Metaphor: ReFantazio is the new fastest-selling game in Atlus' history, selling a million copies in its first day

Gallica and the protagonist from Metaphor: ReFantazio. — (Image credit: Atlus)

Metaphor: ReFantazio releases today, but you probably already know that. In fact, there's a decent chance you already own it. Atlus is bragging that the game—its tale of high-fantasy racism fought by fake David Bowie—has already sold a million copies across all platforms

In a (machine-translated) post on its own site, Atlus announced that "total worldwide sales (packaged version shipped + download version sold) have surpassed 1 million copies!" As is company tradition, the studio got artist Shigenori Soejima to throw together a quick celebratory sketch of Gallica—pretty much the game's equivalent to Persona 5's mascot Morgana or Persona 4's Teddie—to mark the occasion.

Celebratory artwork of Gallica from Metaphor, declaring 1 million copies sold in Japanese. — (Image credit: Atlus)

Atlus doesn't actually say this, but unless I'm mistaken I think this makes Metaphor the company's new fastest-selling game. Earlier in 2024, Atlus tooted its horn about Persona 3 Reload being its fastest-selling game ever, with a million sales in its first week. Metaphor seems to have done that in time for its first day, so barring some kind of book-keeping weirdness I reckon it's the new record-holder.

Which is both surprising and not, at least to me. On the one hand, Metaphor is—as pretty much all its marketing will let you know—the latest game from Persona veterans like director Katsura Hashino, and it's been getting rave reviews (including from us). On the other, it's an entirely new series with a name that is, frankly, inscrutable. I could have kind of seen it going either way.

I'm glad it went the right way. I've got about 15 hours in the game so far and I've thoroughly enjoyed every second, as did Lewis Parker in PCG's Metaphor: ReFantazio review, where he scored the game 95% and gave it the highest praise I can imagine: "I’ve invested over 100 hours in Metaphor, and yet I just find myself ReFantasizing about playing it a second time. I can’t say that about any other game of its length—not even Persona."

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.