Persona 5 Steals Hearts And Wallets Worldwide
Atlus reached a new milestone as Persona 5, a game that lets you drive a cat bus, helped the company to earn its first ever UK chart number one for boxed retail charts. After all the hype and waiting, the latest title which we reviewed is the series’ best launch sales to date. Just a few days after its launch in North America and Europe, Atlus announced that the game has shipped 1.5 million copies worldwide. An impressive figure, for sure, but time will tell as to how much sales Atlus will be able to rake in from those shipped units.
It’s important to note that the series finally caught on in the West when Persona 4 Golden hit the Vita. Since then, the wait for a localized version of its successor has been pretty un-bear-able [Teddie fans rejoice!]. When Persona 5 launched last year in Japan in September, Media Create (an industry sales tracker for Japan) noted the impressive opening sales with 337,767 copies. Besides that, the last time a JRPG earned that UK top spot was Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch back in February 2013
As for other JRPG giants’ debut in this generation, Final Fantasy XV has shipped up to 6 Million units worldwide. That game was able to break records as well as the fastest-selling game in the series. Unlike Persona 5, that game had a worldwide simultaneous release. With Persona 5 out on both sides of the world, we should be able to get a clearer picture of its global sales soon enough.
With other JRPGs on the way such as Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, it’s good to see that the genre is still robust with plenty of interest as Final Fantasy turns 30 this year. As for Persona 5, the game has been showered with critical praise since launch, and is showing no signs of slowing down.