Sega want all future Atlus games to launch at the same time around the world
Persona 5 on PC when, Sega?
Yakuza: Like A Dragon was the first Yakuza game to be a multi-platform release in the west at the same time as it launched in Japan, which publisher Sega reckons is the main reason it's the most successful Yakuza game to date. Thanks to that success, Sega's chief strategy officer Shuji Utsumi says that going forward, they want Persona developers Atlus to release their games at the same time around the world, and on multiple platforms, too.
"A simultaneous release on multiple platforms would be favorable for our titles," he tells Famitsu (translated by Persona Central). "Of course, we have to make adjustments on a per title basis, but we want to be conscious of global expansion not only for Sega, but also for Atlus titles as well. Due to the large amount of text, the staff has a lot of work to do, but I believe that if the customers are happy by overcoming these difficulties, then it should be worth the effort."
This reminds of John Walker's (RPS in peace) No Oceans campaign. His gripe was more with US vs UK release dates, but the fight for completely globally synchronous launches is a just one.
In the west, console players had to wait ages to get their hands on Persona 5 in 2017, because it launched in Japan seven months before anywhere else. It's also still not on PC, which pains our resident Persona fan Ed. Here's hoping if Sega goes through with the simultaneous multi-platform releases going forward, Ed might be saved from that pain in the future.
We do already have the spin-off Persona 5 Strikers in PC land, though according to Alice Bee that one's not quite so stylish as its Playstation-exclusive predecessor.
Utsumi also mentions in the interview there might be news of a new Sonic game soon as well, so that's fun. I hope it's a sequel to Shadow The Hedgehog.