Persona 4: Arena Opening Week Sales Outsell Street Fighter And BlazBlue

By Ishaan . August 1, 2012 . 4:02pm

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.

Wow thats amazing :O

I'm not sure who their main target is fighting game fans or Persona fans but this level of success can only mean more to come.

Proof that Persona 5 on the PS3 is the smartest move. That way you secure success in both Japan and the rest of the world. Something we can't say for sure about the game on the Vita in the West.

YES YES YES. If any game deserves good sales then it is this. Both Atlus and Arc are some of the best japanese developers this gen.

I think the primary reason it sold so well is because it catered to Persona's huge RPG fanbase who want to know the canon of Persona 4 in this game (Very good move on Atlus for continuing on the Persona story here). The game also caters to the huge hardcore fighting game fanbase that Arc has. Combined this game is a huge success, and I hope that it will be received well within the competitive fighting game community.

I can't wait to get my hands on this when it hits Europe. Hopefully it will do well in the west after it's great Japanese debut. One of the best games this year without any doubt.

So now please Persona 5 PS3 Exclusive with using the PS3s power
Those 10k people can be ignored - They would buy a PS3 anyway.

These are good numbers, but I hate to be a negative nilly as i am looking forward to the game, but once it reaches the west, Im sure it would be an entirely different story once it hits the US, i think once we line up first week worldwide it would be more even. BUt good on Atlus, really, im a fan and look forward to this and P4 Golden

Pretty obvious, the persona brand is strong there, and SF and others have also popularity on arcades there.
How will it do on the west will be interesting to watch

impressive for japan, but it won't touc tekken and street fighters western numbers. Stll good first week atlus is steadily making moves.

This is Japan's figures. 360 numbers will be a lot higher in the west, especially in the US. That is the sole reason probably why Atlus games are even on the 360 in the first place, because the 360 is dominant in the US which has the biggest market.

There's no reason why P5 will be PS3 exclusive. All recent Atlus games have been multiplat and they have been doing well because of that in the west. Atlus needs all the sales it can get.

Thats all well and good, but even in the US the PS3 version usually outsells the 360, with these types of games, but i do agree that their would be no reason NOT for p5 to be on 360 especially with cheap porting cost, hell get it on WIi U really expand the userbase