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

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

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

More PC players than all console players combined. :messenger_savoring:

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.
 
More PC players than all console players combined. :messenger_savoring:
Yeah, playing Fortnite, LoL and chinese MMO on cheap PC/notebooks

PC is by far the most accessible gaming, you can't really work or study on console and low end PC cost pennies. A really big factor in developing countries from where most of that 900m number comes from.

Going from poor to rich scale, a person would get PC/access to PC much earlier he would buy a console. So gaming always starts with PC (or mobile in current era) and consoles gaming require some accumulation of wealth.
 
Last edited:
In recent times only the Final Fantasy 16 PC sales have disappointed.
Other than that literally every game had exceeded developers expectations.
 
I'm happy the game exceeded sales expectations, but man, I really did not like this game despite loving Atlus' SMT and Persona games.

I think Metaphor was a game that would have greatly benefited from being a traditional JRPG, instead of using Persona's calendar system. Hopefully if they make Metaphor 2, they will either abandon the calendar system or really modify it to make it something unique to the Metaphor games.
 
I still haven't gotten to Metaphor, which is unusual for an Atlus game. It just didn't seem as interesting (for me) in reviews and PC (and console) performance issues turned me off a bit.

Did Atlus patch the game up any? I remember some stupidity where they rendered whole bunch of objects even if player doesn't see them (like when you are near a door) which introduced a ton of stutters.
 
Yeah, playing Fortnite, LoL and chinese MMO on cheap PC/notebooks

PC is by far the most accessible gaming, you can't really work or study on console and low end PC cost pennies. A really big factor in developing countries from where most of that 900m number comes from.

Going from poor to rich scale, a person would get PC/access to PC much earlier he would buy a console. So gaming always starts with PC (or mobile in current era) and consoles gaming require some accumulation of wealth.

This thread is literally about Atlus' expectation being surpassed on PC. So it's not just Fortnite, LoL and chinese MMO.

But I'll agree with you that being a general purposed machine is how PC has penetrated globally. It's only in the US where console is seen as cheap gaming and not a luxury.
 
You gotta learn how to skip extraneous texts in any atlus game.
aint nobody got time for that GIF

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.
tldr
 
I thought it was great. It does borrow heavily from Persona ofc, especially in structure, but there were enough differences and refinements to make it feel fresh to me after I burned out on P5. Metaphor's narrative was nothing too memorable (and no part of it is as strong as the beginning of P5), but the setting was a joy to spend time in.
 
Most overrated game this gen by far for me and I'm a huge Atlus/Persona fan who platinum'd the game. The game is a 75-80 at best.
 
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.
Do you have a source for this, my booty loving compatriot? Because that's exactly what I'm doing.
 
I genuinely sometimes wonder whether Japanese developers actually have market research departments, because they seem to operate purely on stereotypes and received wisdom, and nothing else.

The Japanese seem to think it's impossible to turn a profit when releasing on PC platforms. 'We didn't think we could make this much money on there' is a quote I hear far too often.

Now, all we need is for Vanillaware to release 13 Sentinels and Unicorn Overlord on PC, to a chorus of 'wow, we just made a mind-blowing amount of profit. We never expected this, it's far above our expectations'.
 
Do you have a source for this, my booty loving compatriot? Because that's exactly what I'm doing.
If I recall correctly, the info comes from a previous midori leak, so take it with a grain of salt. The more interesting thing is that they recently shifted direction with Episode Aigis - The Answer by releasing it as DLC instead of doing a 'royal' release for it (this proves that the original midori leak had some truth to it). Of course, there's nothing official from Atlus on Metaphor specifically, so it's just more speculation on my part.

 
Now, all we need is for Vanillaware to release 13 Sentinels and Unicorn Overlord on PC, to a chorus of 'wow, we just made a mind-blowing amount of profit. We never expected this, it's far above our expectations'.
I'd love for Vanillaware's games to be available on PC as well. But rumor has it that Vanillaware genuinely don't like PC as a platform. We at least know that Atlus have asked Vanillaware multiple times to port their shit over or let another studio do it for them, and Vanillaware always responded with a "no". Remember that Sega actively had to force Atlus to release their stuff on PC as well and go multiplat in general.

Maybe at some point they will cave in, who knows.
 
Not better than any previous game they made nor was special, but I definitely had my fun with it and loved it. Well deserved

I don't mind Atlus's formula but there's always room for improvement
 
Top Bottom