Thieves Strike Again! Japanese Persona 5 Pre-orders Increase After FFXV Delay

Everyone’s favorite thieves have struck again, this time they’ve begun stealing pre-orders on Amazon Japan. Persona 5 has experienced a large increase in pre-order sales thanks to the delay announcement of Final Fantasy XV made by Square Enix. Originally, Final Fantasy XV was scheduled for release on September 30, 2016 worldwide, only two weeks after Persona 5‘s September 15th Japanese launch.

However, due to Final Fantasy XV being pushed back, Persona 5 has experienced a surge in pre-orders according to sales charts on Amazon Japan. Almost overnight the title has reached the second most popular game on the website’s “Best Sellers” list. Prior to the Final Fantasy XV delay Persona 5 was ranked as low as 15th.

In December of 2015 Square Enix provided a survey asking fans about their interest in purchasing Final Fantasy XV as well as Persona 5. This included questions asking about likelihood of purchase if the games came out in a similar time frame. Additionally, the release date for Final Fantasy XV was announced on March 30, 2016 while the Japanese release date of Persona 5 was announced about one month later on May 5. This has lead to speculation that perhaps the delay was intentional by Square Enix to elongate the gap between the two games being released in Japan.

Persona 5 will be available in North America and Europe for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on February 14, 2017. Final Fantasy XV will be available worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 30, 2016.