Neat, Atlus Sold More Than 500,000 Copies of Catherine

Catherine proved a little divisive here in the office. I ended up liking it quite a bit more than Jeff, despite sharing some of the same grievances.

The rest of the world seemed to like it alright, too, with the offbeat adventure selling more than 500,000 copies worldwide, reports Andriasang.

The sales split was basically down the middle, with Atlus revealing 260,000 units were sold in Japan and 230,000 sold elsewhere. The company didn’t break down which platform moved more copies.

Whatever you thought of Catherine, the industry could use more games like it. Few games touch upon sex, love and relationships, let alone base an entire game around it, and for all of Catherine’s missteps in paying with that idea, it’s really admirable Atlus even tried.

Great, now start working on Persona 5!

Really happy to see that this game did this well!

What a great time to be on another computer that doesn't have LastPass installed.

It's hard to predict which overtly Japanese games will succeed in America. It's great to see successes.

Just bought the US (UK import) artbook edition off ebay.

I'm expecting to be punished, even more than Dark Souls.

Super Meat Boy, Catherine, and now Dark Souls. I guess I like really hard games.

Loved the story, but good god the game was hard as hell.

I agree, bring on Persona 5.

I'm only halfway through and stopped for deus ex, then xenoblade, then dark souls....shit. I am really disappointed without how gamey it feels. The scoring, the meters, how it feels like I have to answer certain ways depending which girl I want Vincent to end up with(or however that turns out). If it pushed the arcade nonsense to the side, even keeping the still kind of weird gameplay, I'd be happier. I do enjoy just seeing what the hell is around the corner in block world and talking to people in the real world though. I loved having a game try to be adult, not just in a skinemax way(but still kind of..), but I guess expecting a Heavy rain style of seriousness was wrong for a japanese game in this vein.

Kudos, with a K.

The good news is that they -are- working on Persona 5. The better news is that they're already claiming it'll push things further the same way Persona 3 did compared to 1&2. The bad news is that since it's a new inhouse engine and a lot of things to think about... it's gonna take a long time. I'd be surprised to see it come out by holiday next year in Japan, let alone here.

But great news that Catherine did extremely well for a very quirky, very Japanese game. There's still a market for those, Japan! Please don't make us seek quirky French games. They're not the same.

Not a game I'm willing to pay full price for but we'll see once it hits EU..

Awesome for those guys, my Game of the Year so far.

I loved this game when it came out, but I definitely got my fill of block pushing by the end.

Pretty sure it's shipped, but this is still great.

Great to hear.

Pretty sure it's shipped, but this is still great.

Neat, Pat made a blog about his favorite game.

@Cloudenvy said:

Awesome for those guys, my Game of the Year so far.

Definitely agree with you.

Love it or hate it the game was unlike anything released in the last few years, glad it did well and continued Atlus' streak of great sales on niche titles.

"and for all of Catherine’s missteps in paying with that idea, it’s really admirable Atlus even tried."

does not compute.

I just wish they'd bring the bloody thing out over on this side of the Atlantic.

Good game, some funky controls and a bit of a silly story resolution. Would look forward to a improved sequel but would prefer Persona 5 still.

@patrickklepek: What were the sales expectations? Is the game a success?

Good to see stuff like this succeed over here. We need more crazy Japanese games in America.

Good! Still one of my favorite games this year.

@DonutFever said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

Pretty sure it's shipped, but this is still great.

The original number of 200,000 was (It sold about 70,000), so it wouldn't surprise me.

Yeah, its shipped.

It sold 80K in its first month in America, though, which are great numbers for Atlus games.

Finished this game last night. It's a decent little oddball game, mainly for the themes it tries to express rather than the actual presentation of them or the gameplay.

Good game, but it was hard!

I had trouble with it I'm not going to lie.

My main gripe will always be about the 'best' endings. I'm skeptical that anyone will get those naturally as they require to answer pretty much in one direction, and considering the nature of the questions I don't see how you end up there.

@WatanabeKazuma said:

Good game, but it was hard!

I had trouble with it I'm not going to lie.

My main gripe will always be about the 'best' endings. I'm skeptical that anyone will get those naturally as they require to answer pretty much in one direction, and considering the nature of the questions I don't see how you end up there.

Actually, there's a middle of the road "best ending"! Also, your position on the meter isn't the only thing that determines which ending you get. The final trials are way more important.

Breaking news:

MW3 will have a cute girl taking off her shirt on the cover.

Agreed! I enjoyed Catherine thoroughly! I loved the alcohol facts while drinking, lol. Sweet touches like that in Atlas games are what keep me coming back.

@mutha3 said:

@WatanabeKazuma said:

Good game, but it was hard!

I had trouble with it I'm not going to lie.

My main gripe will always be about the 'best' endings. I'm skeptical that anyone will get those naturally as they require to answer pretty much in one direction, and considering the nature of the questions I don't see how you end up there.

Actually, there's a middle of the road "best ending"! Also, your position on the meter isn't the only thing that determines which ending you get. The final trials are way more important.

But they strongly rely on where you alignment lies all the same, you can change it oh so slightly but big swings in another direction are impossible. I tried to do that but I kept getting the same results, even with the perfect answers in front of me.

The neutral endings I wasn't a fan of.

@nohthink said:

Other show stopping blockbusters:

Again, Atlus just knows how viral marketing works.

@WatanabeKazuma:

Right, but we weren't talking about big swings, non? You said its hard to imagine someone legitimately getting "best" endings, and I'm just saying you don't necessarily need to max out the bar one way or the other.

As for the Neutral endings: Really? Personally, the true freedom ending is my second favorite right after True Lovers.

Catherine was a poor mashup of adult game themes and a decent puzzler, but somehow it ended up being more than the sum of its parts, most of which I'm going to attribute to the great character designs. The game spawned some of the best cosplay I saw this year at NYCC, so I'm not going to complain. And hey, it was still fun for what it was.

@mutha3: That was a nice little reveal, and I did appreciate that each ending revealed something different about the characters...

I just thought the neutral ending was so short though, especially next to the true lover & cheater options which were much more substantial. It was the hardest one to get too!

@mutha3 said:

@nohthink said:

Other show stopping blockbusters:

Again, Atlus just knows how viral marketing works.

I actually had a friend who had The Guy Game PC version... Yeap.... Sex sells.... sadly...

@nohthink: "a guy I know" doesn't translate into "good sales", though:P

The guy game was a complete flop for everyone involved.

Neat.

Neato, I'm glad for Atlus. :)

Happy for Atlus..now P5 Please :P

I really liked this game. I hope they do more of them.

Eh

I kind of really loved Catherine. Stopped somewhere in my second playthrough, but will probably finish it that at some point and start up a third.

It's definitely up there with my favorites this year.

@DG991 said:

Breaking news:

MW3 will have a cute girl taking off her shirt on the cover.

Nah, it will have a dude with a gun....

...and it will outsell Catherine 20-40x over; just like every Call of Duty game since 4.

Happy for Atlus..now P5 Please :P

Great to hear!

I hope this funds better Atlus games lol