NoirSon said:
I wouldn't say the PlayStation is the only factor. The SMT series technically dates back to the NES era and actually had a number of spinoffs besides Persona on the PlayStation consoles including two versions of SMT 3.
Among the Japanese audience it is extremely well known appearing on numerous consoles and different media but was still sort of niche among mainstream JRPG players and Japan itself. Persona exploded outside of the shadow of the main Shin Megami Tensei series and into the mainstream as it adopted more visual novel aspects to its game play and focus on its characters at a time where the previous kingpins of Japan, Final Fantasy was losing its way and it was a long drought between a main Dragon Quest entry. While Tales is healthy it had yet to step out the second tier of popularity that most of the SMT franchise finds itself.
Persona hit at the right time and Persona 4 was a masterful game even released on a system after the new generation of consoles dropped.
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i didn't say it is just because of PS. but PS install base helped Persona to be well-known whereas SMT is also steadily increasing but not at the rate like Persona.