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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Metaphor: ReFantazio is currently considered Atlus' fastest selling title ever. With the game simultaneously releasing across consoles and PC worldwide, it sold over a million copies on the first day, topping Persona 3 Reload. In an interview with 4Gamer, director and creative producer Katsura Hashino says that PC gamers have accounted for a larger proportion of the title's sales than Atlus anticipated.

Metaphor: ReFantazio was the first Hashino-led title that was simultaneously released for console and PC worldwide. While the preparation for a global release on all platforms was not easy for his team, he considers it a significant thing that players all over the world got to experience this game at the same time on every platform. "Even as a developer, I believe that there is much merit in each player being able to enjoy the game in their preferred environment, and I'm glad that we were able to accomplish that."

What surprised the development team was how well-received the game was with PC users – Hashino says that the number of downloads of Metaphor: ReFantazio's Windows version has greatly exceeded their expectations. He explains that, "although Atlus is generally associated with console games," their survey results show that the percentage of PC users playing their games is rising year by year. "Even if you look at long-term data from over the past 5 to 10 years, the trend is evident," he adds. Hopefully, this positive precedent will encourage Atlus to continue warming up to the PC market.

Another big factor for simultaneously releasing Metaphor: ReFantazio on all platforms worldwide were overseas fans, Hashino says. "It's a great thing that fans all over the globe get to play the game at the same time, in a sense that everyone can enjoy the game together. Another important reason for this would be the prevention of spoilers." Hashino acknowledges that there are many people who would want to go into the game blind and experience all of the exciting parts for themselves – if a game releases early in specific regions, there's a risk of spoilers spreading online, so a simultaneous worldwide release is the best way to prevent that, giving every fan an equal chance to experience the story spoiler-free.

Metaphor: ReFantazio's PC sales far exceeded Atlus’ expectations, says director Katsura Hashino - AUTOMATON WEST

Metaphor: ReFantazio director Katsura Hashino shares his views on the game's global release and its success among PC players.

automaton-media.com

 

[damiank]

They sold five more?

 

[R3TRO]

Good, keep them coming.

 

[Hyet]

Im waiting for the expanded version. Hopefully they release It on NS2 but if not I''ll be happy to get It on pc

 

[foamdino]

Fully deserved - great game.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Persona 6 day 1 on Steam. We are in a blessed timeline.

 

[Signalis]

When will devs (especially Japanese devs) learn to finally ditch consoles and just make their games for PC. Their going to make a shit ton of money regardless.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Hashino should phone his pals at the Vanillaware office and let them know about all the money they are missing on.

Quite happy for the success of Atlus. SMT Vengeance was already day 1 and can't wait to get more stuff day 1 as well, like the Raidou remaster.

Persona 6, SMT VI, Jack Bros 2, bring em all!

 

[Nankatsu]

This being their fastest title when they've better things baffles me.

They need to evolve their formula.

 

[Mister Wolf]

PC is where the money is at.

 

[Holammer]

... meanwhile at Vanillaware.

 

[Felessan]

Fully deserved - great game.

Miles behind P5

 

[Sanepar]

Good! Now bring more!

 

[TintoConCasera]

Miles behind P5

Dungeons could have been better, but I found the story much more appealing than in Persona 5.

 

[Mister Wolf]

... meanwhile at Vanillaware.

Too bad they aren't owned by SEGA. They would have been reined in a long time ago.

 

[Felessan]

Dungeons could have been better, but I found the story much more appealing than in Persona 5.

It's story that irks me the most
In my opinion Japan just can't do western fantasy in most cases - its whiny and infantile

 

[foamdino]

Miles behind P5

We can agree to disagree here, I prefer this to P5. But I can acknowledge that there will be people that prefer the opposite. I just want Atlus to do well and continue releasing good games.

 

[TintoConCasera]

It's story that irks me the most
In my opinion Japan just can't do western fantasy in most cases - its whiny and infantile

Some parts of it were a bit too much imo, like the MC being a dude made of magla out of the prince's will, but some other stuff was pretty cool imo, like the clash between religion and military, law vs chaos, or anything involving Louis. Way better (imo) than the usual highschool stuff from Persona.

I just hope they keep doing both. Everyone has their tastes and I'm glad they are doing a bit of both realistic and fantasy.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

That's too bad, this game is pure mediocrity and just a copy/paste of the Persona battle system. Has no real identity of its own, just cliche anime tropes with a new skin.
Not even close to the best that Atlus has produced in the past.
But that is where the money comes from, appealing to the masses.

 

[Celcius]

I didn't buy this one but glad to see Atlus having success on PC.
Looking forward to the Persona 4 remake and Persona 6.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I didn't buy this one but glad to see Atlus having success on PC.
Looking forward to the Persona 4 remake and Persona 6.

Are you waiting for the 'royal' version of Metaphor to pick it up? If so, I think that a leaker mentioned that they won't be going this route with Metaphor, and instead, they'll just release DLC if they decide to add new content like it was with The Answer DLC for P3R.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I'll wait and buy this when Atlus has released their 10th and final re-release.

 

[Gonzito]

Overrated, it feels more like a visual novel rather than a game, all the time talking and talking

 

[Little Mac]

Hashino should phone his pals at the Vanillaware office and let them know about all the money they are missing on.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Overrated, it feels more like a visual novel rather than a game, all the time talking and talking

You gotta learn how to skip extraneous texts in any atlus game.

Once you understand the skip points(anything not an anime cutscene or at the very least voiced) you will be golden.

Let's be honest here. I bet in BG3 we all skipped more dialog than we heard and that was all voiced. Gotta learn how to skip stuff in rpgs. Whenever you see them going into a recap or explanation or tutorial, press the start button to skip. If you think Metaphor is bad try P5R. Once you understand the art of the skip, Metaphor turns amazing. Not only do they repeat everything a dozen times anyway(you won't miss the story) there is a nice recap system that provides the story along the way. It is literally impossible to miss anything by skipping texts. In fact, unlike P5R, you don't have to look up the answers in Metaphor to min/max because the answers you are supposed to give actually make sense and you can just guess the right one. So the qol metaphor brings over persona is 1. Way less needed to skip, and 2. don't have to look up answers to every question to min/max, and 3. Overworld combat removes the need to battle enemies below your level in turn based as they can actually be battled with action based combat once you outlevel them. So your issue with Metaphor is actually a thousand times worse in P5R. P5R is a legendary goat game so you may just not like atlus games or more likely don't know the art of the skip.

 

[Fbh]

Cool. Hopefully it means continued support for PC with their future releases and we don't get stuff like Unicorn Overlord not launching on PC.

Are you waiting for the 'royal' version of Metaphor to pick it up? If so, I think that a leaker mentioned that they won't be going this route with Metaphor, and instead, they'll just release DLC if they decide to add new content like it was with The Answer DLC for P3R.

If that's true they should just come out and say it because I fucking hate their way of releasing games.
These days I basically ignore Atlus games for the first 2-3 year since they always just release an enhanced version with tons of improvements and extra content. I like their games, just not enough to buy and play them twice in a couple o years, so there's zero reason to pick up the initial release.

 

[ArtHands]

no shock. Console people aren't really the type to buy such games compared to PC players. it doesn't have AAA blockbuster graphics

Not to mention the decline of consoles as console people switch over to PC

 

[Skifi28]

If that's true they should just come out and say it because I fucking hate their way of releasing games.

Even if they did come out and say it, nobody would ever believe them and there'd still be a chance they release it down the line anyway.

 

[Zacfoldor]

no shock. Console people aren't really the type to buy such games compared to PC players. it doesn't have AAA blockbuster graphics

Not to mention the decline of consoles as console people switch over to PC

What are you talking about? Are you saying this sold more on PC than on consoles?

PC gamers prefer older f2p titles while console players prefer slate releases, you are correct, but you think jrpgs are pc games and PC is doing great while consoles are failing? You think there is some mass exodus of gamers over to PC? I know that is what yall want but to actually convince yourself it is happening? Honestly, I wish I could believe my own horsehockey myself. It sure would make my agitprop easier. Thread.

 

[Labadal]

Very happy to see Atlus doing well on PC, but I also hope that it translates to better ports in the future.

 

[Topher]

no shock. Console people aren't really the type to buy such games compared to PC players. it doesn't have AAA blockbuster graphics

Not to mention the decline of consoles as console people switch over to PC

He isn't saying PC outsold console here

 

[Felessan]

like the clash between religion and military, law vs chaos, or anything involving Louis. Way better (imo) than the usual highschool stuff from Persona.

Persona is a slice of life of japanese high school with fantasy/mystery elements. You may or may not be interested in this particular slice, but at least it's more or less coherent.
And Metaphor is some middle school "political" drama (aka pure bullshit). I can't take it seriously, it's kindergarden fairytale for me.

I just hope they keep doing both. Everyone has their tastes and I'm glad they are doing a bit of both realistic and fantasy.

This one is clearly target western audience more. Not that I am against it, just not my cup of tea.

 

[Nankatsu]

Overrated, it feels more like a visual novel rather than a game, all the time talking and talking

Insanely overrated, to a point that I don't understand how this was labeled as AAA. It cuts more corners than anything, specially if you compared it to previous titles made by Atlus.

 

[Celcius]

Are you waiting for the 'royal' version of Metaphor to pick it up? If so, I think that a leaker mentioned that they won't be going this route with Metaphor, and instead, they'll just release DLC if they decide to add new content like it was with The Answer DLC for P3R.

Nope, Metaphor doesn't really interest me

 

[Danjin44]

Glad to see it did well, I absolutely LOVED this game.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Nope, Metaphor doesn't really interest me

Fair enough.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Overrated, it feels more like a visual novel rather than a game, all the time talking and talking

Arent all jrpgs just visual novels with overcomplicated mechanics tacked on?

 

[Guilty_AI]

Let's be honest here. I bet in BG3 we all skipped more dialog than we heard and that was all voiced.

Speak for yourself bud, i read everything, may even read some of the random documents certain games like throwing around. I dont have the attention span of a mosquito.

What i will admit though is that not every game deserves to be read or paid attention to in its entirety. When i played gow2018 for example, it wasn't uncommon for me to zone out, and i just ended up dropping the game by the midway point, since there was basically no meaningful story to speak of. But there's no "learning how to play x games here" if you feel like skipping story in a story-driven game, the game is just bad or not for you at the very least.

 

[ArtHands]

What are you talking about? Are you saying this sold more on PC than on consoles?

PC gamers prefer older f2p titles while console players prefer slate releases, you are correct, but you think jrpgs are pc games and PC is doing great while consoles are failing? You think there is some mass exodus of gamers over to PC? I know that is what yall want but to actually convince yourself it is happening? Honestly, I wish I could believe my own horsehockey myself. It sure would make my agitprop easier. Thread.

Weird cope.

PC gamers spend 92% of their time on older games, oh and there are apparently 908 million of us now

Feels like Destiny.

www.pcgamer.com

From this Newzoo says that the PC market is growing at a steady rate, with an estimated 873.5 million players in 2023 rising to 907.5 million in 2024.


I know you'll all like this one: that handily beats out the console audience, of whom there were an estimated 653.1 million in 2024.

 

[Felessan]

Weird cope.

Where does "switching" comes from?
PC is growing due to new territories as pc by far the cheapest way to get introduced to gaming (and no one talking about 5090 here)
Get a hint - over half of steam users now are chinese, and they for sure did not came from consoles.

 

[ArtHands]

Where does "switching" comes from?
PC is growing due to new territories as pc by far the cheapest way to get introduced to gaming (and no one talking about 5090 here)
Get a hint - over half of steam users now are chinese, and they for sure did not came from consoles.

That doesn't mean the growth is exclusively from non-console people

 

[Buggy Loop]

Fucking hell, everyone told them like 10 years ago to go PC once and for all, took them long enough.

 

[Draugoth]

Leaving this game for last in my backlog because of how dumb big it is alongside Persona 5

Trying to finish Rebirth and Obscure first

 

[MMaRsu]

Now make SMT IV for pc cowards!

Also SMT Vengeance how about that must have sold some

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The console versions of Metaphor looked and ran like shit, a lot of people moved to the PC version just so they could brute force some AA into that ancient engine and not make it look like ass and also run at 60 fps consistently

 

[NanaMiku]

Im waiting for the expanded version. Hopefully they release It on NS2 but if not I''ll be happy to get It on pc

Hahaha, this is the reason why I still haven't bought Metaphor.

 

[MMaRsu]

Expanded version? The game is too long as is

 

[Durin]

Good to hear, now they need to badger Vanillaware to do the same, or pay someone else who can.

 

[Felessan]

That doesn't mean the growth is exclusively from non-console people

There is no proof of sizable migration from console to PC.

PS. Console players grow faster than PC players - take a hint

 

[Hudo]

Neat. I do hope that Metaphor 2 ends up being a bit bolder, though. I wouldn't be mad if it tried to differentiate itself a bit more from Persona in some of its core mechanics... Also, unfortunately, I think the OST was a letdown overall. There are a couple of solid songs, like the famous battle theme, where a monk battle raps in Esperanto. But overall, it's Meguro's weakest work, imho. For the amount of time they worked on this, and for all the "we're playing D&D campaigns as part of the pre-production phase!" stuff, I expected them to be a bit more their own thing. The setting has lots of potential.

Still good game, though.