Kingdom Hearts 3 becomes fastest-selling game in series history
With over five million copies shipped worldwide in its first week, Kingdom hearts 3 has become the fastest-selling game in the franchise’s history.
The wait for Kingdom Hearts 3 has apparently paid off. The long-awaited, third mainline entry in the beloved franchise has been met with incredible reception – both critically and commercially. Released just one week ago (Jan. 25 in Japan), Kingdom Hearts 3 has already shipped more than five million units globally, according to Square Enix.
It’s important to note that “units shipped” is not the same things as “units sold,” as it instead refers to the number of copies that have been delivered to retailers (referred to as “sell-in”) and not the number of copies sold-through to actual consumers. That said, Square Enix did refer to Kingdom Hearts 3 as the “fastest selling game in the history of the series,” so it would appear the two numbers are probably close.
Marketing phrases aside, this is clearly a reason for Square Enix to celebrate. And they did so with a post on Twitter, thanking the passionate fans who have made this possible.
Over FIVE million copies of #KingdomHearts III have been shipped worldwide!
— KINGDOM HEARTS (@KINGDOMHEARTS) February 5, 2019
We'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who's joined the journey so far, and we hope you're loving every minute of it! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0BGQ2l194H
To put this number into context, Kingdom Hearts 2, which had a staggered launch from 2005 through 2006, had shipped over four million units by April 2007.
Exact sales numbers for the original Kingdom Hearts, which released in 2002, are a little trickier to follow; but, the game did experience similar sales success. It was among the top selling titles for the 2002 holiday season and had sold over three million copies worldwide by the end of April. By September 2007, it had shipped over 5.9 million units worldwide.
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It’s also worth mentioning that the first two Kingdom Hearts games were exclusive to PlayStation, making these sales totals all the more impressive. While other entries in the series were released on various platforms over the years, Kingdom Hearts 3 brought the mainline story to Xbox for the first time ever – opening up the adventure to a brand new crowd eager to see what all of the hype is about.
Point being, Kingdom Hearts has been an incredibly successful franchise with over 25 million copies shipped worldwide since before the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 last week.
The game’s sales success is warranted as Kingdom Hearts 3 launched to favorable reviews. It currently sits around an 86 on Metacritic. App Trigger’s very own Eric Chrisman scored Kingdom Hearts 3 an 8.5/10, calling it “the best game in the series to date.”
Related Story. Kingdom Hearts III review: Anything but simple and clean. light
So what’s next for the beloved series? With five million copies shipped, I doubt this is the last we’ll see of Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts 3 may mark the end of the Dark Seeker Saga, but there are still plenty of stories to be told within this unique universe. The game’s secret movie ending might have even given us a glimpse at what the future holds.