Atlus’ Confusing History of Console Exclusives, Explained

Atlus is a renowned Japanese video game studio best known for the Personaand Shin Megami Tensai series. While generally celebrated for their quality of games, fans of Atlus titles can have a lot of difficulty playing their favorite games because of console exclusivity. Strangely enough, it seems Atlus has split the Shin Megami Tensai fans (and the spin-off Persona series fans) between Nintendo and PlayStation consoles.

The two main Atlus series are not the only ones to suffer from odd exclusivity deals. Catherine, set in the same universe as Persona, was originally released on both PS3 and Xbox 360. However, the recent remake Catherine: Full Body left Xbox fans in the dust for a PS4 and Nintendo Switch release. Meanwhile, the original Catherine got a 2019 PC port along with a few other Sega titles (Atlus’ parent company), but Catherine: Full Body is still missing on the platform.

Even more confusing is Atlus’ strange disdain for extra money when it comes to some of their other series. Trauma Center, Etrian Odyssey, and Dragon’s Crown could all have sold several more copies if they were released on competitor systems. News that Persona 5: Scramble is finally getting translated for Western regions recently hit, and it’s coming out for Nintendo Switch and PS4. That sounds like great news for Nintendo fans if they could actually play the original Persona 5 on their console.

How Atlus Could Make More Money

The original Shin Megami Tensai game is what started it all. Released for PC and the Famicon system, it spawned a massive series of games with several spin-offs including Persona. Nearly every Shin Megami Tensai game since has released exclusively for Nintendo consoles, except for the third entry in the series, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne which released exclusively for PS2. Luckily for Nintendo fans, Nocturne is getting a remastered release on Nintendo Switch, so fans can complete their Nintendo collection.

The Persona series is a direct spin-off of Shin Megami Tensai, so it would make sense for the games to release on the same platforms. According to Atlus though, that doesn’t make any sense. All five mainline Persona games released exclusively on PlayStation platforms, while spinoffs like Persona Q and Persona 5 Scramble are allowed to release on Nintendo platforms. To make matters worse, fans of the series were shocked to see Joker from Persona 5 joining the Super Smash Bros. lineup as a DLC character, speculating that a Persona 5 Royal port was imminent, but over a year later there’s only been silence. Only recently has Atlus loosened its grasps on the series and released a port of Persona 4: Golden on PC, and it’s been breaking records on the platform.

For anyone trying to get into either the Shin Megami Tensai or Personaseries, be prepared to buy multiple consoles and have a hard time keeping track of releases. Hopefully, Atlus will take some cues from Square Enix, and release a compilation of the games like Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far so players can at least try out all of the games on one platform. Atlus is currently developing Shin Megami Tensai V exclusively for Nintendo Switch.