Persona 3 Reload almost snatches the Royal crown as series' most-played Xbox launch

Persona 3 Reload has become Atlus' fastest-selling game ever, but our data shows that it has taken second place behind Persona 5 Royal as the series' biggest Xbox launch.

Tom West

Published 09 Feb 2024

The latest remake from Atlus, Persona 3 Reload, launched on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Game Pass last week, and was met with high praise from critics and players. It has set records for Atlus, but our data shows that Persona 5 Royal remains the series' unbeaten champion as the biggest Xbox launch according to TrueAchievements player data... just.

Atlus has announced that over a million copies of Persona 3 Reload were sold during the game's first week after its launch on February 2, making it the developer's fastest game to reach a million copies sold. It's certainly received a warm welcome from players, earning a user rating of 4.8/5 here on TrueAchievements and debuting on our Gameplay Chart in 21st. According to our data, however, Persona 3 Reload has failed to knock Persona 5 Royal from the top spot as the series' biggest Xbox launch.

Persona 5 Royal launched into Xbox Game Pass in 2022 as the first Persona game to join the service on day one, and has remained unbeaten as the series' biggest Game Pass launch, seeing 33,729 TrueAchievements members unlock an achievement in it during its first seven days after launch. We covered Persona 5 Tactica's struggle to draw in players during its first week in the service last November, which saw it fall behind Persona 5 Royal and Persona 3 Portable. After seeing the fantastic reviews for Persons 3 Reload, though, we had hoped this latest entry would finally dethrone the reigning champion, but alas, it hasn't quite made it.

It's pretty darn close, though, and Persona 3 Reload takes the win for the most day-one players with a staggering 13,889 TrueAchievements players unlocking an achievement on day one. That easily beats the previous day one champion for the series, Persona 3 Portable, with its 4,095 day-one players

Persona 3 Reload held on to the top spot for a solid three days, but by day four, Persona 5 Royal was once again in the lead. Persona 5 Royal had a massive leg-up compared to the games that have followed, as it was the first Persona game to launch on Xbox since the Xbox 360, and thanks to its arrival in Xbox Game Pass, any subscribers who hadn't yet dipped their toes into one of the best Xbox RPGs were free to give it a try. As a result, anyone who had bounced off of Royal might have been unlikely to give the subsequent games a go.

Persona 3 Reload is the second biggest Xbox Game Pass launch for the series

As it stands now, Persona 5 Royal remains the most-played Persona game to launch into Xbox Game Pass according to our data, with 33,729 TA members unlocking one of its achievements in the first seven days, closely followed by Persona 3 Reload with 30,398. The figures drop considerably with Persona 3 Portable in third, which managed to attract a total of 8,893 TrueAchievements players in its first week. Persona 5 Tactica sits in fourth place with 7,204, while Persona 4 Golden settles into fifth with 5,739 players.

If you plan to check out Atlus' latest, take a look at the Persona 3 Reload achievements for guides to help you grab that completion!

Data Analysis

Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.