That’s as per GamesIndustry’s Christopher Dring, who recently took to Twitter to reveal that as per GSD detail, in Europe, sales for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth increased by 268 percent week-on-week following it was nominated for seven categories (including Game of the Year) at The Game Awards earlier this month.

Fellow finalists in the Game of the Year category also enjoyed sales increases, with Metaphor: ReFantazio jumping by 172 percent, Astro Bot by 61 percent, and Elden Ring – which saw its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, nominated – by 38 percent.

Interestingly, Bloober Team and Konami’s Silent Hill 2 remake also saw a 43 percent week-on-week increase. The survival horror title did not receive a Game of the Year nomination, though it was still one of the most nominated games at this year’s event with five nominations.

The Game Awards are scheduled for December 12.

Following the reveal of the finalists for The Game Awards, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth sales increased 268% week-on-week across Europe, Astro Bot jumped 61%, Elden Ring 38%, Metaphor 172% and Silent Hill 43%.

We’re not talking huge sales figures overall, but a definite uptick

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) November 29, 2024

Elden Ring’s expansion getting nominated might take some by surprise, but it was confirmed shortly before the nominees were announced that expansions, remakes, and remasters of previously released titles would be eligible for all categories. A few notable titles that failed to make the cut for the big category, meanwhile, include the likes of Helldivers 2, Silent Hill 2, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

In total, Astro Bot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are the most widely nominated games for this year’s event with seven nominations each, followed by Metaphor: ReFantazio with six nominations, Balatro and Silent Hill 2 by five nominations apiece, and Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2, and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 with four nominations each.

Meanwhile, PlayStation is the most nominated publisher this year with 16 nominations, while Square Enix and Xbox follow behind with 12 apiece, and Sega with 11. You can check out the full list of nominees below.

The Game Awards are set for December 12.

GAME OF THE YEAR

• Astro Bot
• Balatro
• Black Myth: Wukong
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio

BEST GAME DIRECTION

• Astro Bot
• Balatro
• Black Myth: Wukong
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio

BEST NARRATIVE

• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
• Silent Hill 2

BEST ART DIRECTION

• Astro Bot
• Black Myth: Wukong
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Neva

BEST SCORE AND MUSIC

• Astro Bot
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Silent Hill 2 
• Stellar Blade

BEST AUDIO DESIGN

• Astro Bot
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
• Silent Hill 2

BEST PERFORMANCE

• Briana White as Aerith (Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth)
• Hannah Telle as Max (Life is Strange: Double Exposure)
• Humberly Gonzalez as Kay (Star Wars Outlaws)
• Luke Roberts as James (Silent Hill 2)
• Melina Juergens as Senua (Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2)

GAMES FOR IMPACT

• Closer the Distance
• Indika
• Neva
• Life is Strange: Double Exposure
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
• Tales of Kenzera: Zau

BEST ONGOING GAME

• Destiny 2
• Diablo 4
• Final Fantasy 14
• Fortnite
• Helldivers 2

BEST INDIE GAME

• Animal Well
• Balatro
• Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
• Neva
• UFO 50

BEST DEBUT INDIE

• Animal Well
• Balatro
• Manor Lords
• Pacific Drive
• The Plucky Squire

BEST MOBILE GAME

• AFK Journey
• Balatro
• Wuthering Waves
• Zenless Zone Zero
• Pokemon: The Trading Card Game Pocket

BEST COMMUNITY SUPPORT

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Final Fantasy 14
• Fortnite
• Helldivers 2
• No Man’s Sky

INNOVATION IN ACCESSIBILITY

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Diablo 4
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Star Wars Outlaws

BEST VR/AR GAME

• Arizona Sunshine Remake
• Asgard’s Wrath 2
• Batman: Arkham Shadow
• Metal: Hellsinger VR
• Metro Awakening

BEST ACTION GAME

• Black Myth: Wukong
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Helldivers 2
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
• Stellar Blade

BEST ACTION-ADVENTURE GAME

• Astro Bot
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Silent Hill 2
• Star Wars Outlaws
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

BEST ROLE-PLAYING GAME

• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio

BEST FIGHTING GAME

• Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
• Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
• MultiVersus
• Tekken 8

BEST FAMILY GAME

• Astro Bot
• Princess Peach: Showtime!
• Super Mario Party Jamboree
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
• The Plucky Squire

BEST SIM/STRATEGY GAME

• Age of Mythology: Retold
• Frostpunk 2
• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
• Manor Lords
• Unicorn Overlord

BEST SPORTS/RACING GAME

• F1 24
• EA Sports FC 25
• NBA 2K25
• TopSpin 2K25
• WWE 2K24

BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Helldivers 2
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
• Super Mario Party Jamboree
• Tekken 8

BEST ADAPTATION

• Arcane
• Fallout
• Knuckles
• Like a Dragon: Yakuza
• Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yotei
• Grand Theft Auto 6
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
• Monster Hunter Wilds

Speaking in a recent interview with Famitsu, Hashino revealed that he has already started working on his next project at Atlus. When asked about when he will begin working on his next game after Metaphor: ReFantazio, he said, “Oh, I have already started.”

Hashino then went on to add that he doesn’t view projects from an individual perspective, but rather as something that will be the best next step for all of Atlus as a whole, as well as for the players.

“I don’t really think about what to do as an individual,” he said (translation via @Genki_JPN on Twitter). “I look at Atlas as a whole and think about what is best for our team to create right now. Firstly I want the users to be happy, and as a result I hope the company will be happy as well. That is how I always work.”

What Hashino’s next project will be is anyone’s guess, but given his incredible track record, it’s fair to say that people will be keenly awaiting news on whatever it is that he and his team are working on next.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Patch 1.03 is more significant. It adds the same features for the PC version while adding anti-aliasing. The audio volume balance has also seen adjustments, with the overall Master Volume being increased. All platforms have also received various minor fixes. Check out the full notes for both patches below.

Metaphor: ReFantazio has received extensive critical acclaim since its launch, becoming the second highest-rated game of the year per Metacritic. It also sold over one million copies on its first day, smashing all of Atlus’s previous records, and even crossed 85,000 peak concurrent players at launch on Steam. If that weren’t enough, it also topped Japanese sales charts in the first week with over 108,000 units sold.

1.04 – Xbox, PlayStation 4/5:

• Adjustments made to the Camera Shake Off feature
• Fixed an issue where New Game+ start save data wasn’t generating correctly under certain conditions
• Other minor fixes

1.03 – PC (Windows PC & Steam):

• Anti-aliasing feature implemented. Anti-aliasing can be adjusted in SETTINGS > Graphic Settings
• Adjustments made to the Camera Shake Off feature
• Adjustments made to audio volume balance

Note: Today’s patch for Windows PC and Steam increases the game’s Master Volume. Please turn down your computer’s volume before starting up and readjust the in-game Master Volume setting. We apologize for the inconvenience!

• Fixed an issue where New Game+ start save data wasn’t generating correctly under certain conditions
• Other minor fixes

Metaphor: ReFantazio, which sold over a million units worldwide in its first six hours, has topped the charts, with its PS5 version taking the top spot and its PS4 version coming in at No. 4, collectively selling over 108,000 units. That’s certainly a decent debut for a new IP, though those numbers do fall below some of Atlus’ other major recent releases. Persona 3 Reload, for instance, sold over 116,000 physical copies on debut, while Shin Megami Tensei 5 sold over 143,000 units when it originally released in 2021.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO also launched last week, and has also enjoyed solid initial sales. With over 63,000 physical units sold in Japan upon its release, the 3D arena fighter took second place in the charts. The game sold over 3 million units worldwide in its first 24 hours.

There’s also Konami and Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake, which debuted in third place, selling over 29,000 units- decent figures for the return of a long-dormant franchise that was never typically a huge seller. The game sold over a million units worldwide in its first three days.

Meanwhile, on the hardware side of things, the Switch was once again the best-seller in Japan last week, having moved over 55,000 units, while the PS5 lagged behind by a healthy margin, only managing to sell over 11,000 units in spite of a number of major new game releases.

You can check out the full hardware and physical software sales charts for Japan for the week ending October 13 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [PS5] Metaphor: ReFantazio – 82,827 (New)
2. [PS5] Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO – 63,922 (New)
3. [PS5] Silent Hill 2 – 29,374 (New)
4. [PS4] Metaphor: ReFantazio – 25,385 (New)
5. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – 19,710 (268,039)
6. [NSW] Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord – 8,061 (New)
7. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 6,372 (6,025,572)
8. [NSW] Minecraft – 4,695 (3,652,504)
9. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 4,310 (7,930,668)
10. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports – 4,188 (1,442,980)

Hardware sales (followed by last week’s sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 55,082 (63,807)
• PS5 – 11,804 (12,551)
• Xbox Series X/S – 425 (355)

As per SteamDB, on Sunday, Metaphor: ReFantazio saw a peak of 85,961 players on Steam. The only other JRPG with a higher concurrent users peak on the platform of Granblue Fantasy: Relink, which launched earlier this year and hit nearly 115,000 concurrent players at its peak. At the time of writing, Metaphor has over 50,000 concurrent players.

The newly-released fantasy RPG has clearly got off to an impressive start for Atlus. In addition to being one of the best-reviewed games of the year, it also sold over a million units in its first six hours, becoming the fastest-selling Atlus game to date.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC.

As per SteamDB, on Steam, Metaphor: ReFantazio has seen a peak of 61,838 players on Steam. Those are impressive numbers, of course, but become even more so when compared to the numbers seen by some other major RPG releases in recent years.

More specifically, Metaphor’s concurrent players peak on Steam exceeds that of the likes of Persona 3 Reload (45,002 players), Persona 4 Golden (29,283), Persona 5 Royal (35,474), Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (46,161), Final Fantasy 16 (27,508), and Tales of Arise (60,274).

In fact, Metaphor has become one of the most-played Japanese-developed RPGs on Steam by that specific metric. This is also the highest ever concurrent players peak enjoyed on Steam by an Atlus game to date.

Atlus announced that Metaphor: ReFantazio has also already sold over 1 million units worldwide, making it the developer’s fastest-selling game of all time.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC.

Available now for PS4, PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S, Metaphor: ReFantazio takes place in the Kingdom of Euchronia. Following the death of the King, the Royal Tournament is underway to crown a successor. As a member of the Elda Tribe, players must garner support from all across the nation and take on various candidates to succeed while also finding a cure for the Prince.

Metaphor: ReFantazio has garnered near-universal acclaim from critics for its characterization, story-telling, and world design. Though it features many tenets of modern Persona, like a daily schedule and different classes (known as Archetypes), the title includes real-time combat mechanics and a much larger scale. Head here to check out the latest gameplay and details. You can also watch the launch trailer.

In the interview, Hashino offers details on Metaphor: ReFantazio’s fantasy setting, while also speaking about how its story is structured differently from what Persona fans might be used, in turn also allowing players to be able to explore a greater variety of environments throughout the length of the game. Hashino also speaks about the game’s combat, how it blends real-time mechanics, the inspiration it takes from Shin Megami Tensei’s combat, and more. Watch the interview below for more details. 

Metaphor: ReFantazio is due out on October 11 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC. 

That excitement, in fact, is also being reflected in a sudden surge in sales seen by the game, specifically on Steam. On the platform’s global top seller charts – which tracks sales based on their total revenue generated – Metaphor: ReFantazio has broken into the top 10 (and was in the top 5 earlier in the day).

At the time of writing, the game sits in sixth place, behind Counter-Strike 2, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, EA Sports FC 25, Silent Hill 2, and Throne and Liberty. 

Reviews for Metaphor: ReFantazio went live earlier this week, with the fantasy RPG drawing widespread critical acclaim. Read more on that through here.

Metaphor: ReFantazio launches on October 11 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC. A demo is available on all platforms, and allows progress to be carried over into the full game.