Persona 5

[Twi]

Yeah, but when you knocked it away it had your face, so...

[Chaos2Frozen]

Persona 5 Release Window Revealed

Persona 5, Atlus’ upcoming RPG for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, was previously slated for a 2015 release in Japan and North America. In the recent full year 2015 earnings release for SEGA SAMMY (the company that owns Atlus), Persona 5‘s release window has been revealed as an October to December 2015 launch, both in Japan and North America.

So if this turns out to be true... Oct for Japan, Dec for West?

[DragoonKain3]

If Zestiria is launching October in the west, I hope this releases in December. No sense going head to head with the genre becoming as niche as it is here.

[SilverSyko]

I don't think the Persona series in particular is really that niche anymore. It's not at Final Fantasy levels sure, but it's defnitely on a slightly shorter pedestal somewhere next to it.

[risingstar3110]

I know it's very very unlikely. But after the whole thing with P.T. Now i started to look at every promising games soon to be released from Japan and wondered "will this one be cancelled as well? " O_<

[DragoonKain3]

What's PT? You mean the playable teaser for Silent Hills? I thought that was more Kojima and Konami having a falling out more than anything?

So yeah, not worried at all about Persona. MegaTen is pretty much Atlus's trademark series, and I just don't see them NOT bringing every title stateside.

As for it's popularity, considering none of the titles even hit 1mil global sales combined, I really can't say it's not niche. Even Soul's first iteration (Demon Souls) had more total sales than the combined of P4 and P4:G (of which had a lot of double dippers including myself).

[FlareKnight]

Awesome, I'd be more than happy to be spending December playing some Persona .

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

I don't think the Persona series in particular is really that niche anymore. It's not at Final Fantasy levels sure, but it's defnitely on a slightly shorter pedestal somewhere next to it.

Predicted 1 million sales, total, tops.

That's pretty niche imo.

[Jazzrat]

It's been a long time since the last Persona, there's some hype momentum behind P5 after the long drought and considering this will be released for both PS3 and PS4, i think it should be around 2 to 3 million worldwide sales easily.

More sales will depend a lot on Atlus' marketing and localization gap, the RPG fans will buy it irregardless but if they capitalize on the zeitgeist, they can gain a lot more buyers.

As for Atlus and Konami comparison, i think Atlus is still pretty safe since SEGA Sammy have too much money in videogame development in the form of SEGA and it's subsidiary studios like Creative Assembly and Relic Studio. It's more likely that we'll see SEGA Sammy getting rid of it's oversea holdings before their own domestic studios.

[com_gwp]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Predicted 1 million sales, total, tops.

That's pretty niche imo.

Uh, no.

1 million ANYTHING isn't what you define as niche.

[BetoJR]

Originally Posted by com_gwp

Uh, no.

1 million ANYTHING isn't what you define as niche.

Yeah, that's kinda my way of seeing things, as well. Well, maybe not if you're SEGA... Oh.

[com_gwp]

I know we like to jest about this, but I'll just put it out there that even if it reaches a million copies sold, we're seeing a massive success here, SEGA or not. (Though going by their sales targets and release schedule, it seems they might be expecting a slightly higher range of 1-2 mil.)

[Kafriel]

+ It is a standalone title.
+ Its gameplay style has not been overused in the contemporary market.
+ It has unique visuals and audio.
/+ Should have replayability value.

- Persona is among my lesser known series, few people can relate to the series in my otaku circles, so while it will definitely be a SEA-hit, I wouldn't be too sure about NA/EU sales. This will neeeed some decent advertising, although there's no reason for ATLUS not to.
- The school setting has been exhausted in god knows how many other titles.
/- I have the feeling this game will be more frustrating than difficult regarding the final/bonus bosses. I still remember Margaret...
/- DLC content. Come on, we all know it will be there...

Of course, the game is an insta-buy for me, even if that buy takes place 14 months from now :P

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by com_gwp

Uh, no.

1 million ANYTHING isn't what you define as niche.

1 million Bloodborne sales is still niche.

Niche is anything you can't talk to your non-hobby-enthusiastic friends about.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

1 million Bloodborne sales is still niche.

Niche is anything you can't talk to your non-hobby-enthusiastic friends about.

That's still too vague to mean anything.

By that definition, anything that isn't Mario, Street Fighter, or Call of Duty is niche because those are the only games people who don't play games would know about

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

That's still too vague to mean anything.

By that definition, anything that isn't Mario, Street Fighter, or Call of Duty is niche because those are the only games people who don't play games would know about

Exactly, we have chosen a lonely hobby

[Jazzrat]

Sometimes niche games can find success in the global market, Minecraft/WoW/The Sims were very niche genre as well but manage to find enough traction to propel it to the masses' mindset.

Persona 5 may very well be the FF7 of the SMT series if they handle it correctly and release it in the right time frame.

[Kafriel]

An FF7 counterpart would require a new generation of graphics, so I wouldn't go that far...I would liken it to a new smash bros release though! Same old with a touch of new and the hype train is on its way~

...and now I wonder if there would ever be an SSB persona game o_o

[Jazzrat]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

An FF7 counterpart would require a new generation of graphics, so I wouldn't go that far...I would liken it to a new smash bros release though! Same old with a touch of new and the hype train is on its way~

...and now I wonder if there would ever be an SSB persona game o_o

Nah, while FF7 is a generational milestone for JRPG graphics, it's all about brand visibility. Assuming Persona 5 is released before any other major JRPG hits Playstation 4, it should give it a good western market momentum (much like P4 Golden did for the Vita) to move it forward unlike it's mainline predecessor that came out at the tail end of the Playstation 2 era.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

Nah, while FF7 is a generational milestone for JRPG graphics, it's all about brand visibility. Assuming Persona 5 is released before any other major JRPG hits Playstation 4, it should give it a good western market momentum (much like P4 Golden did for the Vita) to move it forward unlike it's mainline predecessor that came out at the tail end of the Playstation 2 era.

Yeah, let's not forget that Persona 4 came out at the tail end of the PS2 era and even adding in the Vita version sales won't be particularly fair seeing how the system is (sadly) a very niche system outside of Japan (and maybe even inside). I have every reason to believe that Persona 5 will probably double the amount of sales of P4 and P4G combined (assuming Atlus doesn't drop the ball gameplay-wise).