The Final Fantasy Trading Card Game has hit a sales milestone. The beloved RPG series is a major video game industry staple - with the first title released on the NES in 1987 - and has gone strong ever since with multiple titles, spin-offs, remasters, and critically acclaimed MMOs. But while other licensed card games tend to release to indifferent general audiences, this official card game has garnered a passionate fan base, selling a combined 20 million packs of cards to date.
The Final Fantasy Trading Card Game's Success
According to an official press release from Square Enix, the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game was originally released in October 2016. Since then, the game has received 18 different sets, leading to over 2,600 cards covering characters and creatures from 62 different Final Fantasy titles. As for the game itself, it has garnered its own competitive community, complete with its own World Championship that debuted in 2017.
The press release continues stating that with the launch of its 19th set, the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game has now shipped 20 million packs of cards worldwide. The From Nightmares set, which is available right now in retail stores, introduces more multi-element cards allowing for more complex deck construction. Furthermore, the set includes classic characters from beloved past titles, all illustrated by official Final Fantasy artists. Those artists are listed below:
- Rubi Asami (FINAL FANTASY VI)
- Ryoma Ito (FINAL FANTASY XII / DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY)
- Akira Oguro (FINAL FANTASY IV)
- Yukihiro Kajimoto (FINAL FANTASY II)
- Isamu Kamikokuryo (FINAL FANTASY XIII / FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0)
- Kumiko Koike (FINAL FANTASY IV)
- Gen Kobayashi (FINAL FANTASY II)
- Yusuke Naora (FINAL FANTASY XI)
- Toshitaka Matsuda (FINAL FANTASY II / FINAL FANTASY XIII)
- Fumio Minagawa (FINAL FANTASY XI)
- Miki Yamashita (FINAL FANTASY I)
Last but not least, the From Nightmares set of the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game will include a few promo cards. The biggest one is a Special card of Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. It is a Full Art Premium Foil card complete with a gold foil print of director Tetsuya Nomura's autograph. The card is meant to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the game's release. Second, there is a Buy-A-Box promo card for Yuna from Final Fantasy X-2. Like Cloud, this is also a Full Art Premium Foil card.
Overall, the success of the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game is to be commended. While it hasn't reached the staying power of other major players in the TCG space like Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh!, it is still a testament to Square Enix's ability to leverage such a long-running series to the tabletop space.
