Stranger Than Heaven’s Wishlists are exceeding Sega’s benchmarks, with half of them coming from gamers who have never played RGG Studio titles
Both Stranger Than Heaven and Persona 4 Revival largely outperformed their benchmark titles, according to Sega Sammy Holding's report.
Sega Sammy Holdings published their financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2027 on November 6. While the company has seen somewhat of a decline in revenue in its full-price game business due to a lack of new releases, catalogue sales grew from 18 billion yen (about $114 million USD) to 20.2 billion yen (about $128 million USD) year-on-year. Sega’s forecasts for the full year are heavily weighted against upcoming new releases scheduled for the second half of the fiscal year.
The company is set to launch three key titles across the next few months, the first being Football Manager 27 on November 10, followed by Stranger Than Heaven on January 15 and Persona 4 Revival on February 18.
Expectations are notably high for Stranger Than Heaven and Persona 4 Revival. According to Sega, Wishlists for both games have been outperforming benchmark titles at the same stage before release.
Notably, as of September 3, Stranger Than Heaven has garnered over 1 million Wishlists, with new users who have previously not purchased any RGG Studio titles accounting for approximately half. As Sega suggests, its promotional campaigns targeting new users have likely played a role in this. Ever since the game’s announcement, the devs at RGG Studio have likewise been vocal about Stranger Than Heaven being its own game rather than a new Like a Dragon entry, which has been emphasized through the radically different combat system alongside other aspects. Given the Wishlist figures, it seems the studio has been successful in creating an audience for the new project.
Persona 4 Revival, on the other hand, has exceeded 2 million Wishlists as of 18 weeks before release, largely outperforming both Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: Re Fantazio. Contrary to Stranger Than Heaven, a high portion of Wishlist registrations for Persona 4 Revival come from returning fans who have purchased multiple titles in the series.
But while the pre-release hype is likely to fuel sales expectations, the number of Wishlist registrations does not necessarily translate into pure sale figures, so it remains to be seen to what extent the current momentum for the two titles will carry over to sales.
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