Final Fantasy XIII attracts record crowd to hmv Oxford Street
The official UK launch of Financial Fantasy XIII at hmv's Oxford Circus flagship store (9 March), which was attended by the games legendary producer Yoshinori Kitase and its art director Isamu Kamikokuryo, attracted the store's largest ever crowd for a product signing - forcing the store to close to other customers at one point.
The record crowd - estimated to be over 2,000-strong saw FF fans having to almost queue twice around the block, and was larger than anything the illustrious shop has previously hosted, including album launches by the likes of Paul McCartney and Take That. The event beat the store's previous record for a product launch held by World of Warcraft The Lich King - which attracted some 1,500 gamers to a midnight launch in 2008.
Fans assembled from all around the country, with some even travelling from as far afield as Stockholm and Berlin. They began queuing 17 hours earlier - many in FF costumes and quite a few camping out overnight in the cold.
The first couple in line were Peter Allen (24) and Becky Drury (22) from Crewe, Cheshire. Peter Allen, dressed as one of the game's characters, explaining why he had gone to the effort, said: "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the producer of the game, and it's a game we all love and we wanted to come down and show our respect. We've been outside for 17 hours now." Becky Drury, also in costume, added: "At five o'clock we went and got a hot chocolate. It's been cold, we've had blankets and jackets but it was better when other people started turning up in costume. We've had our own little community. People walking past have been taking photos of us, so they've been getting into the spirit as well."
The event was hosted by broadcaster and huge FF fan Alex Zane. The first 50 gamers who arrived in costume bagged free CDs of the Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack - which includes Leona Lewis's song My Hands from her second album Echo.
The latest Final Fantasy game, which has sold 92m copies across its entire franchise, was available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. In the first 24 hours after its Japanese launch, Final Fantasy XIII clocked up more than a million sales.
hmv Head of Games Tim Ellis comments: "They say games are the new rock and roll, and this incredible turnout certainly proves the point. We could organise album launches and DVD signings by major stars but I'm sure none would come close to attracting the size of crowd and enthusiastic response that we saw last night. It really was awesome and a lot of fun to boot, and to me it proves that nothing captures the imagination more than a brilliant game like Final Fantasy, and that there are no fans out there who are more loyal or dedicated than gamers. Big thanks to Square Enix, who did a brilliant job, and also to all our staff at 150 Oxford Street and Head Office for hosting such a great event."