This week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu magazine #1466 features a questionnaire for 70 Japanese celebrities and game creators to rank the ‘trendiest’ games of 2016, and Persona 5 was voted the most popular.
The 10 most popular games played this year, in order, are:
- Persona 5
- Pokémon GO
- Overwatch
- Final Fantasy XV
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
- Life Is Strange
- Dragon Quest Builders
- Dark Souls III
- Rez Infinite
- Granblue Fantasy
Notable excerpts from developer comments regarding Persona 5 Famitsu points out are:
Yoshimi Yasuda (FromSoftware Chairman & CEO)
Anyways, everything is cool and sophisticated, immersing yourself into the world.
Yusuke Tomizawa (Bandai Namco Producer)
I admire Hashino, who continues to present reasons for why youngsters should oppose the times.
Takuya Yamanaka (FuRyu Director)
“After all, it’s quite interesting…” It made me feel furiously jealous. That’s how I felt in this case.
Hiroshi Matsuyama (CyberConnect 2 President and CEO)
From the beginning until the end, it’s stylish. Cool enough to be mesmerizing. I was fascinated by the strength and solidity of production, and how the scenes were directed with such continuity.
Dengeki PlayStation Vol. 629
In last week’s Dengeki PlayStation magazine Vol. 629, Persona 5 was also the top game in terms of mentions from developers for the most memorable games of 2016.
The top 5 mentions from Japanese game developers were:
- Persona 5 (25 votes)
- Final Fantasy XV (22 votes)
- The Last Guardian & Pokémon GO (14 votes)
- Dragon Quest Builders (9 votes)
- Overwatch & Summer Lesson: Hikari Miyamoto Seven Days Room (7 votes)
Katsura Hashino’s Top 5 Games
Atlus’ director and producer of Persona 5, Katsura Hashino, was one of the developers who responded to the questionnaire of the five remarkable games he played in 2016:
- Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016 (2016)
- Gradius Collection (2006)
- Metroid Zero Mission (2004)
- Dark Souls III (2016)
- Dragon Quest VIII [3DS Version] (2015)
In a recent Dengeki PlayStation interview, Hashino stated that the game that left the biggest impression on him this year was Persona 5.
Kazuyuki Yamai’s Top 5 Games
The producer of Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse was also one of the developers who responded to the questionnaire, giving his five remarkable games played in 2016:
- Pokémon GO (2016)
- Metroid (1986)
- Candy Crush Saga (2012)
- Dragon Quest Builders (2016)
- Battlefield 1 (2016)
Persona 5 was released for the PS3 and PS4 in Japan on September 15, 2016. It will release in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017, and in traditional Chinese and Korean in 2017.
