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The story
Does repeatedly using the “definitive edition” sales tactic (re-releasing a game with added content after its original launch) drive customers away? That question sparked debate on 5ch’s Hardware & Industry (Geha) board. The trigger was a remark at Atlas’s shareholder meeting suggesting this practice might be causing people to hold off on buying games. The thread also cited Atlas’s own admission that sales of its new title “Metaphor: ReFantazio” fell short of expectations, and pointed to Pokémon’s policy shift after Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon and the Tales series as examples — opinions were split on whether a real customer exodus is actually happening.
What people said
But Atlas games are selling better than ever right now?
It's not unusual for off-base opinions to get thrown around at shareholder meetings though.
It wasn't just someone pointing it out — Atlas themselves admitted it.
Metaphor fell short of expectations.
Isn't the Aigis episode a different case since it was DLC?
That wasn't originally standalone content to begin with.
Leave too long a gap → new players stop buying in
Pump out duds back to back → customers leave
I think the Tales of series checks every one of these boxes.
Even people who used to love it mostly stopped buying for these exact reasons.
She did show up in Persona Q2, so…
It's not canon anyway, so it's basically a superfluous add-on.
It's just broke people throwing tantrums.
Pokémon stopped doing that over a decade ago though…
I mean, Pokémon also got hammered for Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, which barely changed anything, and that's why they stopped.
I know that. That's why I said "stayed" (past tense).
Even back when they were doing that, Pokémon was still on top the whole time, so there's no way it was working against them.
If they were still doing it today, sure, but since they stopped ages ago, you can't really draw conclusions from that.
Forget Pokémon, which isn't even relevant anymore — we should just be looking at Atlas, which is still doing it.
Users don't actually care whether a "definitive edition" exists or not.
The last Megaten release was a definitive edition though.
Did Inti Creates even put out a definitive edition?
And on top of that, the save data doesn't carry over either.
"They're just going to put out a definitive edition later anyway, right?"
And since the publisher never gave a clear answer to that, of course everyone except the hardcore fans who had to have it on day one held off.
That's just wishful thinking on your part.
The reality is Metaphor sold like crazy.
The fact that the latest entry had the best sales in series history
is probably thanks to it going multiplatform though.
That's pretty brutal too, so eventually everyone's going to migrate to free Chinese mobile games, don't you think?
People can't keep affording this forever.
No, what Pokémon was doing was textbook "definitive edition" sales tactics.
It's good that they quit after Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, but if they were still doing that in this day and age, it'd be the worst.
Yeah, I know the feeling — I got bored replaying Persona 5 partway through.
If it weren't for the in-game calendar system, I think I could've managed it.
they've started making "Complete Editions" on top of their "Power-Up Kits."
There's a gap deeper than the Mariana Trench between a definitive edition of a game you replay over and over, and one you just play through once and you're done.
Customers who were sick and tired of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei just didn't buy it.
Maybe it's because the Switch 2 version of Metaphor's list price is too cheap —
now people are wary of a definitive edition coming for that one too, lol.
How is a new IP selling over 2 million copies a flop?
I'm definitely done buying Persona games.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
“Definitive edition” sales tactics refer to the practice of releasing an upgraded version of an already-released title with added content. Pokémon is said to have abandoned this approach following criticism of 2017’s “Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon.” Atlas, meanwhile, has continued the practice with series like “Persona,” and the thread’s starting point was the fact that the company was reportedly questioned about its effect on consumer buying habits at a shareholder meeting. Where opinions diverged was in how to interpret the sales figures: some argue “Metaphor: ReFantazio” sold over 2 million copies as a brand-new IP, while others cite reports that Atlas itself said the game fell short of expectations — and which of those two facts you weigh more heavily determines whether you call it a “success” or a “failure.” Readers should note that the claims circulating in the thread — that this was “raised at the shareholder meeting” and that “Atlas admitted it” — are based on forum posts, and this article has not independently verified them beyond that. It’s also worth noting that the term “definitive edition sales tactics” itself gets used loosely: the impact on customers differs between turning add-on content into paid DLC right after launch versus re-releasing a whole separate package years later, and the thread blurred the two together throughout.
※This article is composed as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Hardware & Industry (Geha) board) thread “People who keep spouting this delusion that repeating the definitive-edition tactic drives customers away.”
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