According to a recent financial report, the newly released Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, Soul Hackers 2, has sold less than Sega planned. Soul Hackers 2 is a sequel to the 1997 Soul Hackers spin-off, which was a cyberpunk-infused take on the Shin Megami Tensei game. It retains many of the franchise’s aspects, such as the demon fusion mechanism. Soul Hackers 2 is the first Soul Hackers game to be released after a long hiatus, and it will be available on all contemporary gaming platforms except the Nintendo Switch.
Despite a favourable critical reaction, Soul Hackers 2 has had a mixed response from fans. While some praised Soul Hackers 2’s narrative and characters, others were harshly critical of a number of problems. This involves, among other things, uninspiring dungeon design, DLC practices, and game design. Low sales have stemmed from the game’s overall impression among critical and apprehensive fans, a factor that Sega has remarked on.
One of the concerns posed at a recent investor Q&A session with the company’s financial reports for the second half of the fiscal year was concerning the predicted sales level of Soul Hackers 2, with Haruki Satomi and Koichi Fukazawa remarking that it is “struggling” to achieve expectations. The two observe that the game has the potential to be sold in the long run, therefore they will continue to improve it in the future to increase sales even more. One of these upgrades, which will contain QOL enhancements and new demons, will be released this month.
During the same Q&A, they were questioned why Persona 5 Royal had broken sales records while being a highly acclaimed game. They both responded that they thought it was a remastered game that had previously received great accolades, and that having it on PC would be an efficient platform. They also remarked that remastering other Atlus games in the meantime would be a good practice.
Soul Hackers 2 failing to satisfy the parent company’s requirements is unusual, given that Sega normally announces how “happy” it is with Atlus’ games, or how they exceed sales forecasts. As a consequence, players have accused Atlus and Sega of poor sales owing to a variety of causes. This includes bare-bones promotion, an ambiguous concept of being a sequel to the original while sharing aspects with the Persona series and releasing it so soon to Persona 5 Royal’s larger multiplatform premiere. Some speculate that the bad sales reaction might lead to a Switch port in the future.
