Atlus created quite a bit of fanfare earlier this year when itannouncedthat the Persona series would arrive on Xbox in October. But that isn’t the only JRPG the publisher had in store for Xbox owners this year.Soul Hackers 2was a big get for Microsoft, bringing the Shin Megami Tensei style of gameplay to its systems with a fresh release. It launched at the end of August without nearly as much excitement as Persona —Persona 5’s Xboxrelease date announcementseemed to overshadow Soul Hackers 2’s entire existence.
According toFamitsu, SoulHackers 2sold an estimated 51,861 physical copies in Japan during its launch week across both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. While this doesn’t include digital download numbers, this is still well belowShin Megami Tensei V’slaunch week numbersof 143,247 physical copies sold in Japan.
There aren’t definitive numbers onSoul Hackers 2’s sales numbers in the West, but looking at certain charts across platforms it released on, we can see how it’s performing. On Xbox,Soul Hackers 2didn’t appear on the “Most Played” section on the Microsoft Storeduring its launch week, and was only found on the 8th page on the “Top Paid” chart.
Soul Hackers 2could’ve been the perfect game to usher in Microsoft’s rekindled relationship with Atlus – and it could have used Xbox Game Pass to accomplish that. The JRPG may have stood a better chance at success had Atlus embraced the popular subscription service, as it’s the perfect type of game for the platform due to its length, DLC strategy, and critical reception.
More Japanese RPGs on Xbox
Given that Xbox is currently gaining popularity in Japan, locking downSoul Hackers 2as a day one Xbox Game Pass release could have been a perfect way to push that momentum. SincePersona 5was initially a PlayStation exclusive, it’s no surprise that Sony has gone hard promoting the hit RPG to hell and back. The same goes for last year’sShin Megami Tensei V, which Nintendo touted as a top-tier Switch exclusive.
SinceSoul Hackers 2is a multiplatform game and sales on Xbox realistically wouldn’t have been as high as those on PlayStation (as Japanese games are generally more popular on Sony’s consoles), putting the title on Game Pass could’ve given Microsoft an edge over its competitors, as it touted the RPG as a major addition to the service. That could have been mutually beneficial to Atlus, too, as Microsoft also tends to make a big deal out of Day One Xbox Game Pass announcements such asOutridersandMLB The Show 22.
Considering that marketing a video game costs a substantial amount of money on top of game development itself, Microsoft could have aided Atlus’ marketing through its own social media channels and blog posts on Xbox Wire to compensate for the lack of appearances on showcases like a Sony State of Play or a Nintendo Direct. A strong Game Pass deal may have solved some of Atlus’ issues, were it able to negotiate a deal that financially made sense for both parties.
Atlus DLC Practices
Lost Numbers costs $10 and it adds an entire post-game dungeon to the game, with higher-level demons that otherwise couldn’t be found out in the wild, and a new supporting character with her own storyline.Soul Hackers 2is much shorter than most Atlus games, making Lost Numbers feel more like amissing chapter than a bonus.
Give it a try
Soul Hackers 2currently has a respectable score of74 on Metacriticat the time of this writing, the exact same rating as its3DS predecessor. Even if the game didn’t get the same level of critical acclaim that Atlus’s crown jewel,Persona, did, adding it to Game Pass would’ve opened it up to players who would otherwise be hesitant on dropping $60 on a game with mixed reception just to simply just try it out.
Having a game likeSoul Hackers 2on Game Pass would be beneficial for both gamers and Atlus itself. If you ended up enjoying a title that you didn’t think you would and want to keep it, Xbox Game Pass offers up to a 20% discount on games currently in the service. Many games leave Xbox Game Pass eventually, tempting players to shell out to keep their collection. Considering the critical reception, a quick stint on Game Pass could have given curious players that bit of motivation they needed to buy the game in the long run while making some DLC sales in the process.
There’s always a possibility that Atlus did pursue an Xbox Game Pass deal with Microsoft forSoul Hackers 2and it didn’t come together (there’s a Windows PC version ofSoul Hackers 2on theMicrosoft Store, which does sometimes coincide with a PC Game Pass launch). Given thatPersona 5 Royal,Persona 4 Golden, andPersona 3 Portableare coming to the subscription service, with the first one having its own dedicatedWindows 10 version, a discussion aboutSoul Hackers 2doesn’t seem entirely out of the picture, even if it comes to the service a little later (similar to the approachScarlet Nexustook, coming to theservicewell after its launch).
Atlus is open to more multi-platform releases at the moment, and that includes Xbox. If it’s serious about that, it might want to embrace Microsoft’s core business model, ensuring that future releases can reach the biggest number of players possible on the platform.
