As of 1 week, if Im not mistaken, of the international release of the game, Persona 5 had shipped 1.5 millions.Assuming it was at 600 K in Japan at the time this happened(Could be a bit higher due to digital), then the game shipped for the first month roughly 900 K units.So these extra 300 k were mostly for May and June(and July if the data also includes this month), which would make 150K per month(or 100k per month including July).

These numbers are really impressive given the franchise sales history.Persona games usually just sells around 700 k units Lifetime.It was just recently that Persona started gaining traction, saleswise, with Persona 4 Golden, whcih went to sell more than 1.3 millions lifetime.So for Persona 5 to ship over 1.8 million units in about 3 or 4 months since it was released worldwide is impressive to say the least.(If you count the japanese release, it would be 8 months, but since the worldwide market is more important than just the Japanese market, Im counting from there)

Add that to the fact that this game will keep on selling due to word of mouth, and that it hasnt even had its first holiday, and it will easily sell over 2 million units and its probably the biggest success Atlus ever had.

Then the game simply isnt for you.Personally, a linear game that has a bigger focus on storytelling has a bigger potential to become a better game than any kind of open world games.That applies to any kind of genre.Why?Because its easy for the game to lose focus on a open world setting, whereas a more linear, or a semi open world style game, benefits from that focus and manages to deliver a much more robust and enjoyable experience.

A wonderful combination of a good game on a console that has so much more to offer it to thank for this,

But that doesn't apply to every genre, you don't need to focus on storytelling to make a great game.

Yes, and not every game needs to appeal to everyone.Thats why I said that i personally believe that.I was mostly answering to his sentence where he says that RPGs that are not open world or that are turn based have lost a lot of appeal to the general public after games such as Skyrim.Depending on the type of game you wanna make and/or the type of story you wanna tell, a more linear structure, or a more tactical gameplay(whcih turn base games in general could provide) are better suited for that.Persona 5 is a proof of that.DQ XI will be a proof of that.FE is a proof of that, along with many RPG on 3DS and many that are starting to appear on PS4.Not every game needs to sell tons of million of units like COD and Skyrim to be labeled as success.Depending on how much you have spend on making the game, a smaller number of sales could be as successful and even a better investment, since the project would be less risky.

One dosent negate the other.Open world RPGs and more linear RPGs(not necessarily corridor like games, but ones that dosent have open ended worlds in mind) can live side by side, since they each are trying to do different things.

And about the storytelling part, I personally think that every game, no matter the genre, should focus on the story part of the game, on tiop of the gameplay, bar some exceptions.It simply makes the game far better when you have an enjoyable story and narrative.But thats only my opinion on the topic.

I agree that linear games are usually way more focused on both the gameplay and the storytelling and I rather play Persona 5 than Skyrim, I only disagree with the part that part where it looks like you suggest every genre needs to focus on storytelling because there are so many great games that don't really focus on that, in fact in some genres I feel like too much story is out of place, take Mario for exemple, is not the kind of game where people is looking for a focus on stroytelling and it probably would get worse if there was too much story imho 

Exactly, a game like Skyrim had some nice stories. The dark brotherhood was probably my fav. Linear games aren't going to sell better than open world games because they simply lack the amount of choices you can make in an open world game

Oh yeah, thats just my personal opinion.I personally think that many games could be far more improved if they had a stronger story.Bur of course there are exceptions to the rule, like Minecraft and Rocket league for example.Even Mario has a nice story when it really wants to have, like Galaxy, and Oddyssey seems to have as well.(Remember that a good story dosent mean having a complex one, but a story that works around either the simplicity or complexety that the game asks of)

lol having many "choices" has nothing to do with either the game will sell better or not, or if its going to be a better game.Otherwise P5 wouldnt be sitting at a score of 93.And this is not a dick measuring contest.A game(or genre, for that matter) dosent have to be the best selling one to be successful.As long as you pull in profits with that game, its a success.

And having many choices can actually works againts you, if they are either not well implemented or are just weak.Its far better to have one strong choice than having a myriad of them which leads to an unfulfilling desire.

This is the first Persona game I've ever played and i'm 64 hours in and its fucking legendary, extremely good game and has kept me busy for the past 2 months. Makes me want a Persona 4 remaster for the PS4 so i can have another Persona to play whenever I feel like doing that. Good as fuck sales to by the way, should clear 2.5 million lifetime, hopefully more but you know we may never find out if they dont release more sales information down the line.