Last week, Index/Atlus released Persona 4: Arena in Japan. In its first week, the game’s sales were as follows:
Persona 4: Arena [PS3] – 128,485
Persona 4: Arena [360] – 9,801
Those are some impressive numbers overall, but here’s the fun part—in its first week, Persona 4: Arena outdid the opening week sales of: Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Here’s a look at how all of those games sold, with both opening week and lifetime sales numbers provided:
(2009) Street Fighter IV [PS3] – 86,075 | 131,727
(2009) Street Fighter IV [360] – 37,782 | 51,152
(2009) BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger [PS3] – 33,768 | 57,796
(2009) BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger [360] – 24,812 | 36,065
(2009) Tekken 6 [PS3] – 103,105 | 171,188
(2009) Tekken 6 [360] – 23,261 | 36,673
(2010) Super Street Fighter IV [PS3] – 80,882 | 177,583
(2010) Super Street Fighter IV [360] – 28,454 | 46,871
(2010) BlazBlue: Continuum Shift [PS3] – 49,871 | 85,152
(2010) BlazBlue: Continuum Shift [360] – 16,184 | 22,543
Persona 4: Arena’s strong sales bring up several questions. Here’s a few:
1. Did the game sell primarily to Persona fans? (Very likely, yes, it did)
2. Of all the fighters mentioned above, the Street Fighter IV series shows an impressive longevity, counting updated versions like Super. BlazBlue, too, benefitted from its Continuum Shift update, and is a story-heavy game, just like Persona 4: Arena. Will Index and Arc System Works follow up with an updated version of Persona 4: Arena in the future? Would it benefit them, sales-wise?
3. Given that Persona 4: Arena relies so heavily on its story and characters, is this a one-time win, or will Index and Arc System Works be able to create brand new Persona fighters in the future with similar success? Are they even interested?
4. A fighting game (based on a popular brand) that relies on accessibility and a strong story has outsold every other major fighting game in its opening week. Does this have any long-term implications for the genre?
Sales data courtesy Media Create and Geimin.net.
