Well, How Did Persona 4 And Devil Survivor Sell?

By Spencer . October 6, 2009 . 7:32am

Well, How Did Persona 4 And Devil Survivor Sell? Shin Megami Tensei is on the rise, but how popular is the series overseas? Atlus revealed sales figures for games released from August 2008 to July 2009 in their latest financial report.

 

Here’s how the two MegaTen titles did in North America.

 

North America
Persona 4 (PS2) – 110,000 (150,000 expected)
Devil Survivor (DS) – 40,000 (25,000 expected)

 

We also have sales data for Japan, but since Persona 4 was released there on July 10, 2008 that number is from last year’s report. Considering Persona 4 came out between two fiscal periods it’s probably different and just here for a rough comparison between regions.

 

Japan
Persona 4* (PS2) – 300,000 (180,000 expected)
Devil Summoner 2 (PS2) – 180,000 (120,000 expected)
Devil Survivor (DS) – 110,000 (100,000 expected)
Persona (PSP) – 160,000 (50,000 expected)
Growlanser (PSP) – 50,000 (40,000 expected)

 

Whoa, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona exceeded Atlus’ projections three times over.


Read more stories about & & & & & & on Siliconera.


← Older Comments
  • JeremyR

    Well, it was a port of a 10-11 year old game. 50,000 was probably over optimistic.

  • dv8shun

    Atlus (I believe) is not dumb and they knew full well that the majority of the 150,000 would its hardcore fanbase. I interpreted the sales for P4 in the US as the Megaten fanbase not buying as many units and nothing to do with the “mainstream gamer”.

    With the advent of services like Gamefly, used copies (Which I assume are not counted in the sales figures) and our favourite, torrent sites, I could see why maybe Atlus didn't reach the 150,000.

    Just my baseless theory though.

  • Somato

    These sales figures certainly are interesting and a little surprising.
    I would have thought P4 would have sold much better considering how well P3 did in NA.

  • QBasic

    That's not the point; it's all this recent elitism that's been popping up in the SMT fanbase. “If you like P3, P4 or Devil Survivor, you're a weaboo jackass.” I'm seriously getting sick and tired of that douchebaggery, and I can't even begin to count the number of times I've seen it on the Atlus USA forums…

    And P4 is a special issue; there's way too much hate for that game just BECAUSE of this elitist nonsense. I see absolutely no logic in bashing a game that's on par with Nocturne just because it borrows a similar style to P3… And I say not that as a fan, but as a critic.

  • QBasic

    Ah, well, those are the especially sad cases. They deserve your prayers and pity so that they might find themselves a brain larger than a peanut in the next life.

  • JeremyR

    I think it was probably hurt by P3 FES being released only about 8 months before. More than 1 game a year in a series is probably too much.

  • CleruTesh

    I just had to look up the word “weaboo”. So, basically, since most otaku are no longer offended by the word “otaku”, spiteful people had to make a new word to project their spite with? Yeah, there are plenty of unconstructive comments that I've read on here. But if there are “dislikes” that cause a comment to be censored, well people may be afraid to speak their mind. If they simply rack up in your profile as “likes” currently do, then the problem would likely escalate, with these types wearing that infamy as a badge of honor. My advice is to simply ignore (ie NOT respond) to those type of comments. That's what I do anyways.

  • QBasic

    You just responded. You DO know that, right?

  • CleruTesh

    While my intention was to create a response to a comment that I felt was well-intentioned but unfortunately misguided; it did occur to me immediately afterwards that I was, in fact, responding to the unconstructive comment by proxy. So again, I am glad there is no “dislike” button, for I may very well have used it on my own comment.

  • http://denpanosekai.blogspot.com denpanosekai

    Couldn't care less about the weeaboo diatribe, doesn't faze me. What I don't appreciate is the hypocrisy behind wanting to have a cake and eat it too. Wishing Atlus games to underperform both in Japan and the US, so they'd go “back” to their roots? That's not just wishful thinking, it's plain ridiculous.

    Also “likes” don't accumulate and I'm probably one of the only readers who uses it. Just a leftover from my slashdot days, hoping the negatively rated comments get hidden below a certain threshold.

  • jj984jj

    According to NPD it ended up doing a lot better by the end of 2008, at least double that combined, so that's probably why they expected more out of Persona 4.

  • jj984jj

    I don't think companies pay all that money for NPD data to find out what they already know, it's definitely sold. Perhaps they just overestimated missing retailers like Wal-Mart, or Atlus is being modest.

  • Hello_Hello

    That and a lot of people were expecting a P4 FES release at some point, and were a little sceptical when Atlus U.S.A. promised there wouldn't be one when they have absolutely zero control over what games their parent company decides to make.

  • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

    …you're right. I'm an idiot. Sorry, brain fart.

  • http://otoboku.se manga

    Probably yes.

    I don´t know how Gamefly did it with the release since I bought mine online from VG+. Or maybe it was Rosenqueen.

    Torrents were used though. Not by me but I do imagine that a lot of people used that way to get their hands on P4. Which is a shame and yes, I can see why they didn´t reach their goal.

    Theories are just fine and dandy, Mine is also a theory to why it wouldn´t sell the wanted amount.

  • malek86

    What about DS2's western numbers?

    Actually, scratch that, what about a PAL release?

  • jarrodand

    NPD also tracks Canada separately.

  • jarrodand

    It wouldn't be the first time. Off the top of my head, NPD also reported Tales of Symphonia to have sold more in the US than Namco reported shipping.

    Atlus isn't being modest either, these are actually their shipment figures.

  • http://www.facebook.com/L33tHaxX0Rz Tristan H

    Alrighty, lets hope PERSONA PSP did that well here, we could use more PERSONA on the PSP in the US

  • http://www.rpglamer.com TheRootBeerKing

    Man Persona 4 should have done WAAAAY better than that. For every copy Valkyria Chronicles sold, they too should have sold a copy, haha. I mean Persona 4 is right up there in the Valkyria Chronicles level of awesomeness.

  • CleruTesh

    No offense, but I feel I may have to take back my theory that you are, in fact, “well-intentioned”.
    While I disagree with censorship on standard Voltairian principle, I do sympathize with the desire to remove negativity.
    However, if you would like to censor comments, based NOT on their spitefulness, but, rather, on whether or not you agree with their philosophy on economic principles, and how that relates to their games of preference…
    Well then, good sir, you have perhaps become a textbook example of why I feel that censorship is a BAD idea.
    And for the record, I say that as a huge fan of P3 and P4.

    “Though I disagree with what you say, I would defend to my death your right to say it” -Voltaire

  • Titanis

    Apparently you dislike games that are actually fun…

  • dat_ass

    HURRR DURRR WEEABOO FIGHT HURRRRRRRR…

  • dat_ass

    HURRR DURRR WEEABOO FIGHT HURRRRRRRR…

← Older Comments
Video game stories from other sites on the web. These links leave Siliconera.

Popular