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Shin Megami Tensei IV: EU release pushed back to Late October
- Thread starter L~A
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We're riled because the PR is full of "stay tuned next [month/week/quarter]" just to shut people up, it's condescending and dishonest.
If Atlus had said: "This has been problematic, we'll update you when we have a set-in-stone date" after whatever went down with NoE & the sega acquisition etc. I think most here would have been sympathetic & pleasantly surprised when it did finally release.
I know it's the videogame industry and you have to get onboard with the preview culture but "Don't open your mouth until you know what the shot is" is some good advice.
If Atlus had said: "This has been problematic, we'll update you when we have a set-in-stone date" after whatever went down with NoE & the sega acquisition etc. I think most here would have been sympathetic & pleasantly surprised when it did finally release.
I know it's the videogame industry and you have to get onboard with the preview culture but "Don't open your mouth until you know what the shot is" is some good advice.
foobarry81
Member
^^
Another thing is that Atlus just doesn't seem to learn. It's the same set of poor excuses with every new release.
Another thing is that Atlus just doesn't seem to learn. It's the same set of poor excuses with every new release.
artsi
Member
Yeah, this. I wish they told us from the start that the game is awaiting for approval instead of vague "stay tuned" updates, so we'd know it's not in some limbo at Atlus.
Atlus is damned if the do and damned if the don't haha. We moan if there is no news (like for the past year) and we moan when they tell us to "hold tight" or "stay tuned".
I know they can't divulge on what happened with this game in Europe; we just speculate that something fell apart between Nintendo and Atlus which is why it has taken so long.
It has been an unfortunate mess for European fans, but it's really not worth getting angry over, especially at PR. It is coming now, they've mentioned it has been submitted to Nintendo, it's just a matter of waiting a bit longer.
Just look to the reactions to the Rune Factory announcement.
If you repeatedly give people false hope and then go quiet, you are only going to damage their confidence in you. If you are just honest about the whole thing then things will turn out better.
Why did John even say September/October if they have absolutely no control of how long it will take. He should have just said the game is in submission and it'll be up when it is done.
If you repeatedly give people false hope and then go quiet, you are only going to damage their confidence in you. If you are just honest about the whole thing then things will turn out better.
Why did John even say September/October if they have absolutely no control of how long it will take. He should have just said the game is in submission and it'll be up when it is done.
You mean it's actually coming out? Thank fuck. I was getting worried it'd never come at this point. And as said if it's out of your hands just say so to begin with so we can be mad at the right people.
A simple tweet with "Game is in submission, now we just have to wait." when the game entered submission would have solved all our impatience speculation.
At least now we know we'll get the game for sure (unless Nintendo rejects the game).
Funny that the only clear answer we got is "not our fault, blame Nintendo", but I guess whining won't help us knowing what actually happened.
So yeah, ok, let's wait.
Well, it's not as if John was lying or deliberately stringing people along. He, and we, had every reason to believe it was coming in September at the time, and we still think it has a very good shot at a late October release. When he says "hopefully I'll have something to tell you next week," that's based on him talking to the guy overseeing the project and getting their estimate based on experience submitting games.
Please try not to assume malice or apathy on our parts, even when the long delays can be frustrating. Thanks.
dehalcyone
Banned
I was wondering this too, then I realized it probably has to do more with what Europe did to Nintendo (or rather hasn't to their liking).
Quick, everyone buy Wii U's before the n stick gets shoved further up the s chute.
GhostTrick
Banned
Well then again, I feel like (at least in my case) that what people wanted was just to be informed. I mean, when you think of it, game was announced for Europe in April 2013... then no more words. Until June 2014, confirmed for September 2014... then no words until September 2014. Not a single word... until the delay in mid september. To learn that one month later, it's now in submission.
Your post is the most meaningful information we ever had on this. What people wanted is to know is everything was going smoothly, what was happening.
Then again, thank you for being honest. We rather know what's happening.
I'm not assuming malice or apathy, just annoyed at the seemingly poor communication. Really, your comments are the first time in months we have actually gotten anything positive of note and not just a vague "expect news soon!" from John's twitter. It seems like the only news that we actually get given straight up are updates on delays.
Believe me, it is a lot better knowing where the game stands. Thanks for actually communicating it now.
Has Nintendo held the game hostage for... at least 4 months?
Does it always take that much time?
Don't you think they're actively damaging your product and company?
foobarry81
Member
Dear NichM, dear Atlus,
As you implied in the above there is clearly a problem of perception here. So I hope your team learns from this experience and starts taking Europe seriously as a customer. It's all nice and everything to ask us now to stop feeling our "feels" (you're almost blaming the customer here, lol), but you might want to ask yourself why there was no backlash in the US around their release of SMT4... is this because Europeans are whiny people in general? Or could it be because we are treated differently, and not in a good way?
Given the long delay and the inferior treatment we're getting product-wise (no physical, no LE, no real localization), is it really that hard to go the extra mile in at least the communication department?
If you want us to assume best intentions in whatever you do, why no start showing some of those intentions?
it hardly seems fair to blame the doorman delaying someone when they're already running late. Nintendo recently have been very good to Europe, getting us stuff earlier than the US with better CEs
And let's please not forget, that there was some issue with the game, which caused the latest delay in the first place. You can't blame Nintendo for double-checking everything, because Atlus is seemingly too incompetent to get it right right away (or more likely they just don't care enough for the European market to offer some basic quality control).
I agree with everyone here, the complains are because of the lack of information.
Thanks for commenting, at least now we know what the situation is, why is taking this long, and we can calm down because the project is not in Limbo right now and it will be someday released, hope as soon as possible. As we need to understand Atlus and Nintendo are doing their best right now, they both should understand how costumers feel.
I think it's good for Atlus to see people expressing discomfort, that means the game is very relevant for many people and there's a lot of interest. It's been about one year and a half since the game was announced for Europe, that's a long time, and no more news until one year later since the announcement.
The delay was announced at the beginning of September and we didn't know why until today. Now we need to be patient until the submission is done, until today the only thing we could do was to complain.
Thanks for commenting, at least now we know what the situation is, why is taking this long, and we can calm down because the project is not in Limbo right now and it will be someday released, hope as soon as possible. As we need to understand Atlus and Nintendo are doing their best right now, they both should understand how costumers feel.
I think it's good for Atlus to see people expressing discomfort, that means the game is very relevant for many people and there's a lot of interest. It's been about one year and a half since the game was announced for Europe, that's a long time, and no more news until one year later since the announcement.
The delay was announced at the beginning of September and we didn't know why until today. Now we need to be patient until the submission is done, until today the only thing we could do was to complain.
Your post is the most meaningful information we ever had on this. What people wanted is to know is everything was going smoothly, what was happening.
Then again, thank you for being honest. We rather know what's happening.
I'll even had: it's the most info Atlus ever gave out about a PAL release.
A post in a videogame forum from (I guess, no offense intended) a random Atlus employee is the most of what should be considered basic communication Atlus has shown in over 10 years toward Europe.
This fact alone should wake people at Atlus up, that is not normal, especially when your games target very hardcore gamers.
So yeah, NichM, ich you could pass the word at Atlus: even basic, "inexpensiv" communication like you did helps at least to some extend to not let European (and Australian) fans think you just don't give a fuck about them. It won't (nor should) cancel every criticism considering the delays, but it would sure smooth things a bit.
Dragon1893
Member
And you couldn't have given us this info sooner?
And you're telling us to not get riled up but you're only posting this here now because we're constantly bumping this thread demanding info.
The real question though is how long ago was the game submitted to nintendo? You seem to be implying that nintendo is the cause of the delay.
And just in case it isn't obvious enough, we have every right to be upset, don't even try to defend this monumental clusterfuck.
Like others have said: we wouldn't be here "riling yourselves up" if the status of the game had been communicated to us properly.
Given Atlus's history of delays, non-releases, bugs, and total lack of communication in Europe I'd say that apathy would be a perfectly rational assumption to make, and I say that as a long term fan.
Jimmyfenix
Member
About the same as a physical copy released in Europe this month I'd imagine. Or as likely as an accurate update from their PR.
I don't think it's malice either. It seems more like the result of either incompetence or low staff numbers.
foobarry81
Member
No, similar companies with low (or lower) staff numbers are doing just fine.
So I was just browsing the 3DS games listed on GAME's website, and I noticed a listing for SMT IV there. It's in the retail section, not the eShop section. Is this just an old listing?
Reason for the delay? :<
Spieler Eins
Member
the bumps when will they stahp
ShogunDarius
Member
oooooh, and a TBC date for next year
Too expensive.
I never noticed that. It can't be an old listing then, considering all of them said TBC 2014. Interesting...
I'm pretty sure that's just their place holder price for 3DS and maybe Vita games. I know Freedom Wars was priced at about £35 before it dropped closer to £20. You never know, though.
TheMrPliskin
Member
I feel like I've seen that recently but I don't remember if it said 2015.
Starwolf_UK
Member
Archive.org first capture of that page was June 2013. The July 15th capture works here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130715015314/http://www.game.co.uk/en/shin-megami-tensei-iv-218308
It was TBA 2013 then and the product description seems to be that Nintendo Direct where NOE said it was coming (so many questions nobody wants to answer regarding that).
In other words it is not new but it is easy to notice now because there is bugger all coming out for the 3DS.
Aaah okay, that makes sense then. I knew the listing's been on there for a while since I'd been keeping up with it, but I thought it'd have been taken down by now. That TBC 2015 is weird, though.
TheMrPliskin
Member
I feel like it probably did at some point and something went wrong but I doubt we'll ever know.
It isn't, Atlus has already said as much.
As much as I despise Atlus as a publisher from a PAL standpoint, they did make a move and said it'll be 20/£17, I really don't see them suddenly going back to 40.
atlusprime
Atlus PR
So I was hoping to have something exact exact, but we got some good news back today and we're still looking solid for an October release.
So I was hoping to have something exact exact, but we got some good news back today and we're still looking solid for an October release.
That's pretty cool. Hopefully, you'll have an announcement ready soon (and at a convenient time for euro-folks, ha ha).
So I was hoping to have something exact exact, but we got some good news back today and we're still looking solid for an October release.
Thanks for the update. Hope for a solid date soon. I have been waiting so long to play this game.
So I was hoping to have something exact exact, but we got some good news back today and we're still looking solid for an October release.
My 3DS is ready. lets do this !!!
So I was hoping to have something exact exact, but we got some good news back today and we're still looking solid for an October release.
Great news!! At last!! (At lus!!)?
Forgive the bad joke. Great to know we will get the final release date soon, and we can stop posting here forever. Thanks John and AtlusPrime!!
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