Atlus’ recent game release Catherine hit retail a week ago, and was well received by reviewers, loved by players, and shipping a record amount of copies compared to Atlus’ other titles.
Tim Pivnicny of Atlus said “Catherine has exceeded our highest expectations, ut 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.”
Atlus hasn’t provided any exact sales numbers relating to Catherine, but the reviews speak for themselves. The reviews of Catherine are all on the high end for its subject matter, mature themes, and high degree of difficulty which is common in games published and developed by Atlus.
Catherine has shipped more units than any other game at launch in Atlus’ history of 20 years in the gaming industry. This is in the face of their more established franchises such as Shin Megami Tensei, its many spinoffs, and their recent dungeon crawling series Etrian Odyssey.
Most titles by Atlus focus on slight niches in the gaming industry, so a hit like this is a big deal for the developer and publisher. A good thumbs up to them for coming out with an excellent and unorthodox game that sold extremely well. I’m genuinely impressed by how it sold, since games with erotic or mature subject matter tend to not sell that well in the states.