Was it due to the inflated price, or have UK gamers had enough of Final Fantasy?

 March 14th, 2001 - Once again, UK Final Fantasy gamers are treated like dirt in comparison to North America and Japan.

In the run up to the release on February 16th of Final Fantasy IX - almost four months after the release across the pond - some retailers threatened Square Europe with boycotts if they upheld their £39.99 price tag (around $80). The nation-wide chains claimed it would put customers off buying the game considering the much cheaper price of other new releases.

Square's reply of "but it's on four CDs," was greeted with by one leading retailer that the days of selling PSOne games at £39.99 are well and truely over. The marketing team behing Final Fantasy IX in the UK comments: "FF9 stands out: it's a four disk product, it's the last Final Fantasy on PSone, and shows Square putting its money where its mouth is; not just in terms of the huge production values of the game, but the marketing campaign as well."

Despite all the threats of boycotting Final Fantasy IX, retailers gave in and put the product on the shelves for £39.99 - the usually aggressive shops surprisingly didn't offer a £5 discount.

Sales, in comparison to Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy VII, have been weaker. Although the game still went to number one in the multi-platform charts, it only sold 31,000 units in the first week compared to Final Fantasy VIII's 51,000 and Final Fantasy VII's 41,000 - overall Final Fantasy IX sales were down 45% in the first week. And you have to remember VII and VIII's sales were achieved when the PlayStation had only 3 million owners in the UK compared to the current 6 million.

Final Fantasy X To Show At TGS 2001?
Rumours are flying around the 'net that Square have opted to show Final Fantasy X at the up and coming Tokyo Game Show Spring 2001. Whether this will be a full-on showcase or a brief four minute FMV is anyone's guess. Watch this space for any news between the running dates of TGS - March 30th and April 1st.