So I was looking for some JRPGs for my 3ds and because Shin Megami Tensei 4 is arriving to the Eshop (and ONLY Eshop) I decided to see if I could learn a bit about the series. I have played Atlus games before (Ettrian Odissey in particular) so I was curious about the series, and I wanted to find one cheap game to try it. I discovered that not only most of the games were not released on Europe (and a lot of the ones who are don't have a physical release), but also the sales numbers are terrible.
I know that the series doesn't sell that much to begin with, but look at the difference:
Best selling SMT games
| Pos | Game | Platform | Year | Genre | Publisher | North America | Europe | Japan | Rest of World | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 | PS2 | 2008 | Role-Playing | Atlus | 0.34 | 0.04 | 0.36 | 0.08 | 0.82 |
| 2 | Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES | PS2 | 2007 | Role-Playing | Tecmo Koei | 0.22 | 0.20 | 0.16 | 0.05 | 0.63 |
| 3 | Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable | PSP | 2009 | Role-Playing | Ghostlight | 0.16 | 0.05 | 0.34 | 0.03 | 0.58 |
| 4 | Shin Megami Tensei IV | 3DS | 2013 | Role-Playing | Atlus | 0.19 | 0.00 | 0.27 | 0.01 | 0.48 |
| 5 | Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 | PS2 | 2006 | Role-Playing | Tecmo Koei | 0.22 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 0.45 |
| 6 | Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne | PS2 | 2003 | Role-Playing | Ghostlight | 0.07 | 0.05 | 0.25 | 0.02 | 0.38 |
| 7 | Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner | SAT | 1995 | Role-Playing | Atlus | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.38 | 0.00 | 0.38 |
| 8 | Shin Megami Tensei II | SNES | 1994 | Role-Playing | Atlus | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.37 | 0.00 | 0.37 |
| 9 | Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 | DS | 2011 | Role-Playing | Ghostlight | 0.15 | 0.01 | 0.12 | 0.01 | 0.30 |
| 10 | Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin | PSP | 2011 | Role-Playing | Atlus | 0.11 | 0.03 | 0.11 | 0.02 | 0.26 |
Total difference (all games, not just the ones already mentioned)
| | North America | Europe | Japan | Rest of World | Global |
|---|
| Total | 2.20 | 0.56 | 3.54 | 0.51 | 6.82 |
|---|
NA sales are almost 4 times the European ones, not to mention Japan. Why is that? I don't know if this trend happens to all JRPGs in Europe or just this series. What do you think?
P.D. Also, if you can recommend me a good (and cheap) JRPG for my 3DS I would appreciate it.
P.D.2 Why Persona 3 on the PS2 sold that much compared to the others?
