Persona 5 Has Shipped Over 1.5 Million Units Woldwide

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Persona 5 Has Shipped Over 1.5 Million Units Woldwide

Persona 5 has shipped over 1.5 million units worldwide already, tripling Persona 4's first year.

Atlus has announced that Persona 5 has shipped more than 1.5 million units worldwide. That number does include Japan, where the game has been available since September.

It's worth noting that this doesn't necessarily mean 1.5 million copies of the game have sold, rather it is the number of copies sold to retailers. Still, it's well over what Persona 4 did during its first year [http://www.siliconera.com/2009/10/06/well-how-many-copies-did-persona-4-and-devil-survivor-sell/].

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In other Persona 5 news, you may want to think twice before streaming or posting videos of the game - earlier this week, Atlus here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/169979-Atlus-Threatens-Persona-5-Streamers#&gid=gallery_7152&pid=1].

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[Fox12]

They've finally made it to the big leagues! Fuck yeah Atlus! The success is well deserved.

 

[DemomanHusband]

Persona 5 has been really knocking it out of the park so far, in my opinion. I'm glad to hear its level of success and level of fun seem to correlate! I only just completed the first major boss section of the game, but I have a feeling I'll be playing this a little too much; even if Atlus considers it a 'single playthrough' experience, I'm probably going to find excuses to keep going with it over and over.

Now if we could just get some juicy details on the SMT game for the Switch, that'd be wonderful.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I mean, it's persona. Shipping is kinda the whole point to it.

(but more seriously, having already beaten the JP version half a year ago, I knew this would happen, the game is just amazing)

 

[DaCosta]

This number doesn't take into account all the digital copies it has sold.

 

[Vigormortis]

Not to discount or downplay any perceived quality or success of the game but.....one and a half million units shipped worldwide, over eight months, is not only meaningless, it's arguably not that impressive. You could ship twenty million units in a quarter of that time frame and it means nothing if no one's buying.

That said, I'm glad the fans are getting their money's worth. Refreshing to see a sequel in a long-running, 'historied' series that's not only good but, apparently, also seems to be impressing even the most ardent fans.

Good job, Atlus.

 

[Fox12]

Not to discount or downplay any perceived quality or success of the game but.....one and a half million units shipped worldwide, over eight months, is not only meaningless, it's arguably not that impressive. You could ship twenty million units in a quarter of that time frame and it means nothing if no one's buying.

That said, I'm glad the fans are getting their money's worth. Refreshing to see a sequel in a long-running, 'historied' series that's not only good but, apparently, also seems to be impressing even the most ardent fans.

Good job, Atlus.

Yes and no. Given that its only been out in the US for a few days, it's not fair to state that its been out for 8 months. Historically, the franchise has sold at least as many copies in america as it has Japan. Recently, it's likely selling more copies here then there. With that in mind, you can't really say these sales are representative of its overall success over the course of nearly a year. I suspect it will do quite well over the coming months.

But you're right about shipping. While the games appears to be selling well for Atlus, numbers shipped don't equal number sold.

 

[shrekfan246]

Not to discount or downplay any perceived quality or success of the game but.....one and a half million units shipped worldwide, over eight months, is not only meaningless, it's arguably not that impressive. You could ship twenty million units in a quarter of that time frame and it means nothing if no one's buying.

I mean, that pretty much is textbook downplaying though since, as Fox said, the game has only been out in more than just Japan for five days. As much as I'm sure that non-Japanese people imported the game, that isn't what the vast majority of consumers do (and, as also mentioned, this doesn't take into account digital sales, to which I can personally attest contributing).

Sure, it doesn't really mean anything in the context of determining how successfully it's selling, but using the Japanese release date for the game when the rest of the world got it half a year later just seems needlessly nitpicky to me.

 

[Vigormortis]

I mean, that pretty much is textbook downplaying though since, as Fox said, the game has only been out in more than just Japan for five days.

Not really.

As much as I'm sure that non-Japanese people imported the game, that isn't what the vast majority of consumers do (and, as also mentioned, this doesn't take into account digital sales, to which I can personally attest contributing).

That's an assumption (one that's probably true, but still), but it doesn't really change the efficacy of what I said.

Sure, it doesn't really mean anything in the context of determining how successfully it's selling, but using the Japanese release date for the game when the rest of the world got it half a year later just seems needlessly nitpicky to me.

Why? I'm not saying the game is bad. I'm not saying the game is underselling. I'm just saying that bragging about shipping a certain number of units is ultimately meaningless when determining the success or quality of a title.

Don't take it personally. I'm not shitting on the game. Don't know why people take ANY non-praise-laden comment on the game as some sort of personal assault on the quality of the game and the fans that are enjoying it.

I have two friends who have been excited for this game for a long time. I'm actually really happy for them that they get to play it finally! If I were a fan of the series I'd probably be beside myself with glee too. I'm just saying this press release is pointless.

But you're right about shipping. While the games appears to be selling well for Atlus, numbers shipped don't equal number sold.

This was all I was saying. Pointless brag is pointless. Why don't they brag about the actual units sold to the end user?

 

[shrekfan246]

Don't take it personally. I'm not shitting on the game. Don't know why people take ANY non-praise-laden comment on the game as some sort of personal assault on the quality of the game and the fans that are enjoying it.

To use your own words,

That's an assumption

I'm just saying this press release is pointless.

Okay, and I'm just saying that the way you're saying it is equally pointless, because you're using a piece of information that has practically zero relevance. The game has been out in one country for eight months. Okay? So what? Why do you absolutely need to point out that a (still fairly niche in all honesty even if it is the most popular Atlus property) title being celebrated for shipping a certain number of copies days after its worldwide release is "pointless"?[footnote]If you really want more substantial numbers, then apparently the game sold just under 440,000 copies [http://personacentral.com/persona-5-best-selling-release-atlus-history-japan/] in Japan in the first few weeks of release, but there aren't any confirmed sales numbers for more recent months.[/footnote]

I'm just not understanding the rationale behind coming in here to be negative. I don't get what you gain by, after admitting you don't care about Persona, pedantically saying that people shouldn't be excited about any perceived financial success the game might have because copies shipped is meaningless.

In fact, not to pick on you or anything, but this is precisely the sort of reason I barely ever post anymore. Everything on this website is doom and gloom, trying to find the worst in a situation, deflating excitement through pragmatism, cynically sneering at everything, and pointless infighting. Maybe it's me, I just can't put up with the cynicism and negativity anymore because it just gets me down and makes me angry. I'm not saying that everyone always needs to be hyped up for everything, but damn man, don't you remember all of the fights you got into with everyone about VR?

 

[Vigormortis]

snip

Okay, you're reading WAY more into what I said than was actually there.

I'm not doom-and-gloom about this. I'm just saying I would rather have the actual sales figures instead of Atlus and Sega bragging about the units shipped. I want to know how successful the game actually is because I want to be able to celebrate the potential run-away success of an extraordinarily niche game.

I'm hopeful dude! Don't take my words as some veiled attack on the game, Atlus, or whatever. For fuck's sake, I WANT the game to be a worldwide success because it can show that even supposed 'niche' titles can have large markets.

But them bragging about the shipped units tells us nothing. I want them to release (and brag) about the sold units.

It's not you, Shrek. He's just one of those people who has to be right at any cost, even if it's a mangled pragmatic mess of an argument. The internet is littered with insufferable individuals who get off on refuting every single detail that others present.

A: Thanks for insulting me. Really fucking classy. Especially when one considers I haven't done the same, to anyone or anything.
B: Thanks for implying I was arguing for a point I never actually made. Really makes the fact that you insulted me to someone else instead of approaching me directly doubly fantastic.
C: See above comment to shrekfan.
And D:

The internet is littered with insufferable individuals

It sure is, 'friend'. It sure is.

 

[shrekfan246]

snip

Okay, you're reading WAY more into what I said than was actually there.

I'm not doom-and-gloom about this. I'm just saying I would rather have the actual sales figures instead of Atlus and Sega bragging about the units shipped. I want to know how successful the game actually is because I want to be able to celebrate the potential run-away success of an extraordinarily niche game.

I'm hopeful dude! Don't take my words as some veiled attack on the game, Atlus, or whatever. For fuck's sake, I WANT the game to be a worldwide success because it can show that even supposed 'niche' titles can have large markets.

But them bragging about the shipped units tells us nothing. I want them to release (and brag) about the sold units.

To be blunt, perhaps you should consider your phrasing a bit more carefully, then. I still hold that opening your statement with a very clear "What's the point of this?" remark is needless, regardless of whether the report itself is needless or not. (For the record, I always struggle with how to portray myself and the things I should say both online and in person, and that combined with general exasperation of the internet is a big part of why I've just stopped caring about how brusque and cold I come across around here.)

Also I hope that you ask every publisher to release their actual sales numbers. Not even being sarcastic, I'd love the industry to be more open about that, it's practically impossible to talk about how financially successful any given game was because there's no way to find actual numbers for any of them.

 

[Vigormortis]

Also I hope that you ask every publisher to release their actual sales numbers. Not even being sarcastic, I'd love the industry to be more open about that,

I do. As I've said, units shipped tells us nothing about what the market is doing and what the audience wants. At best, it only tells us what the content producers are hoping the market will do.

I wanna know what the industry and market are doing, so real sales numbers are all I want. It's why I criticize this pointless bragging over shipped numbers.

it's practically impossible to talk about how financially successful any given game was because there's no way to find actual numbers for any of them.

That's not entirely true. They can find those numbers. They can even estimate, within a fairly accurate degree, how many units sold as compared to how many were pirated.

Was it good for you? I hoped you enjoyed that. God, you're boring. And thin-skinned. I shouldn't have involved Shrek, but I generally agree with him. I'm so tired of people who come on forums, just so they can pseudo-intellectually prattle on. You are insufferable, no insult intended, just an observation.

The irony of your comment is so palpable I had to get a glass of water to wash the taste out. Holy shit, man. I'm genuinely hoping this is some sort of performance act mocking the caricature of SMT fans being condescending and antagonistic.

If it is, well done. I'm impressed.

If it isn't...

Spoiler

 

[shrekfan246]

That's not entirely true. They can find those numbers. They can even estimate, within a fairly accurate degree, how many units sold as compared to how many were pirated.

Oh, that's what I meant, though. Publishers know what they've sold, but they never release those numbers to the public, so we the consumers have no way of accurately having discussions about them. I've long been annoyed by how the industry treats everything on its business side like the secret which leads the way to the Fountain of Youth, so I'd love for publishers to just be open about what they do and why they do it rather than treating us like idiot-children who are only good for our money.

EDIT: As a side note, that's why I don't think "shipped" numbers are entirely useless, because while you can argue that they could have shipped 20 million copies, they didn't, so we still have a scale to estimate what sort of level of sales they're making.

 

[Vigormortis]

Oh, that's what I meant, though. Publishers know what they've sold, but they never release those numbers to the public, so we the consumers have no way of accurately having discussions about them. I've long been annoyed by how the industry treats everything on its business side like the secret which leads the way to the Fountain of Youth, so I'd love for publishers to just be open about what they do and why they do it rather than treating us like idiot-children who are only good for our money.

Some publishers are, but most of those are on the smaller scale, where large boards of investors aren't really a 'thing'.

But on this I think we agree. And I think we can both agree that it's good news all around that P5 is doing well.

Now that it and games like Nier: Automata have proved niche, Japanese games can do well in Western markets....can we finally get that official Mother/Earthbound 3 Western release? Please, Nintendo?

EDIT: As a side note, that's why I don't think "shipped" numbers are entirely useless, because while you can argue that they could have shipped 20 million copies, they didn't, so we still have a scale to estimate what sort of percentage of sales they're making.

A fair point, but at the same time they could ship two million units but sell well under 200k. So while shipped units may give us a range, it's still such a woefully vague metric it borders on useless.

 

[shrekfan246]

Now that it and games like Nier: Automata have proved niche, Japanese games can do well in Western markets....can we finally get that official Mother/Earthbound 3 Western release? Please, Nintendo?

Nope, you're gonna have to make do with Undertale, buddy.

 

[Vigormortis]

Now that it and games like Nier: Automata have proved niche, Japanese games can do well in Western markets....can we finally get that official Mother/Earthbound 3 Western release? Please, Nintendo?

Nope, you're gonna have to make do with Undertale, buddy.

 

[shrekfan246]

Now that it and games like Nier: Automata have proved niche, Japanese games can do well in Western markets....can we finally get that official Mother/Earthbound 3 Western release? Please, Nintendo?

Nope, you're gonna have to make do with Undertale, buddy.

(Okay, I'll stop derailing the thread now.)