanted to see.

It seemed to work just fine for series such as Persona and Tales.  Heck, both those series kept selling titles on the PS2 well into this generation.  More consoles = the chance for more sales.  Just because it hurt Final Fantasy with FFIX and FFXII its somehow its a negative across the board?

@Darthdevid

I did do my research.  Fine, I'll word it a different way.

"All of the titles since FFVII saw a decline in sales.  Except FFX which saw a resurgence, followed by another decline."

But the point still stands that the sales overall since FFVII is in decline.  And its just extreme wishful thinking on SE part to think that they can just make a big flashy game, hype it to death and then expect it to sell better than FFVII when the FF name brand has been selling less and less for the last 12 years.  That's like saying Sega would spend 5 years making the 'ultimate' Sonic game and suddenly announce 'We've done it, we predict this game is going to outsell Sonic 2!'.