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Predictions Do you think Shin Megami Tensei would be more popular in the west if they had localized the franchise’s name?

Do you think SMT would be more popular in the west with a localized title?

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Derachi

Derachi

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I was thinking about Shin Megami Tensei lately, with Vengeance coming out. I’ve been reading some previews this week and a disappointing number of them are just comparing it to Persona over and over.

On one hand I get it: they share a lot of the same monster designs. Also Persona is wildly more popular and is an easy point of reference for those who haven’t played SMT before. That all makes sense.

But on the other hand, as an SMT fan, I do feel like this is like writing a preview for the next mainline Pokemon games where you compare it to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. You’re comparing it to a spinoff, which feels a little… I dunno, it doesn’t feel good to me.

So it got me thinking: I wonder if SMT having a long, hard to spell/pronounce (for people not familiar with Japanese phonetics) franchise name keeps some folks away from it? Would it have more mainstream appeal if they had localized the name into something a little less esoteric for western audiences?
 
I don't think the English name is particularly high up on the list of why Persona is more popular than SMT. The type of story SMT tells is just a lot more niche.
 
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I am sure that it is a factor. Not a huge factor - I don't think it would suddenly become a franchise that doubles its sales with a different name or anything - but I can see the name alone alienating certain people.
 
Branding is extremely important and a good name is essential. Some AAA games flop, not only due to them apparently not being good games but also because they don’t quite stick as a brand, since they lack distinction. (The irony here being that I want to name recent AAA flops with generic names, but I can’t remember their names)

Personally, I just think “Shin Megami Tensei” sounds rad as heck, but that’s just me. It can, however, for a non-Japanese speaking/Japanese familiar person become hard to grasp what it actually is based on the name, to the point where “Persona without the heart” became a meme.

To answer the thread question, I’m not entirely sure. SMT as a title is distinct, but makes it hard for the average eShop browser to get a grip on what it is. An equally distinct and appropriate English title would’ve helped it gain more eyes perhaps.
 
Just in comparison, Etrian Odyssey in Japan is a similarly literal ‘Yggdrasil Labyrinth’, and the translation does a good job of getting across that it’s an adventurous journey while still being less directly literal.
 
Persona is more popular because the gameplay is less difficult, the presence of social link aspects, and the story is more conventional. At this point starting over with a brand refresh in the west might just limit what little recognition it has.

It's not like the series is a super big seller in Japan either. I don't think SMTV even hit 200k there.
 
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Maybe that would help, but I think the reputation that it’s the hardcore, tough-as-nails, “This ain’t your grandma’s RPG!” reputation it has while also being so similar to Persona but without the social elements that make those games popular helps it at all.
 
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Hailinel said:
They already tried that with 'Revelations'. It did not work.
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True, although they only did two Revelations games.

And neither were that good to begin with.

Nocturne was the first MegaTen game to do well in the west. If that were called Revelations, I think the name would have stuck.
 
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I already put this on the cringe names thread, but I want the contrary, I want them to use the actual names series, give me Megami Ibunroku, Devil Summoner, Avatar Tuner
 
Absolutely. Still wouldn't be as big as Persona, but much bigger than it is right now.

And Revelations was such a cool and appropriate name too.
 
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Derachi said:
I was thinking about Shin Megami Tensei lately, with Vengeance coming out. I’ve been reading some previews this week and a disappointing number of them are just comparing it to Persona over and over.

On one hand I get it: they share a lot of the same monster designs. Also Persona is wildly more popular and is an easy point of reference for those who haven’t played SMT before. That all makes sense.

But on the other hand, as an SMT fan, I do feel like this is like writing a preview for the next mainline Pokemon games where you compare it to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. You’re comparing it to a spinoff, which feels a little… I dunno, it doesn’t feel good to me.

So it got me thinking: I wonder if SMT having a long, hard to spell/pronounce (for people not familiar with Japanese phonetics) franchise name keeps some folks away from it? Would it have more mainstream appeal if they had localized the name into something a little less esoteric for western audiences?
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I remember we had the same run up with previews of SMTV 2.5 years ago, where reviewers constantly kept referring to Persona as if their expectations were that it should be like that instead of like the extremely-combat-and-party-build/managment-focused SMT. I ended up just skipping reviews of anyone who couldnt get through the first paragraph without droning on about it.

It’s like reviewing Persona and complaining that you can’t merge the characters into better ones and that it keeps interrupting the dungeon crawling with anime skits. (Although now that I think about it, when I played Persona 4 I wish I could have chucked several of the characters into a blender for the chance of a better one).
 
It depends on how rad the English name would have been. Like literal translation is something along the lines of True Reincarnation of the Goddess. So maybe it could have been called Divine Rebirth? Sacred Cycle of Reincarnation? That would have probably been a measure more popular.

At the end of the day though people apparently want to join virtual high school cliques
 
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PixelKnight said:
I remember we had the same run up with previews of SMTV 2.5 years ago, where reviewers constantly kept referring to Persona as if their expectations were that it should be like that instead of like the extremely-combat-and-party-build/managment-focused SMT.

It’s like reviewing Persona and complaining that you can’t merge the characters into better ones and that it keeps interrupting the dungeon crawling with anime skits. (Although now that I think about it, when I played Persona 4 I wish I could have chucked several of the characters into a blender for the chance of a better one).
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I hate how SMT gets compared to Persona constantly. Or worse, Pokemon. I get why, but I once read SMT described as 'a Pokemon ripoff that tries to be edgy', for real. As if SMT didn't start years before Pokemon. But it doesn't matter, I just wish people would see SMT as its own thing completely. Inclusing the original name.
 
The answer to this one is I think no. Shin Megami Tensei will always be a niche series for the simple fact that the franchise is a pretty uncompromising turn-based JRPG dungeon crawler and the modern press really doesn't like games where that kind of gameplay is the main focus (the old press was somewhat more lenient to it, but it wouldn't ever have been localized because of NOAs censorship bureau), which relegates it to word of mouth and for those who watch game trailers. The name isn't really the issue. It's foreign but the name itself mostly is a historical artifact that has to do with the fact that SMT originates from a set of licensed games based on a book called Megami Tensei.

Even in Japanese, the name more or less doesn't mean anything anymore (it literally translates to "New Goddess Reincarnation", while Megami Tensei was just "Goddess Reincarnation", which in turn referred to how the protagonist and their love interest of the original novel were reincarnations of Izanami and Izanagi. This aspect has absolutely never been relevant for any SMT game.)

The main reason the franchise has stayed a niche hit moreso has to do with the fact that since the start, megaten isn't really a game that you can just attack spam your way through. That's something that tends to dock points for reviewers under a deadline; if you want to clear a megaten game, you're gonna want to really familiarize yourself with the fusion system and that's a mechanic that requires more investment than most reviewers usually are willing to bring up for a game. Just look at how many Persona reviewers just straight up admitted that they only fused new Personas when their existing ones were starting to feel weak, rather than doing it as a core part of the gameplay experience. That should give you an idea on how your average reviewer plays a JRPG. (Which I don't blame them for, the game review industry is way too cutthroat to let reviewers have the room to actually try and experiment within a games' systems; if they do that, someone else rushes them to the punch and that can be a death knell for outlets. It just also rather unfairly hurts some games way more than others.)

You can't do that in megaten, you'll get brick walled hard since the games have mechanics to punish that (mainly amped up buffs/debuffs, but SMT4 also had Smirk for example). Bringing a fire weak demon to a fire-using boss will just get that fire demon killed, no ifs or buts, you'll need to think about that. Megaten isn't that much more difficult than most JRPGs or anything (this is way too overstated I'd say), it's just that the difficulty of JRPGs is so low that even a slightly higher hurdle can seem like Mt. Everest.
 
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This reminds me of when SMT IV was announced. Some friends who were beginning to play JRPGs asked me, "Didn't this one come out on PS2 already?". Cue me trying to explain the difference between the main SMT and the spinoffs
 
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Shin Megami Tensei's subject matter and presentation always struck me as too weird and too occult to really take off in the mainstream, and the literal translation "Reincarnation of the True Goddess" isn't really all that catchy either let alone fitting; it took over thirty years since Megami Tensei 1 for a game in the series to showcase the reincarnation of a true goddess. Hilariously, "Revelations" is a much more fitting for the franchise overall because plenty of them are about the apocalyptic final battle between Heaven and Hell and the rise of the Thousand Year Kingdom.

"Digital Devil Story" would be my preferred English name for the franchise because it's snappy, alluring and fitting (most of these games involve using computer programming to summon demons).
 
“True Resurrection of the Goddess” would not help by any means. The biggest problem the series faces I think is the difficulty and mechanics and SMT just hasn’t had its Dark Souls moment.

And honestly I’m not sure it will since the leading JRPG franchises in the West aren’t exactly taxing their players in a way that comes close to SMT. I don’t think there’s anything on the market that really serves as a bridge from FF and Pokemon to SMT outside of Persona and even that was an acquired taste until the Vita.
 
They should have called it something that would piss off the religious right and done a marketing campaign with the beastie boys or something…would have been the most popular franchise around for the rebellious youths!
 
Barely Able said:
They should have called it something that would piss off the religious right and done a marketing campaign with the beastie boys or something…would have been the most popular franchise around for the rebellious youths!
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I mean, it's a game where you can team up with Lucifer and kill god. they gotta have some amount of tact
 
Barely Able said:
They should have called it something that would piss off the religious right and done a marketing campaign with the beastie boys or something…would have been the most popular franchise around for the rebellious youths!
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Fight for your right to (have demons in the) party!
 
The first Megami tensei was an unabashedly Japanese Wizardry game, with first-person dungeon labyrinth exploration being its main gameplay component, and Shin Megami tensei, despite the change to third-person from the 3rd generation onwards, the main gameplay remains unchanged, a series that doesn't compromise at all on the modern gamer, with a difficulty level and an obscure worldview thatturn off most gamers, and it's an anomaly among all JRPGs, so the reason for the lack of popularity is clearly the content rather than the translation.
 
Well it helped for Castlevania, and somewhat for Resident Evil (though Biohazard would've worked too). Prolly helped for a lot of other japanese-made game series, too.

Question just is, how much would it have helped. Certainly could've raised initial interest in more people, but in the end you still gotta be a fan of demons, nihilism and all.
 
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The problems stopping the various shin megami tensei games selling like persona are far deeper than the name.

The vast majority of time in the persona games is spent on the social aspects and in cutscenes with the unchallenging but flashy battle system taking up most of the rest. Most non-persona SMT games are significantly more difficult, and have dungeon crawling as the primary focus, with story often taking a much smaller backseat.
 
This thread is mostly full of people who have played the game saying "Nah wouldn't put me off". As someone who has played and loved her fair share of JPRGs but never touched, looked into, or learnt to spell Shin Miguel Tensai, I can say pretty confidently the name was a big factor in putting me off. It just gives on an aura of something I'm not "supposed to" be into...?
 
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shoptroll said:
“True Resurrection of the Goddess” would not help by any means. The biggest problem the series faces I think is the difficulty and mechanics and SMT just hasn’t had its Dark Souls moment.

And honestly I’m not sure it will since the leading JRPG franchises in the West aren’t exactly taxing their players in a way that comes close to SMT. I don’t think there’s anything on the market that really serves as a bridge from FF and Pokemon to SMT outside of Persona and even that was an acquired taste until the Vita.
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i mean a lot of media dont use straight translations for titles. just call it God's Rebirth, it's a mild liberty at most and sounds alright vibing with the focus on godhood and all that stuff in these games

titles and localizations do matter, especially for a series like SMT which has had the 'SMT' part plastered on a ton of old games so there's significant potential confusion for the less hardcore audience. localizations help lower barrier for entry and have a lot more people feeling like it might be closer to something they already know.

i remember distinctly there were A LOT of jrpg fans during that period in the 3ds era when FE Awakening and SMT4 were being promoted together that wondered what the game was all about, and very likely would've been willing to play it outright if given just a mild push.
 
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oomoepoo said:
Hot take: People that are put off by the weird name wouldn't vibe with the gameplay anyway.
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Yeah, my first reaction was "If you can't handle the title Shin Megami Tensei, I don't think you can handle a Shin Megami Tensei game" lol.

But seriously, post-apocalyptic dungeon crawlers are simply a hard sell, I really don't think the name or even the religious content are very important compared to the fact that it's a niche concept. It's not like any similar games do any better. There's like ten Etrian Odysseys and between them they've sold around 2 million copies total. SMT V alone sold over a million, it's a giant in comparison.
 
Aufhebung RPG said:
and an obscure worldview thatturn off most gamers
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I mean, most SMT games are some variation of "Tokyo gets a demon invasion". If a Kaiju plot can do it, I don't think it'll turn off most players.

All the occult stuff in megaten has always been more allegorical to begin with. The core driver of narrative in the series always has leaned towards using demons as a stand-in for societal ills/influences on the global world stage. SMT1 is the most explicit, where the main human Law representatives are foreign Americans occupying Tokyo, which is ripped straight from post-WW2, and the human Chaos representative is a military guy who wants to go back to "the good old days" of feudalistic warlords. Later those get swapped with Law/Chaos hero as the conflict escalates, but the idea of "what should happen with Japan" is what drives most megaten games and the final route bosses of SMT1 are still representing those two ideologies - an archangel (representing the foreign state of Christianity to Japan) and Asura (a demon taken from Japan's own historical religions.)

It's why megaten gets accused of having a neutral bias so much - neutral in megaten means "walk your own path, taking parts of chaos and law in equal measure and believe in the power of humans to choose for themselves, no matter how bloody it may be". (Which is why Neutral is both the "protect your friends" and "nobody can disagree with me if everyone is dead" endings - both are different sides of the same coin.) It's the historical "answer" to SMT1s WW2 allegory and one Atlus more or less has endorsed over and over again.
 
Razgriz said:
I mean, most SMT games are some variation of "Tokyo gets a demon invasion". If a Kaiju plot can do it, I don't think it'll turn off most players.

All the occult stuff in megaten has always been more allegorical to begin with. The core driver of narrative in the series always has leaned towards using demons as a stand-in for societal ills/influences on the global world stage. SMT1 is the most explicit, where the main human Law representatives are foreign Americans occupying Tokyo, which is ripped straight from post-WW2, and the human Chaos representative is a military guy who wants to go back to "the good old days" of feudalistic warlords. Later those get swapped with Law/Chaos hero as the conflict escalates, but the idea of "what should happen with Japan" is what drives most megaten games and the final route bosses of SMT1 are still representing those two ideologies - an archangel (representing the foreign state of Christianity to Japan) and Asura (a demon taken from Japan's own historical religions.)

It's why megaten gets accused of having a neutral bias so much - neutral in megaten means "walk your own path, taking parts of chaos and law in equal measure and believe in the power of humans to choose for themselves, no matter how bloody it may be". (Which is why Neutral is both the "protect your friends" and "nobody can disagree with me if everyone is dead" endings - both are different sides of the same coin.) It's the historical "answer" to SMT1s WW2 allegory and one Atlus more or less has endorsed over and over again.
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Yes, but since I haven't actively looked up interviews with early atlus creators, I can't be sure how much of this metaphor is creator-spontaneous or player-community interpretations. atlus's most recent work that crammed a great deal of political and social reflections into its creative process was Persona 5, and judging from this one alone, atlus has less of a strong neutral streak and more of a Based on the political apathy that followed the failure of the 20th century's widespread left-wing social revolutions and the collapse of Japan's economic boom, this post-political tendency has shaped the near-desperate revival of the Enlightenment rhetoric of free will and individualism by many creators active in the post-1990s period.The pervasive postmodernist context created by political apathy makes all attempts to respond to political and social issues ultimately turn into an individualistic show of pretending that one is discussing political and social issues as a means of concealing one's avoidance of specific political and social issues. This cynical mentality has become the dominant ideology of Japan in the 21st century, as has been the case with Japanese creators since the 1990s.
 
Persona became popular because of its life sim high school life set up. I think in general gamers(tm) on sites like this really over estimate the impact of names and numbers. One of the best reviewed and selling games of last year was Baldur's Gate 3, when BG2 came out in 2000. Would having a catchy localized name help more than it'd hurt? Probably, but considering SMT5 sold over 1 million copies worldwide I don't think if the series has been called Devil Master 5 or Revelations 5 it'd have sold significantly better.
 
Aufhebung RPG said:
Yes, but since I haven't actively looked up interviews with early atlus creators, I can't be sure how much of this metaphor is creator-spontaneous or player-community interpretations. atlus's most recent work that crammed a great deal of political and social reflections into its creative process was Persona 5, and judging from this one alone, atlus has less of a strong neutral streak and more of a Based on the political apathy that followed the failure of the 20th century's widespread left-wing social revolutions and the collapse of Japan's economic boom, this post-political tendency has shaped the near-desperate revival of the Enlightenment rhetoric of free will and individualism by many creators active in the post-1990s period.The pervasive postmodernist context created by political apathy makes all attempts to respond to political and social issues ultimately turn into an individualistic show of pretending that one is discussing political and social issues as a means of concealing one's avoidance of specific political and social issues. This cynical mentality has become the dominant ideology of Japan in the 21st century, as has been the case with Japanese creators since the 1990s.
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The majority of the people who made the original megaten games are no longer with Atlus. The main creative brain behind old SMT (as well as the original Persona games) was Kouji "Cozy" Okada, who was the director of the original licensed megaten games, the programmer of SMT1 and the director for the series after. He left Atlus in 2003, with his last credit being Digital Devil Saga. Afaict he's currently living out his retirement.

Kaneko, the lead artist for old megaten, was confirmed to have left earlier this year but also hasn't really worked much on megaten for more than a decade now, and his employment was considered in flux for a while considering the last couple of megaten games mostly had Doi's art.

The only one who is still around that can be considered a part of the "old guard" (basically games Atlus made before SMT: Nocturne) is Hashino, who had side roles on SMT:IF, DeSu and Soul Hackers before becoming the main director of Nocturne and then taking over Persona until 2016, after which he reassigned himself to a different project. He's the one who mainly caused Atlus' public apathetic shift in terms of the games they put out. Like, I can't stress enough how many of Atlus' seeming problems with representation, progressivism and so on are all the result of Hashino's growing obsession with anime tropes at the expense of good storytelling.

SMT4/5 weren't directed by him and it shows. SMT5s themes are a lot messier but that was because the development of SMT5 was artrocious and they couldnt delay the game any further. The metaphor/allegorical read is 100% intentional with megaten. If you read interviews, they pretty much made Stephen Hawking the overarching leader of neutral because they were super impressed about his space theories and how they proved the non-existence of a God. Which in turn inspired the anti-nihilist ideals SMT more or less champions.

(The Hashino game that comes the closest to the same ideas is Persona 3, but Persona 3 has also a lot more common with P2 than it does with any other Persona game in terms of how far it takes its themes. P4 and P5 are much more aimless, so I see where you're coming from with those. P5 is at least slightly more focused though.)
 
Razgriz said:
The majority of the people who made the original megaten games are no longer with Atlus. The main creative brain behind old SMT (as well as the original Persona games) was Kouji "Cozy" Okada, who was the director of the original licensed megaten games, the programmer of SMT1 and the director for the series after. He left Atlus in 2003, with his last credit being Digital Devil Saga. Afaict he's currently living out his retirement.

Kaneko, the lead artist for old megaten, was confirmed to have left earlier this year but also hasn't really worked much on megaten for more than a decade now, and his employment was considered in flux for a while considering the last couple of megaten games mostly had Doi's art.

The only one who is still around that can be considered a part of the "old guard" (basically games Atlus made before SMT: Nocturne) is Hashino, who had side roles on SMT:IF, DeSu and Soul Hackers before becoming the main director of Nocturne and then taking over Persona until 2016, after which he reassigned himself to a different project. He's the one who mainly caused Atlus' public apathetic shift in terms of the games they put out. Like, I can't stress enough how many of Atlus' seeming problems with representation, progressivism and so on are all the result of Hashino's growing obsession with anime tropes at the expense of good storytelling.

SMT4/5 weren't directed by him and it shows. SMT5s themes are a lot messier but that was because the development of SMT5 was artrocious and they couldnt delay the game any further. The metaphor/allegorical read is 100% intentional with megaten. If you read interviews, they pretty much made Stephen Hawking the overarching leader of neutral because they were super impressed about his space theories and how they proved the non-existence of a God. Which in turn inspired the anti-nihilist ideals SMT more or less champions.

(The Hashino game that comes the closest to the same ideas is Persona 3, but Persona 3 has also a lot more common with P2 than it does with any other Persona game in terms of how far it takes its themes. P4 and P5 are much more aimless, so I see where you're coming from with those. P5 is at least slightly more focused though.)
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Hashino just finished Metaphor now, Okada I know.He led the production of persona 1-2.
So I don't think Hashino is any different from the old atlus in terms of connotations, and I can even say that the three Hashino-led persona are essentially just repeating the themes of persona 2. In fact, even if there was no Hashino-led persona series later on, the old atlus creators are still a bunch of people who are avoiding the serious issues that they want to talk about by repeating the old enlightenment discourse, and I don't I don't trust any argument that individualism and personal choice can address serious social issues because it's in fact avoiding politics, so I'd say atlus is just a not-so-special group of creators in the Japanese social milieu of the 90's who share a kind of political apathy.(I need to add here that the political apathy I am discussing presents a Hegelian dialectical inversion: they do actively discuss political and social issues, but they essentially don't care about specific political and social issues at all.)
 
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Interesting question. Honestly, it probably could've had a small beneficial affect of the series' western appeal, but probably nothing too significant. These games are pretty hardcore, old-school JRPG's with an unorthodox aesthetic and vibe, so I think by design they were always going to be somewhat niche among western audiences.

Persona, on the other hand, has a broader appeal thanks to its more relatable high school setting and hyper-stylish and palatable presentation. I also think that the Persona games are just overall better in most regards than SMT, but that's just me.
 
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They sorta tried with Devil Kids. I don't think the name is entirely at fault for the west's slower adoption. The subject matter for the earlier games especially was pretty different tonally from what was popping off.

Not to mention those first four or five games have a ridiculous difficulty curve. Shoot, looking at crazy tough dungeon crawlers now and they pretty much have their niche audience and that's that.

Persona was the answer even though they were a somewhat late bloomer. Probably why the dropped the SMT name from later Persona.
 
Felony said:
They sorta tried with Devil Kids. I don't think the name is entirely at fault for the west's slower adoption. The subject matter for the earlier games especially was pretty different tonally from what was popping off.

Not to mention those first four or five games have a ridiculous difficulty curve. Shoot, looking at crazy tough dungeon crawlers now and they pretty much have their niche audience and that's that.

Persona was the answer even though they were a somewhat late bloomer. Probably why the dropped the SMT name from later Persona.
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Devil Kids wasn't mainline SMT, that was the Pokemon clone they had. They tried using the name Revelations for Persona 1 and one of the Game Boy games
 
I mean, that's kinda them trying to adopt a different look to appeal to a different audience. People always attribute Pokemon, and other monster collection games to SMT, if they know about the series. If for no other reason than they look up release dates and realize how old it is, and make connection between the negotiations and capturing etc.

If we're going to exclude spinoffs and Persona and whatnot then I doubt very many folks in the west actually know much about those games, beyond what's on a wiki. Back then for sure there. Sans enthusiasts and the like. Still don't see how the naming conventions are any different from making up fantasy sounding names, or why someone ignorant of Japanese would look at and disassociate because of that. I doubt it helped but plenty of RPGs are called "Final Fantasy" or "Dragon Warrior" or use typical wordplay. I mean, was warrior > quest a big deal for DQ in the west early on? I don't think that truly made a huge difference in people picking up the games. Maybe though. It was an experimental time. But to be fair, that's a less drastic change. Would SMT have fared better initially if it were called something like "Demonic Warriors of Heaven and Hell"? I dunno. It seems arbitrary but marketing is stupid.

I've always leaned on it being less popular here in general -- before Persona 3/4 -- because of the language the games use. Incoming generalization!! There are plenty of people in the west who see words like "Last Bible" and foreign phrasing and turn up their noses. I believe that was more prevalent when I was younger but uh, welp. ): Coupled with some of the art, I could see that all coming together to impact reception here.

e: True enough though, before I knew what SMT was part of my draw to it was the weird name (and art). I guess that can go both ways.
 
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I dunno but Lucifer himself saying "the god you worship is now dead"(Morbid Angel - Chapel of Ghouls) in the trailer makes me think having a localized name wouldn't make it any less niche than it is.

On a serious note, I think that while Persona deals with delicate topics, has the same demons as Persona and so on, it has a lot more color and brightness to it. It can be seen as "an anime game" or something. Shin Megami Tensei tho is pretty much a dark game in every possible way, and it appeals A LOT to us who are fans as it is, but it's a very tough sell for the general audience.

I think the name is phonetically pleasing as it is. We have a ton of anime examples where they get localized names but most of the fans and most of the non-NA people call by the Japanese name, like Shingeki no Kyojin, Boku No Hero, Jujutsu Kaisen(I think that one doesn't even have a name in English? And it's an enormous success).

Shin Megami Tensei V did sell amazingly for what it is, surpassed the 1m mark and did it super fast. It had heavy marketing from Nintendo and Atlus. I think the ceiling for the main series is something like 2m, but maybe they can grow it even further. But that's totally okay and super great for a game like this. I'm sure the developers we're happy with how it sold.

But yeah, everyone comparing it to persona can be annoying... Mainly when we have people criticizing it for being different than persona.
 
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No, it's a hardcore JRPG. There isn't a huge market for it.

If I had a say, I wouldn't translate any title of any language. Let the original titles stay as they are, let people learn (about) them.
 
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Probably a tiny bit, enough to shift a few additional copies, but not enough to make much of a meaningful difference
 
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Nah.

Post-apocalyptic Tokyo invested with demon-like creatures with a turn based battle system with a bit of a learning curve? Never gonna find a bigger audience. Despite a name that might invite you.

And that’s okay really. Its what I like about the series.
 
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