“ReFantazio” just set a first day sales record for Atlus

It's a new contender for Game of the Year and has immediately become a huge hit for Atlus. That would be metaphor: ReFantazio, the new role-playing game from Atlus, which has now set a record for the studio's most sales in the shortest time.

That's a million copies sold on its first day, surpassing all previous Persona games, Atlus' hugely popular and popular series. Previously, the old record was Persona 3, which sold one million in five days. A key difference here, however, is that this is a global release, with many regions launching at the same time, which undoubtedly contributed to this early total.

Another factor here was a lengthy demo that Atlus released for Metaphor that gave players a taste of the game, captivating many and leading them to purchase upon release. I've seen this recognized by many people who immediately picked up the game when they might have otherwise skipped it or at least waited for a sale.

As far as the GOTY competition goes, Metaphor: ReFantazio just dropped one With just one point since release, it's dropped from 94 to 93, meaning its 94 is no longer on par with Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree or Astro Bot. Of course that doesn't matter. The three-way race between (non-expansion) games will probably still be Astro Bot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and now Metaphor. And with a million sales on its first day, it looks like the game will be widespread enough for industry voters to give it a fair shot.

This is a huge achievement for Atlus, which has consistently released fantastic Persona games, but now Metaphor has seen a record-breaking rise for the studio and found newfound fame. Whether it's GOTY or ultimately just a finalist shouldn't matter, and I expect this could also set longer-term sales records for Atlus if the positive word of mouth about the game continues. The game debuted to “very positive” review scores on Steam and 56,000 concurrent players, climbing into the release window here, with more to come over the weekend.

It's great to see Atlus score such a hit in a year full of quality releases. Persona games almost always excel, but it's cool to see them do the same here with Metaphor: ReFantazio.

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