Final Fantasy VI received critical acclaim and was commercially successful in Japan upon release. In mid-1994 Square's publicity department reported that the game had sold 2.55 million copies in Japan.[38] In the United States, where it went on sale in the last quarter of 1994, it became the year's eighth best-selling SNES cartridge;[89] despite this, it was not a commercial success in that region, according to Sakaguchi.[90] As of March 31, 2003, the game had shipped 3.48 million copies worldwide, with 2.62 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 860,000 abroad.[91] Final Fantasy Collection sold over 400,000 copies in 1999, making it the 31st-best-selling release of that year in Japan.[92] Final Fantasy Anthology has sold approximately 364,000 copies in North America.[93] Final Fantasy VI Advance sold over 223,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2006, one month after release.[94]
