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Was the Persona 3/4/5 Switch announcement delay the right call?

When should Persona 3/4/5 have been announced for Switch

  • Immediately after Xbox presentation

    Votes: 45 26.8%

  • In a Direct, but the Direct should have been earlier in the month

    Votes: 48 28.6%

  • What was done was fine

    Votes: 70 41.7%

  • other (discuss in thread!)

    Votes: 5 3.0%
  • Total voters
    168
zroid

zroid

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Since a lot of us here and elsewhere spent the last couple of weeks in a clamour and/or confusion as to why Persona 3, 4, and 5 were not announced for Switch, I think the announcement which finally arrived in 6/28's Nintendo Direct Mini was certainly a welcome sight for many.

However, the obvious question I have to ask is... why? Was the delay really worth it so Nintendo could make the announcement on their own terms? Or should they have simply sucked it up and allowed Atlus to reveal all the platforms after the Xbox presentation? Personally I think even though Switch is getting the games after all, those two weeks of uproar and frustration will have a negative overall effect. But I could also see the case that what happened in the last two weeks doesn't matter, and now that the announcement is made, this is what everyone will keep front of mind. I really wish we could have been saved from those two weeks of discourse though. 😂 (yeah, I'm sure Nintendo doesn't care about that)
 
Only justification I could see is that the idea was that the difference between reveals was planned to be a lot shorter so it would be fine due to all being part of the e3 event, but no e3 meant that the Switch SKU reveal got delayed over two weeks ruining the plan.
 
No, it wasn't. They should have been in on the multiplat fun earlier in the month. At the end of the day though, it won't matter how/when they were announced, just that they're there.

The true winner of this "My announcement! - No! My announcement!" game is Atlus. Both Nintendo and Microsoft were so giddy to have them they announced the same games twice within the same month.
 
I would assume that when the E3 Direct was cancelled, Nintendo still held to the marketing agreements for that Direct. The third parties likely were not all that inclined to break the agreement (though I think some did i.e. Neon White and TMNT, who were able to SGF appearances instead). If Atlus broke the agreement, chances are that they'd be dropped from the Direct entirely and risk their relationship with Nintendo. The Direct's delay to late June probably came because E3 cancellation came so late and Nintendo opting to shuffle around First Party announcements but, the marketing agreements for E3 likely obligated them to make some sort of Direct in June
 
Announce whenever, they’re still at the top of the world.
(being no one care company pull this stunt also get the same results anyway)

It’s a overreaction people are that wrong. Fanboy power still too strong in the blood.
 
It should have been announced as coming to Switch as well after the Xbox reveal. I'm glad though that I'm finally going to be able to play these games myself.
 
it kept people talking for weeks and got Atlus a prime spot in a Direct

absolute W for Atlus imo
 
Atlus got to close a Direct and was the next to last reveal at the XBOX presentation. They won

The only loser is Soul Hackers 2 since noone even remembers that exists. 😬
 
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Yeah, Atlus certainly benefited from the staggered announcements, that's for sure. Also, I can see Atlus wanting Nintendo to announce such a thing in a Direct, even if said announcement came weeks after the initial one. Switch owners pay attention to Directs, so I'm guessing more eyes were on this morning's Direct mini than on most/all previous announcements related to these ports.
 
The 2 weeks of turmoil was fun and it won't make any difference commercially. It's fine.
 
It's the sort of thing that only matters in the very short term. They'll have plenty of time to promote all the versions and clear any sort of misconceptions about the release, so what was done was fine.
 
Atlus is laughing all the way to the bank at the exposure and domination of video game discourse on social media.

You can't even plan for this level of mindshare. All three Persona titles that are releasing will do incredibly well across all SKUs.
 
Should've been announced immediately after the other platforms got revealed after xbox conf. Making your fans waiting weeks and weeks just to feature a most requested game series on your platform is harsh and cruel. So no i definitely do not appreciate this 'withholding' of reveals for maximum fan engagement from a corporate perspective.
 
It was the right call. Got a lot of people talking for weeks.
 
Nintendo wanted to announce it at their Direct and the discourse this past month is now very funny looking back so yeah, I'd say it was fine since Atlus now regained the gaming media presence again.
 
I don't think there was anything wrong with the way they handled it but I would've preferred a more open announcement:

Reveal @Xbox Showcase -> PR with all platforms -> Showing the trailer @Nintendo Direct anyway to reach more people
 
Simar said:
I don't think there was anything wrong with the way they handled it but I would've preferred a more open announcement:

Reveal @Xbox Showcase -> PR with all platforms -> Showing the trailer @Nintendo Direct anyway to reach more people
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This is kind of my thinking as well. In the grand scheme, it didn't matter a whole lot, at least for Nintendo. But by the same token, if it didn't matter, why not just put Switch on the list of platforms so their fans wouldn't be left in the lurch for two weeks? They could have still shown the trailer in the Direct, and it would have helped the marketing effort more or less the same way. Heck, it was a Direct Mini anyway, so it really wouldn't have mattered. There isn't even the whole element of surprise since the moment the thing was uploaded, the news was already on Twitter. It was just a strange decision, in my opinion.
 
Honestly I doubt this even registers as an issue outside of hardcore gaming circles online. The bigger issue is that they have been leaving money on the table by not being Multiplatform for so many years and it remains to be seen if that problem will just continue going forward (like P6 being exclusive).

The announcement of ports happening a few weeks in either direction really doesn’t impact anything and it’s all been massively overblown.
 
In the long run it won't matter.

In the short run, Atlus got to dominate TWO WEEKS of social media cycles, so
 
The only thing is seeing people go to such lengths to make up dumb reasons for why the Switch would not be able to get Persona 5 (like being too much for it which is just ???????)
 
The delay was beyond dumb. Should have just dropped Persona from the direct all together once Microsoft announced the ports and the news of them being multiplats spread around the web. I would have much preferred if something like Tactics Ogre was the final game in the presentation. Although I'm probably in the minority as someone that disliked P5R and have little interest in exploring the series any further.
 
I think most ppl are right that it doesn't really matter in the end.
The only one losing are gaming forum enthusiasts who are too obsessed with Persona on Switch.
Lost 2 weeks over doom and gloom posting for no reason.
At least now we can bury all the Persona port talk .... until Persona 6 comes out.
 
Maybe because https://blog.ja.playstation.com/2019/09/02/20190902-persona5r/

Atsushi Morita, President of SIE Japan : "I really don't want the persona to dump PlayStationÂŽ."


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I don't think it's that important at the end of the day, but if it has a net effect, it might be positive rather than negative. First, because this strategy has entailed more press coverage than a single announcement would have had. Second, all those heated discussions will make more people aware of the games and the passion they seem to generate. Of course I don't think the extent of it will reach beyond the hardcore audience, so it shouldn't be that important. But unlike with many other Atlus choices, I can understand the logic behind this one.
 
I imagine most people won't care given 1) the games won't release for months and 2) most people think Direct announcements are fun. A lot of the people upset will probably still buy the game too.
 
It was fine. The Nintendo community should be ashamed of themselves for acting in such entitled ways and outright crazy these past weeks. There it is, Persona is on the Switch!
Anyway, even if unplanned, Atlus enjoyed having their IP on such high level of engagement due to the predictions of if Persona would or not come to Switch.
 
In the end I don't think it will make any difference. But, it was still an Atlus moment, the Persona ports were asked for years especially on Switch, it should have been announced in a direct.
 
I don't think it was a good PR move, but like others said, it's worthless in the end now that everything is coming at the same time everywhere.
They probably should have just had another version on atlus page saying "and more platforms" after the xbox reveal.
 
Since Atlus really likes making their own events, I think they should have made their own E3 presentation with the Persona for everyone announcement, Soul Hackers 2 and a GrimGrimoire trailer.
Xbox would've said "and they're also coming to Gamepass" during their conference and Nintendo would have shown a trailer with all three games anyway.
 
Zaimokuza said:
Since Atlus really likes making their own events, I think they should have made their own E3 presentation with the Persona for everyone announcement, Soul Hackers 2 and a GrimGrimoire trailer.
Xbox would've said "and they're also coming to Gamepass" during their conference and Nintendo would have shown a trailer with all three games anyway.
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GrimGrimoire is Vanillaware X NIS, Atlus has nothing to do with the game
 
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Right decision in terms of what? Sales potential for the various platforms? I don't think it mattered at all. The only person who looked bad for 2 weeks was Atlus when people thought they were being that stupid.
 
Absolutely no reason to have it announced 2 weeks after. The whole mini direct should have happened in early June not late June.

Xbox is the only winner here and they are thanking Nintendo for giving them a free lunch with marketing like this
 
Diaochan said:
Absolutely no reason to have it announced 2 weeks after. The whole mini direct should have happened in early June not late June.

Xbox is the only winner here and they are thanking Nintendo for giving them a free lunch with marketing like this
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Social media metrics do not really reflect this, Switch version announcement is still getting more engagement (in spite of the Xbox version having a 17 day head start, being clubbed with the announcement of the PC version which was at least as requested as a Switch one, and, well, the Switch version surprise being "leaked" ahead of time).
 
It was a quirky little trailer for games both Atlus/Nintendo knew were worth having a specific trailer for due to the high demand for these games to be released on the console, would've been weirder if after all these years the confirmation did come in an Xbox presentation with no fanfare for the Switch announcement. The downsides of doing this for the last 2 weeks or whatever have been quickly forgotten.

The real question of course is why a Switch version of P5R wasn't announced in 2019/2020/2021, or P4G when the Steam version was announced, and P3 was likewise a game that'll be weird to be only releasing 6(!) years after the Switch was launched.
 
Absolutely should've been first in the Direct. Forget about the Xbox conference announcement.

Would've saved everyone from a gigantic headache. It's obvious that the Switch versions are the most anticipated, it just felt like MS made things "worse" for eveyone making Atlus do it there first. No reason otherwise they couldn't have waited until the Direct and THEN announced all the other versions right after, IMO.
 
Hero of Legend said:
Absolutely should've been first in the Direct. Forget about the Xbox conference announcement.

Would've saved everyone from a gigantic headache. It's obvious that the Switch versions are the most anticipated, it just felt like MS made things "worse" for eveyone making Atlus do it there first. No reason otherwise they couldn't have waited until the Direct and THEN announced all the other versions right after, IMO.
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I mean, Microsoft doesn’t dictate Nintendo Direct schedule, if Nintendo wanted to hold an event around the same time or even before Microsoft’s they wouldn’t care either way, it’s not their job to worry about what Nintendo and Atlus do together. They announced their event well in advance. “Some Nintendo fans in forums will be super mad at Atlus” isn’t something Microsoft needs to care about.

And it’s only partly an Xbox announcement, it’s also a game pass announcement, and I’d be very surprised if game pass deals don’t have some stipulation that Microsoft can advertise this fact at their event. It’s be kinda tricky to take a game pass check and then refuse to let the game be shown at Microsoft’s yearly event.
 
Hero of Legend said:
Absolutely should've been first in the Direct. Forget about the Xbox conference announcement.

Would've saved everyone from a gigantic headache...
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A few gaming nerds on Twitter and forums are not everyone. 96.7% of gamers probably never realised there was a "delayed" announcement.
 
I'd also imagine these marketing arrangements were drawn up when they was still an expectation of an E3 with Xbox and Nintendo rolling out their presentations a day or two apart.
 
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