Catherine marks Atlus' biggest launch ever

by Ben Gilbert on Aug 3rd 2011 10:00AM

"Catherine can boast the largest launch in the 20-year history of Atlus," Atlus VP of sales and marketing Tim Pivnicny told IGN in a statement this week. Though he did not reveal any sales numbers for the eccentric, adult-oriented puzzle game, he added that "Catherine has exceeded our highest expectations."

The game launched in North America on July 26 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, apparently garnering enough attention pre-release to post record-breaking sales numbers. Without any numbers provided by Atlus, it's hard to gauge just how well Catherine is doing, but the NPD results should help elucidate the matter within a few weeks.

Source: IGN

Tags: atlus, catherine, microsoft, playstation, ps3, puzzle, sales, xbox

Reader Comments (68)

They're learning the same lesson regular low-seller Bayonetta learned:

Tits = good

@Mr Khan

That is regular low-seller Platinum learned with Bayonetta, i mean

@Mr Khan I don't remember Bayonetta doing well...did it?

@blessrok
"By March 31, 2010, Bayonetta sold 1.35 million units worldwide. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonetta#Reception

For a while, Bayonetta was just called the sexy version of the Devil May Cry game.

@blessrok

It should have. It was a great game.

@Mr Khan

That's not even the case with this. It's a messed up psychological horror game. The boss on stage 3, the Immoral Beast? Disturbing to say the least.

Great game, very satisfied with my purchase so far.

@Mr Khan

Don't know why you're downvoted, what you said is absolutely true. Sex still sells. Whether the game is good or not (haven't played Catherine yet), it's pretty obvious that the "adult content" is at the very least HELPING to sell this game.

Now I'm not trying to say this game or puzzle games are never good, all I'm saying is that puzzlers aren't generally a "popular" genre, apparently unless there's sex appeal.

@Mr Khan Yeah, too bad Bayonetta sold over a million copies and was an excellent game, just like Catherine.

@Mr Khan
It helps obviously, but games can't really succeed on that alone. Record of Aragest War anyone?

Damn straight this was a day one purchase for me.

Well deserved accolade. This is a very amusing game to play, though the learning curve is ridiculously steep considering what was offered in the demo-to-actual product, heh. I still hope to see a full fledged anime or live action movie release(imported, most likely!).

...btw, "elucidate". Definitely adding that to the ol'vocabulary. Thanks, Ben! :]

Quirky, adult, anime-esque, very-much-japanese game selling well on western markets?

I'm glad, really glad. Original games, being so rare, must be recognized and successful.

@KazamaSogetsu
Original? Never played Q*Bert, I presume.

@Haxagon

Aside from the idea of stepping on blocks, this isn't really like Q*bert at all. If that's the only comparison that you're going by, you might as well say Minecraft is like Q*bert as well.

@yoshinatsu it will "such"?

It doesn't "such" it's owsome!

So will I still be able to use my bomb defusing skills?

Even if this game sold less than 100,000 it's still a success for the type of game it is.

Working on my second play through now and loving every minute.

I was pretty interested in this title until I heard the quality of the English dubbing. I'm not one of those rabid "must be subtitled!" types, but I can't stand it when voice actors decide they either have to do "silly" voices or read lines off the page in monotone.

@freaparn I thought the dubbing was pretty good actually. Not cringe worthy, but not going to win any awards either. I was pretty impressed to be honest.

@freaparn

Uh, what? The dub is pretty consistently high quality. I have absolutely no idea what you're even referring to in that comment.

@freaparn Holy the phone here. Bad dubbing? This is one of the best dubs I've heard in recent history. These characters and the interaction between them are all so realistic it's ridiculous. There are certainly the very Japanese aspects that they have no choice but to be over the top for but other than that what do honestly expect?

And this is coming from someone who also bought and owns the Japanese version from Day 1. I got so used to the Japanese that the English was weird for me at first but it really grew on me and I can't imagine any other way now. Excellent job on the Voice Actors parts here.

@freaparn I think the dubbing is strong.

I'm not big on silly voices either, but there really aren't any in this game. Catherine is a bit high pitched, but not outside of reason... particularly given the norm in anime.

I'm always confused by this sort of idea though... I mean, if you spend 10 minutes watching anime in Japanese you'll see too many examples to count of Japanese voice actresses talking in a way no one talks. The high pitched concept is pushed heavily there. Men are consistently monotone or yelling for no reason.

I think it just comes off better for a lot of people because they have no idea what is being said. It's a lot harder to judge how "good" it is.

@Softserve

I don't disagree, my inability to speak another language means I have no real ability to gauge the quality of foreign voice acting. For all I know the Asian/Euro voice acting industry could be just as rough on the ears of natives as English VA work tends to be for mine.

That said, I do find 99% of English voice acting to be unbearable, and what I heard in the English trailers for this game wasn't appealing enough to warrant a purchase. As with everything in gaming, it comes down to a matter of personal opinion and standards.

@freaparn You don't have to speak another language to tell when someone is emotionally flat and unenthusiastic about the roles they're playing. I mean unless you're an aspie it's pretty easy.

That said I thought the voice acting in the demo was pretty decent, and definitely not as cringe-worthy as some voice overs I've heard over the years.

@freaparn

>is picky about localizations
>doesn't learn to import games
>facepalm

@Kirkpad funny thing about importing games is that they don't typically give you translations

So now make Persona 5.

@FuzzyPierce
Not until you've finished your Etrian Odyssey, young man.

@FuzzyPierce

I fully support this. Catherine just makes me want Persona 5 more!

@FuzzyPierce
I bought Catherine in support of this measure (but also cause I actually wanted to play it.)

@FuzzyPierce I'm sure we all just funded the development of it. At least we know Atlus will release it here, and hopefully put something really impressive together.

Hopefully they won't chalk it's success up to the lack of a japanese language track. Give us some options Atlus!

@gangcar

In the Joystiq Show interview, the Atlus guys were pretty up front that it was a licensing issue. It's not that they want to withhold that kind of content, it's whether or not the costs can be recouped.

@Courtney

??? How much could it possibly be? When I get international licensing it's only like 15% - 20% of the original fee. They had some big voice talent for the japanese release but if that was even 25% (probably much less) the budget of the cost to hire US voice actors, writers, editors, and studio time, it still would have been worth it in my opinion. I'd rather play games and watch movies in their intended form (and original dialogue), but it looks like I'm in the minority.

@blessrok Haha, it was already too late when I saw that typo!
Too bad Joystiq doesn't have an "edit" option : (

dark souls will break this record for atlus.

@8bitartist

Too bad they aren't publishing it.

Had to turn the difficulty down from normal to easy on the 6th night.

Damn this game is hard. Fun though.

Love it Atlus. Keep up the non-traditional games.

@8bitartist Atlus isn't handling Dark Souls. Namco snatched up the publishing rights in the US and Japan... I presume because Demon Souls did so well, which sucks for Atlus.

@Gmail Calendar Rep There's nothing "pandering" or "shovelware" about it.

Love Megaman Legends all you want, but you clearly are missing out.

Atlus deserves all of this great response for their first HD game. It's funny that this was their experiment using HD. This game was worth the whole 60 bucks I spent on it day one and haven't been able to put the controller down. The challenge is great,, it's very original and the characters their VA, and story are top notch. This game is just as expected from Atlus.

I like the game, didn't think it was going to be a hit though. Good for them.

Well, considering that the videogame media has been a hype machine for this game for the last 3 months, it isn't surprising...

I'm not saying the game is good or bad or anything, I still have to play that demo (my hopes are high). Just pointing out a fact.

@TheShaper
For a highly Japanese new IP that doesn't easily fit into an established genre and has received virtually no mainstream marketing, it actually is pretty surprising.

Well, that's reassuring. It's really refreshing to see a colorful, unique game selling well for a change. I'll likely be picking up my copy within the next couple weeks.

I was really hoping it would do this well. And I have to say, while I expected the game to be good, I didn't expect it to be as good as it is. I think I'm already falling in love.

Their's really not too much sex appel in actually.

I keep hearing good things about this game, but I still haven't been able to convince myself to pull the trigger. I read about the gameplay and see a bunch of talk about timed box puzzles. That's two of my least favorite things in gaming. Timed tasks and box puzzles... I generally say, "No thanks" to either one in any game. So an entire game of these things? I just can't do it.

So what am I missing here? Why should I buy this? I don't really give a crap that's unique or has a quiet Japanese flavor... that's meaningless to me.

"quiet" should be "quirky"... auto spell check screwed me.

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Catherine

Catherine marks Atlus' biggest launch ever

Reader Comments (68)

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:20AM Mr Khan said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:21AM Mr Khan said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:38AM blessrok said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:51AM The Only Girl said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:52AM Apakal said

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Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 1:01PM liquidsoap89 said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 2:05PM poronponporin said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 3:21PM NemesisCW said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:26AM Talos Izanagi said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:26AM foxhound said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:26AM KazamaSogetsu said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:16AM Haxagon said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:39AM Xiegfried said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:35AM blessrok said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:36AM Joshua Przygocki said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:36AM blessrok said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:38AM freaparn said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:54AM blessrok said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:01AM Mupod said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:41AM Mastrius said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:50AM Softserve said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 12:20PM freaparn said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 1:43PM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 4:36PM Kirkpad said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 5:00PM Crayola Q Pants ESQ said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:40AM FuzzyPierce said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:52AM The Only Girl said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:56AM Shilova said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:37AM SpishackCola said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 1:29PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:41AM gangcar said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 12:37PM Courtney said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 3:09PM gangcar said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:41AM yoshinatsu said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:12AM 8bitartist said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 2:59PM gangcar said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:22AM R Planteer said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:27AM vidjagamer said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:47AM Softserve said

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Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 11:52AM auflame said

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Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 12:46PM gatotsu911 said

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