The newest Final Fantasy game is struggling at retail in Japan

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is among the slowest-selling Final Fantasy games ever at Japanese retail stores. That is according to Game Data Library, which tracks Japanese game sales. The game, which debuted March 18, had lower week-one physical sales than 24 other Final Fantasy spinoff games. And it only sold faster than 2007’s Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon, 2009’s Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, and 2006’s Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales.

Stranger of Paradise also sold worse than developer Team Ninja’s previous games.

“[Final Fantasy Origins had] a poor launch in comparison to the NiOh games, too,” Game Data Library posted to Twitter. “[It had] less than half the launch of either NiOh game.”

This is likely indicative of the Final Fantasy audience moving on from consoles — at least in Japan. Square Enix has continued releasing new Final Fantasy spinoffs in recent years but almost exclusively on mobile devices. And that is probably where most of its domestic audience is at.

These results could also reflect a growing audience for digital sales in Japan. Game Data Library’s numbers do not include digital, and download sales are huge for newer games. But even if we estimate an extremely aggressive 75% split for digital sales, that still puts the game out of the top 10 fastest-selling Final Fantasy spinoff games in Japan.

It’s possible that Stranger of Paradise may have more global appeal though, and we’ll see where it ends up on the American NPD sales charts by the middle of next month.