Pikmin 4 outsells Final Fantasy 16 in just one week in Japan

Little plant creatures punch way above their weight

Who would win: Some noodly little plant creatures or one of the most iconic video game series created in Japan? Well, apparently it’s the adorable and diligent Pikmin that are winning out on Nintendo’s home turf, as new sales figures published by Famitsu show. According to these charts, which show the purchased number of physical games, Pikmin 4 has already outsold Final Fantasy 16 in this category in its first week – that’s right, more people already bought physical copies of the Nintendo Switch title after a week than of Square Enix’ PS5 exclusive after a month.

Pikmin 4 sold 401,853 copies so far, Final Fantasy 16 a total of 401,376 games – again, these are the totals for physical units and do not include digital sales.

Pikmin 4 has easily outsold every one of its predecessors as well, making it the most popular entry into the series already – Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto had hoped that the Pikmin series would sell better and it seems like he’s getting his wish. That, in turn, is great news for fans, who are hoping that they won’t have to wait another decade for the next iteration.

It’s certainly a factor that the Nintendo Switch is the most widely purchased console in Japan, making the potential user base of Pikmin 4 magnitudes greater than Final Fantasy 16, but in terms of brand power it’s still a David vs. Goliath situation, making the little creatures’ success quite remarkable. Final Fantasy 16 is a great deal more expensive as well, costing ¥9,000 to Pikmin’s ¥5,980, which favors Nintendo’s offering as well.

Perhaps Final Fantasy 16’s direction, which catered more towards the Western audience, is another factor to consider. Pikmin 4 was also marketed heavily in the days ahead of launch, so Nintendo seems to have been doing everything perfectly right in addition to creating a fantastic and fun game.