Final Fantasy XVI Collector's Editions Sat in Stock for Months

News

By RC Staff

28 June 2023

The sixteenth entry in the nearly 40-year-old Final Fantasy series hit shelves this month, and the reviews are good. Final Fantasy XVI is proving popular with series veterans and newcomers to the games, and is quickly shaping up to be one of the summer’s best games. Despite this popularity, Final Fantasy XVI Collector’s Editions sold relatively poorly up until the game’s release. Now that it’s out and the reviews are good, gamers are turning around to find that not only are collector’s editions sold out, resellers are listing them for well over retail.

What's in the FF16 Collector's Edition?

If you’re a regular RC reader, you already know exactly what a video game collector’s edition is, and why it matters to a reseller. For the uninformed, what you need to know is that a collector’s edition is essentially an overpriced version of a game that throws in some extra bits of plastic, or maybe a cool little toy to get fans to throw some extra cash at the publisher.

In the case of Final Fantasy 16, those trinkets include a cloth map of the game world, a pin set, digital access to the artbook and soundtrack, and the highlight of the collection: a statue of Phoenix and Ifrit from the game locked in a fight.

As far as collector’s editions go, this one is pretty standard. It’s a great way to cash in on fans of the series, but it’s a bit of a hard sell for newcomers. Publishers tend to limit production of collector’s editions pretty heavily, to incentivize people to buy them early.

Final Fantasy 16 Collector's Edition price

Final Fantasy 16’s Collector’s Edition cost $350 at retail. That number might be enough to make a casual fan recoil, and to be fair it is a pretty high price compared to other games. Starfield’s Constellation Edition is retailing for $300 right now, and this is for a game with more expected sales and is releasing on all platforms.

Final Fantasy 16 is currently a PlayStation 5 exclusive, and will remain that way for at least six months after release. It will likely come to PC at some point, but for now gamers are locked in to playing on a particular platform if they want to experience the game.

Why didn't FF16 Collector's Editions sell?

While we don’t know the exact stock numbers for Final Fantasy XVI Collector’s Editions, we do know that they were extremely easy to buy compared to others. These remained in stock for months, with buyers seemingly unwilling to take the bait.

It’s likely a combination of the game’s price and exclusivity contributed to gamers’ reticence to buy in. $350 is a pretty steep price of admission even if you’re a huge fan of the series, and players on PC and Xbox straight up didn’t have an option to buy it. Even with a product as limited as a collector’s editions, cutting down your potential market isn’t ideal for selling anything.

Additionally, Final Fantasy 16 had a review embargo in place until just before its release. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a review embargo means the publisher asked journalists who received early copies of the game to hold off on publishing their reviews.

There are all kinds of reasons a publisher might do this, but lengthy review embargoes have been associated with troubled launches. Both No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 were criticized for not having transparent review policies, and both games ended up having severe problems during their launch periods. Asking journalists to keep their mouths shut until just before release can be a sign that they are worried gamers won’t like what they see.

All of this is to say that hype for Final Fantasy XVI wasn’t exactly super strong before release. While fans of the series were likely already sold on it, the marketing around the game was fairly light. It shouldn’t be a terrible surprise that stock for Final Fantasy XVI Collector’s Editions was slow to move. Knowing that, you might have expected these to brick on the aftermarket.

But that’s not what happened.

Final Fantasy 16 Collector's Editions resell

While FF16 Collector’s Editions sat in stock for months before the game’s release, sales picked up in late May. Resellers had been keeping their eyes on stock just before launch, and found that restocks had started selling out quickly.

It was an indication that the FUD around the game may have been unjustified, and many resellers began stocking up. By June, copies of the collector’s edition had started reselling, and the prices were remarkable. The average price of a Final Fantasy 16 Collector’s Edition for sale on eBay is somewhere around $550.

For a $350 copy of a game, that’s a pretty respectable profit. We can expect an expensive game like this to resell for a bit over retail, but $200+ is damn good. Resellers who picked up a copy had a ticket to some easy money.

Remember, these were extremely easy to buy. Unlike other collector’s editions that sell out in five minutes after every restock, FF16 Collector’s Editions stayed in stock for long periods at a time. There was no need to set alarms or monitors, just check out on the site.

Oh, and by the way, RC Elite members were given advanced notice to buy these up.

Are you sick of missing out on profitable items like these? Maybe it’s time to join RC Elite. We make it a goal to post a wide range of items, both cheap and not so cheap flips, and items like the FF16 Collector’s Edition that are easy to buy, rather than super difficult. Everything worth reselling you can find in RC Elite.