Atlus is probably my favorite Japanese video game developer. They produced some amazing games, and of course some turkeys. I know they recently had some sort of separation/re-management... and I wonder where they are headed? I just went to their website and saw that they are working on eight games!

Tesla Effect: sounds fantastic, since I love these adventure games, but it's only on gog and steam... WHY?

Abyss Odyssey and Citizens of Earth: two indie games... meh. Could be fun, but I would rather Atlus worked on "bigger" projects such another Etrian Odyssey.

and

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
PersonaQ
Persona 4 Dancing All Night (no joke)
Persona 5 (for the PS3?)

that's... a lot of Persona. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but when a company starts producing numerous off-shots, it seems to me like this is a sign of stagnation. Yes, they are working on Persona 5... which by the way should be for the PS4 and not the PS3, nevertheless I feel a bit troubled. It reminds me of EA, whenever they acquire a new company they invariably destroy it (for example: Origin, Bullfrog Productions, Westwood Studios, etc). Maybe Atlus is headed in that direction too. Maybe they'll go hollow like Sega did...

Cripes. Not to sound like an ass but there's going to be a second Persona 4 Arena?

To be honest I don't have much room to speak because I've barely played any Atlus games (when I see them they just don't just don't generate any interest in me and I'm bit hesitant because of some of their mechanics) but yeah... I can't blame you for getting such a vibe from so much of one franchise. I mean Ubisoft has done a lot of damage to the Assassins Creed franchise in my opinion by pumping the games out left and right... and I have to admit Square Enix did a lot of damage to Final Fantasy with the mass amount of spin offs as far as my views of the franchise are concerned. Hell, even though Capcom hit Mega Man with the sequel shovel - and the fact I still love (some) of the blue bombers to this day - I'm kind of glad they quit making games myself.

Aren't those 3 games just published by Atlus? And for Tesla Effect, what other places to sell niche games than GOG or Steam? Physical would be just be waste of money.

And I'm wondering where Devil Survivor 2: Break Record is, I wonder if Atlus did cancel that after perhaps somewhat mediocre sales for Devil Survivor Overclocked and the original Devil Survivor 1 and 2.

Edit: I so hope that Persona Q will be released in Europe, I so want Persona game with Etrian Odyssey-flavour.

I don't see it as stagnation if the games are all wildly different.
You've got a rhythm game, a fighting game and 2 RPGs (but very different ones), it's not the same as, say, releasing a new game in exactly the same vein every year, which is what a lot of "AAA" franchises seem to be doing now.

Also, saying that P5 "should" be for PS4 is dumb. I hate when people say "game A should be for console B."
You don't work at Atlus and you don't own any shares in them, so you have no say about what they "should" make their games for.

As someone that purchases games, including Atlus games, I absolutely do indeed have a say about what they "should" and "should not" make their games for. They of course don't have to listen to me, and I don't have to purchase their games. I also guarantee you that I'm not the only one that feels this way, and when this game is finally released sometime in 2015, it will look outdated and likely not sell as well. Truth be told, I don't really care so much about graphics, but nonetheless I feel that this game *SHOULD* be released for the PS4.

I don't have to repeat myself, but yes I think Atlus is at an impasse. I don't think it matters if the games are "wildly" different. Atlus can release "Persona the Poker Game" as well as "Persona May Cry" and as wildly different as they may be, this does not mean they're going to be any good. I stick by my earlier comments, although again, premature they may be but I have a bad feeling about this.

I could see how some fans would be disappointed the game isn't slated for PS4 (assuming said fans own PS4s of course), but companies releasing their flagship titles on previous-gen hardware at this stage of the console cycle is becoming a pretty established trend (see Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest).  If I'm not mistaken, the Persona series isn't hugely dependent on the latest graphics technology so I can see the decision.

I wouldn't be surprised AT ALL to see a PS4 version down the road.  Ideally they'd develop and release them simultaneously but I imagine the PS4 announcement will come some time after the PS3 release.  (Because what company doesn't love a double dip?)

I know you're not the only one who thinks this way, but I still disagree.
Perhaps this kind of thing just irks me a bit because I work for a company that gets way too much "you guys should release your games for console X not console Y" when the simple fact of the matter is that company Y is sometimes the only viable option.

As Adam said though, it's common for companies to release their games primarily on old hardware for a couple of years though.
Bear in mind that Persona 4 was released on PS2 in 2008, 2 years into the life of the PS3, and it certainly didn't hurt sales much, I would say.
As well as the PS4 is selling right now, the PS3 still has a bigger install base, and it's cheaper to program for, so it makes sense, especially for a series that, again as Adam said, does not pride itself on its graphics that much anyway.
I'd go as far as saying that the majority of fans of JRPGs probably aren't that fussy about graphics in general.

Speaking of Dragon Quest... I've been hoping for a 3DS release of DQ VII here in North America, but nothing thus far. However, I read that they're also remaking DQ VIII... for the smartphone?! I don't know if this will make them money (I assume it will), but ugh! Disagree with me if you want, but from the perspective of a long-time fan I think this is a terrible decision! The 3DS may have a small screen, but it's actually two screens and still much larger than a smartphone, not to mention that it's a dedicated video game console. Why did they not choose to remake it for the Vita or 3DS instead of a smartphone? I have zero desire to play DQ VIII on a phone:

http://toucharcade.com/2013/10/14/the-m … teresting/

Also, I think you're probably right about the PS4 release later down the road. That makes sense.

Probably because more users in the relevant market space (18-40) own a smartphone than handhold consoles.

This quote really drives home something I've been thinking about lately. Not to derail the thread but prior to the XB1 and PS4 launching there were a handful of game designers pretty much bellyaching that the current gen (now previous gen) was holding their games back to much. However, in a certain sense I really think that's a load of crap. I don't think the technology of previous gen was holding games back as much as the cost and fear of failure of creating something new and unproven was... and I don't think the PS4 and XB1 are going to solve that, especially then so many of the early gen games are appearing on both generations of consoles. I know that will come to an end (the new Batman and Witcher are proof of that) but again, I don't think these new machines are a quantum leap over the systems their replacing which is understandable given that certain economies are in the toilet and the laws of diminishing returns with maxing out somewhat superficial things like graphics.

I don't want to sound like an old man - or insinuate that older games ans systems were better - but I just can't help but miss the imagination that was present in games during the PS1 era. Holy freaking cow was the PS1 library varied... insanely varied. I know that the technology back then didn't allow every idea to come to full fruition but that didn't stop developers from trying. I mean it makes me a little sad that many of the games produced back then would have literally no chance to be green-lit in today's world.

There was a time when I would play the milking card on publishers that released franchise games perennially or developed silly spinoffs of franchises.  I have since come to the realization that there's no reason for this to bother me.  If the spinoffs become too lazy or the sequels too frequent, I can just skip them.  There are other gamers who have more voracious appetites for sequels -- more power to them and to the publishers for satisfying them.

Yes, focusing on established properties may undermine innovation and creativity to some extent, but I honestly don't expect publishers to nurture creativity all of the time.  They are in business to make money, after all.

I think the PS1 era may have been the zenith of various Japanese game publishers, such as Capcom. However, I don't think that statement is true in general. For example, today there are a ton of indy games being published, and many of them are great. For example, Outland is in my opinion a fantastic game that had it come out during the PS1 era would have been a mega-hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcc949DAWPI
(cheesy trailer, but great game)

Also, games such as The Witcher 2 are being published for consoles here in North America, while again during the PS1 era games were pretty much dominated by Capcom, Square, etc. This is not to say there were not Western publishers producing great games for the PS1, there were, and quite a few became hits. Then again, perhaps it depends on what games you enjoy? I'm more into RPGs, although I have no problem with any fun and unique game (which is why I love Outland). Western RPGs were in very short supply on the PS1 as far as I remember. Thankfully today it's easy to find Western and JRPSs to suite your taste.

Actually, you're pretty much right. I do tend to favor games that come out of Japan much more which is probably why I thought the PS1 was so boss. Now that I think about though, it was a western game (the original Tomb Raider) and a eastern game (Final Fantasy VII) that got me to buy the console in the first place. Additionally the first three Syphon Filter games were a BIG highlight for the console and that was a western creation. Yeah, Japanese developed games definitely wins the war of numbers in my PS1 library but it's not quite one-sided.

However, since Japanese publishers have taken somewhat of a backseat this gen - and the fact I'm still kind of burned out when it comes to some genres prevalent there (I had my fill of JRPGs and that even continues today...) - I can easily see why I don't partake of a lot of what is out there now.

Again, it's not that games aren't "good" anymore but a good chunk of them just don't offer what I'm looking for. Also, I agree about the indie scene... I loved me the hell out of stuff like Cave Story.

I think consoles have gotten to the point where the power factor is moot, so having something be "last gen" isn't going to be much of a step back. Then again, this comes from someone that never buys a system until its been out for 2-3 years already and has established a number of games I want to play. The new Guilty Gear is in a similar position, where it is slated to come to PS3 and PS4.

I think if you go back in history and if the west hadn't abandoned consoles in favor of overpriced computers for nearly two full console generations (and a general reputation for lackluster games when they actually did show up on consoles), there wouldn't be such a great divide in opinion between Japanese games and western games. It's funny I can play classic Atari or arcade games and not think of them as "western" games, whereas I do for modern games. I think the Playstation kind of showed a good mix of the two sides overall.