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Gaming - are jrpgs dying? - View Post

jarrod on 18 March 2010
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dunno001 said:
jarrod said:
dunno001 said:
ShadowSoldier said:
Just put Persona 5 on the PS3 and watch it go to work


Not really. Remember that the Persona series (as well as the entire SMT line) are quite niche, and don't see huge (>1 million) sales. As much as I would love for Atlus to revive the JRPG worldwide, they just don't have the ability to do so.

I still think Persona 5's going to PSP.  SMT4 already went to DS basically with Strange Journey.


And I mostly agree with you on this. I think it's part of the reason that they've been doing more with SMT and Persona on handhelds- to move the series there. What I'm seeing, is Atlus JP watching the sales of the games, and determining where the next games will go. I'd not be surprised, since in Japan, Persona is seperate from SMT, to see Persona land on the PSP (and its successor) and SMT proper to go to the DS (and its successor).

Where I see the wrench is actually outside Japan. If Atlus JP decides to try a global market for the games, then the PSP is basically dead in the water. I also think the overseas PSP sales are going to be what leads to Sony leading the way into the next gen of portable systems, possibly having that announced as early as E3. And this announcement may also make P5 onto the PSP2 (or whatever it's called). But I can't bet away from the PSP, either...

I'd have agreed with your second point before, but Atlus USA just recently highlighted Persona PSP's western sales as helping contribute to their success this year (along with Demon's Soul and 101-in-1 Explosive Megamix).  I agree they'd do better with a big budget PS360 Persona 5 overseas (and truth be told, that's what I'd rather have), but I'd also say Strange Journey would do better as a full 3D Wii game overseas... at this point, I think Atlus just doesn't care.  They'll reuse PS2 assets on PSP on the cheap, do more than well enough and call it a day.

Kaneko said before that they had SMT games for Wii and PS3 in the works, but I really think that's all been downshifted to DS & PSP at this point... consoles just don't have the JP market to support the investment Atlus would need to take, and they can get by in the west anyway.