Article: Delay Announcement Leads to Increase in Pre-orders... of Persona 5

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The recent announcement of Final Fantasy XV's two-month delay was met with a mixed reception. Many people are glad that we will be getting a more polished product, but others have become so fed up with waiting that their hope for the product has started waning again.

Apparently, some have even turned to the competition for comfort!

A while ago Square Enix provided their users with a poll, asking whether they were more interested in Persona 5 or Final Fantasy XV. The reasons were speculated to be either the similar release period (with Persona 5 having a Japanese release planned just two weeks before Final Fantasy XV) or the Persona series' increased prominence in recent years, especially among JRPG enthusiasts who have long been Final Fantasy's core user base, some of whom have begun to felt more and more alienated by the real-time action RPG combat and more of a move to science fiction than fantasy.

Nevertheless, while the fear of competition might have been a factor in moving FFXV's release to two months later, it appears that (as reported by Persona Central) the news of the delay have sparked a higher interest in Persona 5. The game's boost in Amazon pre-orders coincides with the announcement of FFXV's new release date, and has caused Atlus' product's pre-order sales to rise significantly, making it the second most popular item on Amazon Japan's "Best Sellers" listing.

What are your thoughts on this trend? Has seeing FFXV get delayed yet again made you lose hope for the game? Or perhaps you're even more eager to try Persona 5 now instead? Let us know in the comments!

Good news for Atlus! I bet they'll be sending Square Enix thank you gifts lol.

I was gutted at first about the FFXV delay, I was so ready for it next month. I had a week off for it and everything. But if the game isn't ready, it isn't ready, and I'd rather they sorted it out before release. I'm still looking forward to it, and it doesn't make me want to get Persona 5 instead because I don't know Japanese and I'm not importing.

Doesn't really make any difference here in Europe.

Yeah, it doesn't really matter for anyone on this forum. Persona 5 isn't coming out until next year for the rest of the world.

An interesting side effect, but I don't think the existence of Persona 5 releasing this year will have a material impact on FFXV's sales. Maybe a small impact on the timing of when people buy the game.

Yeah, February is when Persona 5 releases elsewhere, so. *shrug*

It does give Persona 5 a clear run in Japan though, which I guess is positive?

Well, it is indicative of people's attitudes to both series in Japan. And since both are series made in Japan, it may actually be a bigger deal to the world at large, even if the dates don't coincide elsewhere. The companies will take one thing or another from this, so who knows - this might actually matter a lot in the future.

I think it's important to remember that both Square Enix and Atlus, no matter how much they look outwards nowadays, are still mostly concerned about their sales in Japan. So how it turns out them in that field may actually have an effect on future business decisions.

It's great news for Persona 5 in Japan, since they are now completely uncontested, but it isn't great for the consumer. I wish I could buy BOTH games at the same time. Thankfully, we will have a few months inbetween each game to truly enjoy both games at different times.