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Catherine: Largest Atlus Launch Ever

Well, it always helps when the game is available on multiple platforms.

Unlike last year's Demon's Souls, this year's Catherine is available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. And with excellent review scores and plenty of enticing marketing, Atlus is now enjoying the single biggest game launch in the company's history. The title has shipped more units than any other Atlus game and hence, they're plenty happy. Said Tim Pivnicny, Atlus vice president of sales and marketing:

"Catherine has exceeded our highest expectations. It released last week to tremendous critical acclaim and fan response, bolstered by the release of a demo a couple weeks prior, and continues to generate discussion among fans for its mature themes, engrossing subject matter, and frantic, challenging gameplay.

It is fitting, then, that Catherine can boast the largest launch in the 20-year history of Atlus, and continues to see strong sales at retail."

We don't have exact numbers, but it's enough to know that Atlus has succeeded. The game really is refreshing and addictive, so we had hoped the developer and publisher would be rewarded for their efforts. It'll be interesting to see the sales tally, though... Remember when 3D Dot Game Heroes sold way above expectations? That was cool, too.

Related Game(s): Catherine

Tags: catherine, atlus, catherine sales

8/3/2011 10:25:47 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (30 posts)

Highlander
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 10:37:14 AM
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This is excellent news, and a real shot in the arm for Japanese developers and publishers of their games. It also begins to restore some of the faith I had lost in gamers in general, after all we've seen so many quirky Japanese games fall flat despite being both great games and quite popular in their home market. Hopefully this will give them some more confidence for the future and we will see more.

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 10:52:42 AM

And you know, as much as some gamers refuse to admit it, this also proves the power of the review score. I'm not saying Catherine wouldn't have done okay with mediocre scores, but that would only be due to a sexy ad campaign.

But the bottom line is that high scores push copies in this industry.

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SoulController
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 11:00:31 AM

Thank goodness for that. Now all we need is a publisher to grow a pair & release some JRPGs stateside.

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Highlander
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 11:15:11 AM

That's indeed true Ben. Which is why the brutally negative (very wrongly so) reviews of games like White Knight Chronicles are so damaging to the genre.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 2:15:48 PM

So true guys, a few blind gomers that didn't grow up loving a genre can ruin the whole thing for everybody with their reviews.

"Oh... yeah? I didn't know strategic thinking and problem solving was "archaic"... you f*ck."

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Underdog15
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 2:32:54 PM

I dunno who you're quoting there, World, and very rarely do I like to swear...

But man is that ever an appropriate time if I ever heard one. Not quite strong enough to portray my opinion, actually. lol

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 3:33:05 PM

I'm quoting my thoughts directly. Gotta love stream of consciousness.

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sunspider13
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 11:26:09 AM
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Very good news to hear. Will be picking up Catherine in the next couple of weeks.

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Excelsior1
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 11:47:49 AM
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good for them. it is great to read some good news about japanese developers. the review scores certainly helped drive sales but i think there is more to it. we see instances where high scoring games have not sold. a high scoring game will get noticed by gamers...then i think it is up to the publisher to throw the hook out. catherine had some buzz. it wasn't about the sex either. it was more like gamers were craving something different and catherine fufilled that need.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 2:23:54 PM

Shadows of the Damned had the good score bad sales issue

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BTNwarrior
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 5:00:20 PM

shadows of the damned got alot of bad reviews

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 6:12:49 PM

nah, scores were pretty good. Better games have gotten lower scores too.

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Bloodedge
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 12:59:37 PM
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Wow! I wasn't expecting Catherine to do well saleswise, even with great review scores. I think many of us are glad to be wrong. I guess there is still hope for fresh and original titles yet. I'm willing to bet of course that it sold more copies on PS3 than 360.

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Underdog15
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 2:34:09 PM

I'm always glad when a game I think will suck, comes out and proves me dead wrong. :)
Last edited by Underdog15 on 8/3/2011 2:34:32 PM

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Lawless SXE
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 1:15:52 PM
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They advertised it. They made sure that people were talking about it, and that paid its dividends. Great to hear.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 2:25:02 PM

People don't seem to understand that's how you sell games.

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Excelsior1
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 3:16:37 PM

@world

i could not agree more. i never understood why a publisher would spend all that money developing a game and then toss it out there without any advertising, shadows of the damned comes to mind. a lot of people did not even know about the game for some reason.

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Neo_Aeon666
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 9:23:08 PM

I totally didn't know what Shadow of the damned was until I received the copies to put on the floor 3 days before release LOL XD And I browse the web alot.

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Ultimadream
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 1:27:27 PM
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How about giving us a EU release date before the parties over...

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Lawless SXE
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 2:13:29 PM

Atlus has almost nothing to do with the EU release. Deep Silver are dealing with localisation and distribution, so it'll be their celebration.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 2:28:14 PM
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Does Atlus count Demon's Souls and 3D Dot in these figures even though they just published?

I'm glad it's doing well and I'd love to see the numbers for their respective consoles. Has anybody here beat it yet?

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Excelsior1
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 6:35:17 PM

yes, i believe they do count demon souls and 3d dot heros. i remember an article where atlus stated that sales for demon souls were 3 times higher than expected. demon souls debued at number 11 on the npd charts. that's pretty impressive for a tough rpg/action title and new ip. ps3 exclusive too.

atlus said demon souls had sold 500,000 copies as of september of 2010. i am pretty sure it s a greatest hits title on the ps3.i do not know much about 3d dot heros, but i think i remember reading iits sales were higher than expected as well.

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Geobaldi
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 3:21:15 PM
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Hurray. Now how's about getting to work on a new Radiant Historia or Princess Crown title. And/or convincing From Software to do another Dot Game Heroes follow-up.

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BTNwarrior
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 5:01:56 PM
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Hopefully this means we won't have to wait a year for them to localize persona 5

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 6:13:24 PM

We probably will.

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sirbob6
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 8:57:39 PM
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Is it just me does Atlus have no expectations for their games?

I mean they only expected 3D Dot Hero to sell 25,000 in NA if I remember and it ended up over 350,000.

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Geobaldi
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 9:40:57 PM

Most Atlus games, for the most part, don't exactly set the sales charts on fire. They still cater to the niche crowd so it's understandable that they are surprised when one of their games is a hit. Working Designs was the same way when they were still around. They catered to the niche crowd as well but with the finest quality packaging of any console company ever. All their stuff was top notch but they never received the sales they deserved. Unfortunately they're gone now due to that.

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OxyFenix
Wednesday, August 03, 2011 @ 9:40:03 PM
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Maybe they will realize that localization is good. I loved playing Catherine, it reminded me how great Japanese games can be. Have that not realized that games always sell more here. Nintendo needs to figure this out too. Even though the market is not as big as japan, there are more gamers here. That 10% or whatever small number of people that buy the game will probably be just as much as Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWFVw9QBDlg

This guy has a good point. I know it's about Nintendo but it can also be applied to any other Japanese developer, like Atlus. Or you can just not localize and I will just have to learn Japanese.

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___________
Thursday, August 04, 2011 @ 4:14:49 AM
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yea?
how about releasing it outside of jp and US and watch that change very quickly!
whats that?
yes, people outside that area do like playing games believe it or not!
hey, whatever happened to that show?
use to be on everyday!

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Teddie9
Thursday, August 04, 2011 @ 12:24:24 PM
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YAY ATLUS! :))

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