In a recent interview with MCV, the CEO of Atlus, Naoto Hiraoka, had some comments to make on the Nintendo Switch, the 3DS market as well as the overall branding strategy being applied by Atlus.
With regards to the Nintendo Switch, he said:
“Our participation as a publisher for the Nintendo Switch has been announced, and while we don’t have any news on that front to share, the device is making for some interesting potential.”
When discussing the market for the 3DS, he notes about the dynamics of the market towards more mature role playing games and how this relates to Atlus:
“As a third-party publisher for Nintendo’s platform, we have seen that 3DS owners are looking for mature role-playing game experiences, and JRPGs fit right into this genre.”
Finally, he discusses the branding of Atlus and how to make their games appeal to a wider audience:
“In recent years, Atlus has been working on our branding strategy. The Japanese subculture consists of games, manga, anime and so on, and we focus on gaming as the core of our activities, hoping to become a leader, while delivering the best creative content to our fans. There was a stage where Japanese games went through a dark time.
“However, with the appearance of the likes of Demon’s Souls, Persona 4 and Catherine, we were able to deliver products which caught the eye of overseas consumers once again. Atlus’ strength is developing RPGs, and creating what we are good at to deliver something enjoyable. That this elicits positive reactions from fans is our greatest pleasure.”
The whole interview is worth a read, so if you’re interested, it can be found on page 20 here.
The Nintendo Switch is due to release in March 2017 worldwide.
