After eight years of being trapped on Sony's forgotten handheld the PlayStation Vita, Persona 4 Golden finally released on Steam to widespread fanfare. With the game nearing a month since venturing onto a new platform, publisher Atlus is celebrating a milestone.
Persona 4 Golden's launch on PC is a rousing success according to Atlus. Announced via the official Atlus West Twitter account, Persona 4 Golden has broken 500,000 players on Steam.
As an added bonus to celebrate the now former Vita exclusive, series character designer Shigenori Soejima created a sketch with a message for all the PC players. In a followup tweet, Atlus notes that yesterday, July 10, marked the anniversary of Persona 4's Japanese launch on the PlayStation 2 in 2008. According to SteamDB which tracks player data, the all-time peak of players neared 30,000 just after launch.
The news of Persona 4 Golden's debut on Steam was met with celebration by fans matched with hardly any surprise. The then impending release was leaked through insiders and a Steam database entry. It even became available for purchase before the big announcement during the PC Gaming Show.
The more interesting aspect of Persona 4 Golden's successful debut on PC are the bigger implications for Atlus games on the platform. While technically Persona 4 Golden isn't the first Persona game on PC, that honor goes to the original Revelations: Persona in Japan, it is the first to release during the franchise's peak popularity. With Golden finally releasing on PC, fans were already pondering the future of Atlus games on the platform. With Persona 4 Golden's release being a success for Atlus, more are surely to come.
Many are already looking to the most recent entry of the high school life sim meets JRPG, Persona 5 Royal, as the next big release. Persona 5 Royal achieved record sales for the franchise in both the U.S. and Europe. With Persona 4 Golden's sales on PC, a port of Persona 5 Royal seems like the next logical step for fans. Some of those eager for more Persona on PC may actually be looking a bit further back. Alongside the early Persona 4 Golden port rumors were others involving 2006's Persona 3 also being released. The passion for Persona 3 burns bright as fans are asking for a full Persona 3 remake but a port is the next best thing.
What this could mean is that the Persona franchise is ready to extend far beyond the PlayStation family. If that Atlus survey from February is any indication, there may be more news with regards to future Persona ports.
Persona 4 Golden is available now on PC via Steam.