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Final Fantasy XV finally goes on sale, draws crowd to early-morning launch event in Tokyo【Pics】

Casey Baseel Nov 29, 2016
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Gamers set their alarms and brave the cold in Akihabara.

In Japan, most people’s day-to-day lives are structured around work or school, as society puts a tremendous amount of pressure on people to excel in their educational and professional lives. Luckily, Japan provides its people with a much-needed break twice in November, on the public holidays Culture Day and Labor Day.

Neither of those fell on Tuesday, November 29 this year, though. Nevertheless, enough people weren’t at work or school that morning for a large crowd to gather in front of electronics megastore Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood.

えっマジか‼︎
平日の朝から並んでるって
どれだけニートいるんだよw#FF15 https://t.co/M1efghinPL

— ナニワノMickey (@FimKaliasUltima) November 29, 2016

https://twitter.com/sqex_cafe/status/803366946246901761

So what had people clearing out their schedule? The launch of Final Fantasy XV, the long-awaited newest installment of video game developer Square Enix’s role-playing franchise, which had people standing out on the cold concrete streets as early as 6 a.m.

▼ After posing for this photo, we wonder how many of these people faked a coughing fit while calling work to say “Sorry, I just don’t think I’m going to be able to make it in today.”

FINAL FANTASY XV発売記念イベント現地到着！すでに長蛇の列が！皆さん、朝早くから本当にありがとうございます！#FFXV #FF15 pic.twitter.com/H7v2VzCkif

— FINAL FANTASY XV (@FFXVJP) November 28, 2016

ヨドバシAkiba、本日発売「ファイナルファンタジーXV」の購入・発売記念イベントに平日早朝にもかかわらず約200人がながい列をつくる pic.twitter.com/uZb6cQsNKp

— ﾂﾙﾐﾛﾎﾞ (@kaztsu) November 28, 2016

▼ Oddly enough, Final Fantasy XV has a spokescar, this Audi R8, which was featured in the game’s Kingsglavie CG movie tie-in.

というわけで秋葉原！早朝から数百人のファンが詰めかけていて、ご覧の状況。テレビも含め、取材陣も多数。このあと8:15から発売記念イベントです。ついに「FFXV」発売！ #FFXV #FF15 pic.twitter.com/UhuyhsJwab

— 林克彦@ファミ通 (@Famitsu_Hayashi) November 28, 2016

Of course, in the modern age of online shopping and digital distribution, there’s really not so much need to get up at the crack of dawn to secure a copy of the latest titles. There’s a comradery you just can’t get by placing an order on Amazon or clicking a download button, though, and to make the morning an even more special memory for fans, Final Fantasy luminaries such as Hajime Tabata, the new game’s director, made an appearance, and also counted down the final 15 seconds until the game went on sale.