Nearly 35 years after its first release in Japan, the Shin Megami Tensei series has remained relevant; Meanwhile, Persona’s singles franchise has taken the main title. While not quite in character popularity level 5Shin Megami Tensei has reached a milestone that fans long ago only saw a decade ago.
According to Atlus West’s official Twitter account, Shin Megami Tensei V has sold 1 million units worldwide. It became the first game in the franchise to reach this milestone and is the best-selling Shin Megami Tensei game of all time. To celebrate, character designer Masayuki Doi created a new black and white illustration of Shin Megami Tensei’s hero V. Given that it took five months to break that barrier, there’s a chance that Shin Megami Tensei will one day reach the same recognition as Persona.
This news comes after another month of an important franchise milestone. During the Famitsu New Year 2022 article, which collected the greetings of 60 Japanese developers, Atlus shared that Shin Megami Tensei V has sold 800,000 units. At that point, this was already the most successful entry in the series, surpassing Shin Megami Tensei IV’s lifetime sales in less than two months.
It has never been a better time to be a fan of the series. With Soul Hackers 2 receives global release Across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC this August, it’s safe to say that both Atlus and Sega see value in the Shin Megami Tensei brand outside of Persona.