Persona 5 Debuts at Number One in Japan
That's what happens when you make people wait eight years for a sequel.
This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
At this point, it should be clear Atlus has a lot riding on Persona 5. After dipping their toe into the HD pool with 2011's Catherine, this RPG sequel represents their swan dive into this brave, new world.
Thankfully, those six years of development paid off for Atlus—at least for seven days—as Persona 5's PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 versions took the two top spots on Japanese video game charts, according to sales data from 4Gamer.net. Persona 5's PS4 version sold an impressive 264,793 units, while the last-gen edition moved a total of 72,974.
If these numbers seem a tad small to those of you used to American sales numbers, Siliconera recently looked into the first-week sales of the Persona series over the years:
- (2006) Persona 3 – 116,682
- (2007) Persona 3 FES – 90,369
- (2008) Persona 4 – 192,812
- (2009) Persona 3 Portable – 94,287
- (2012) Persona 4 Golden – 137,076
- (2014) Persona Q – 186,856
- (2016) Persona 5 – 337,767
Even if traditional console gaming has seemingly been on the decline in Japan, the Persona series is still on the rise. Be sure to read our full review when Persona 5 launches on February 14, 2017, and come back much sooner than that for coverage of the Japanese version.