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

Total difference (all games, not just the ones already mentioned)

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?

Let's be real. Shin Megami Tensei doesn't do "well" anyway.

Persona 3 sold that much because it was different than the other Megaten games. It includes dating sim elements and it's way easier than older games in the series. It also lacks that "serious" tone from the older games. If you want to see if you might be interested in the series start with Persona 3 and Persona 4. If you really like them then you can go and try the rest.

It does well. If that wasn't the case then it wouldn't be such a prolific series. They aren't AAA games so they don't need big sales.

Also it's the third most important JRPG franchise in Japan being beaten only by Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

Europe does not like good games. I can tell that because I live in Europe. The tastes in games here are not diverse at all. I only see COD, other shooters, FIFA and hyped up third party crap like Watch Dogs.

The SMT games have always been delayed by 1 to 2 years in Europe after the NA release.

So the European market gets the games with a stealth release after the hype for the games have died down considerably. The fans have been screwed over consistently by Atlus with their highly delayed or no releases. And for these types of niche games, goodwill and hype of the hardcore fans are two major factors going for them, which Atlus has squandered every step of the way.

Tracking issues.

Also, we don't see to have as big a JRPG fanbase in general really.

Pokemon isnt important confirmed :0  Also how about FE?

Tell me about it, every time I go to my main gaming store I see in the best selling part always CODs and Fifas. Once I saw a Chess game as first, but I discovered that someone put it in there as a joke.

I am a person from Europe i love JRPGs and i had heard good things about P4G so i bought that and downloaded it on my Vita played some of it, and honestly it was the most boring thing i had ever played, I gave it a good 10 hours of playtime before i simply had to put it down out of boredom.
I usually like almost all JRPGs but persona proved to be the series i could not tolerate, i don't know how others feel but i just think the SMT games really don't appeal to the European audience.