Final Fantasy Echoes of Time Sales Prove Disappointing

Update - As highlighted from the leaked Famitsu first day sales data earlier this week, it has be confirmed that the Wii version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time has proved to be a massive disappointment, despite a heavy TV advertising campaign. Even the Nintendo DS edition has fared poorly in comparison to its predecessor, Ring of Fates.

Check out the full Top 50 list below, showing how Fragile has plummeted due to low stock, as well as the hardware, highlighting how Wii was not boosted by FFCC's release at all:

Media Create Top 50 - 26th January-1st February, 2009
1.) Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 (PSP, Namco Bandai) - 212,765 | NEW
2.) Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (PSP, Konami) - 109,492 | NEW
3.) Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (PS2, Konami) - 108,189 | NEW
4.) Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (NDS, Square Enix) - 101,718 | NEW
5.) Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (PSP, Capcom) - 22,818 | 380,000
6.) Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Wii, Namco Bandai) - 22,600 | 339,000
7.) Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Wii, Square Enix) - 21,721 | NEW
8.) Wii Play: Mario Tennis (Wii, Nintendo) - 20,447 | 108,000
9.) Rhythm Tengoku Gold (NDS, Nintendo) - 20,130 | 1,634,000
10.) Wii Fit (Wii, Nintendo) - 19,087 | 3,215,000
11.) Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (NDS, Nintendo) - 16,000 | 723,000
12.) Dissidia Final Fantasy (PSP, Square Enix) - 13,000 | 857,000
13.) Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III (PS3, SCE)
14.) Soul Eater: Battle Resonance (PSP, Namco Bandai) - 13,000 | NEW
15.) Vampire Kishi DS (NDS, D3 Publisher) - 13,000 | NEW
16.) Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo) - 13,000 | 2,134,000
17.) Zill O'll Infinite Plus (PSP, KOEI) - 13,000 | 39,000
18.) Tomb Raider: Underworld (PS3, Spike) - 13,000 | NEW
19.) Ninja Blade (360, From Software) - 13,000 | NEW
20.) Harukanaru Toki no Naka de: Yume no Ukihashi Special (PS2, KOEI) - 13,000 | NEW
21.) Pokémon Platinum (NDS, The Pokémon Company) - 11,000 | 2,317,000
22.) Tongariboushi and the 365 Days of Magic (NDS, Konami) - 9,700 | 283,000
23.) Kirby Super Star Ultra (NDS, Nintendo) - 9,700 | 1,011,000
24.) Momotaro Dentetsu 20th Anniversary (NDS, Hudson) - 9,700 | 211,000
25.) Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii, Nintendo) - 9,700 | 1,054,000
26.) Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor (NDS, Atlus) - 8,900 | 79,000
27.) Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel (NDS, Level 5) - 8,900 | 713,000
28.) Wii Sports (Wii, Nintendo) - 8,900 | 3,420,000
29.) Naruto: Narutimate Storm (PS3, Namco Bandai) - 7,300 | 68,000
30.) Inazuma Eleven (NDS, Level 5)
31.) Animal Crossing: Wild World (NDS, Nintendo)
32.) Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (PS3, Konami)
33.) Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (NDS, CyberFront) - 7,300 | NEW
34.) Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu! (NDS, Konami) - 7,300 | 205,000
35.) DS Uranai Seikatsu (NDS, Nintendo)
36.) Power Pro Kun Pocket 11 (NDS, Konami)
37.) Fallout 3 (PS3, Bethesda Softworks)
38.) Karaoke Joysound Wii (Wii, Hudson)
39.) Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo)
40.) Taiko Drum Master 2: The Seven Island Adventure (NDS, Namco Bandai)
41.) Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (PSP, KOEI)
42.) Gundam Musou 2 (Limted Edition) (PS2, Namco Bandai)
43.) Yakuza 2 (Playstation 2 The Best) (PS2, SEGA)
44.) Left 4 Dead (360, Electronic Arts)
45.) Fragile (Wii, Namco Bandai)
46.) Hirameki Action: Chibikko Wagyan no Daiki na Bouken (NDS, Namco Bandai) - 5,100 | NEW
47.) Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii, Nintendo)
48.) New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo)
49.) Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (PlayStation 3 the Best) (PS3, SEGA)
50.) DanceDance Revolution X (PS2, Konami) - 5,100 | NEW
XX.) Soul Eater: Battle Resonance (PS2, Bandai Namco) - 4,100 | NEW
XX.) Tomb Raider: Underworld (360, Spike) - 3,500 | NEW
XX.) Memories Off #5: Togireta Film (PSP, 5pb.) - 3,300 | NEW
XX.) Tom Clancy's EndWar (360, Ubisoft) - 2,900 | NEW
XX.) Fukakutei Sekai no Tantei Shinshi: Akugyou Futaasa no Jiken File (PS2, Views) - 2,400 | NEW
XX.) RockMan Dash w/ RockMan Dash 2 Value Pack (PSP, Capcom) - 1,900 | NEW
XX.) Taiheiyou no Arashi DS: Senkan Yamato, Akatsuki ni Shutsugekisu (NDS, System Soft Alpha) - 1,700 | NEW
XX.) Street Fighter Zero 3 Double Upper w/ Vampire Chronicle: The Chaos Tower Value Pack (PSP, Capcom) - 1,200 | NEW

Hardware - This Week | Last Week | Yearly Sales | Lifetime Sales
1.) Nintendo DS - 70,760 | 65,294 | 555,162 | 25,674,805
2.) PlayStation Portable - 44,135 | 38,280 | 348,412 | 11,706,576
3.) Wii - 23,278 | 26,770 | 243,589 | 7,722,490
4.) PlayStation 3 - 17,405 | 17,708 | 144,601 | 2,767,029
5.) Xbox 360 - 8,107 | 7,663 | 55,594 | 886,134
6.) PlayStation 2 - 5,334 | 5,007 | 35,347 | 21,434,871
XX.) Nintendo DSi - 55,613 | 51,618 | 430,475 | 1,661,842
XX.) Nintendo DS Lite - 15,147 | 13,676 | 119,221 | 17,445,455

Original Story - Despite lots of hype for the Pollux Engine and the inclusion of a Crystal Bearers trailer, FFCC: Echoes of Time has started very slow in Japan. Square Enix showed off its new Pollux Engine last year that allowed the easy transition of DS games to Wii, with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, the sequel to FFCC: Ring of Fates from DS, being practically the same game on DS and Wii. To entice gamers into picking up the title, Square Enix included a special new trailer of its forthcoming Wii exclusive Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

However, despite lots of TV and magazine coverage, as well as the trailer, both games have started very slow on their first day of release in Japan (last Thursday). The Nintendo DS edition only sold through 20% of its initial stock with sales hitting 58,000, with a further 4,000 units of the special FFCC-themed DSi bundle being sold (only 10,000 were issued).

As for the Wii version, it seems that expectations were low anyway, with retailers only ordering 56,000 copies in the first week. And it looks like the caution was worth it as only 25% of that total was sold on Day One (normally the biggest sales day, although there is a chance of sales picking up over the weekend), meaning 14,000 copies passed through to consumers. Should this be cause for concern for Square Enix and its exclusive release of The Crystal Bearers later this year, or is it merely a case of the consumer just not willing to pay for a DS game on their Wii?

Whatever the case, it looks like the end result is that franchise's userbase has been further watered-down. The excellent Ring of Fates on DS sold around 300,000 units in total and there are about that many copies of the new DS game on the market right now, yet adding all the current versions' sales together only comes to about 60% of what Ring of Fates alone did on its first day's release! We will find out the final results in a few days, but for now things hardly look rosey.

The other releases on the same day for other formats are as follows:

• Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 (PSP, Bandai Namco) - 135,000 (70% sell-through of initial stock)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (PSP, Konami) - 46,000 (40%)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (PS2, Konami) - 42,500 (35%)
• Soul Eater: Battle Resonance (PS2, Bandai Namco) - 6,500 (45%)

Perhaps more stock should have been put into releasing the Wii version alongside the PS3 and Xbox 360 iterations, rather than delaying it, pushing the Wii game back to April...