When it comes to porting games across platforms, the original team or even studio isn’t often involved. Some studios exist and revolve almost entirely around mercenary port development. But with June 2020’s surprise release of Persona 4 Golden on PC, it seems like this project came directly from the source. We have to credit Persona Central for doing the work on this story, but it’s definitely worth sharing. Based on information in the credits and even beginning logo splashes, it’s easy to determine that Persona 4 Golden PC development was (partially) an internal project at Atlus. [Thanks, Persona Central!]
This isn’t the first Atlus game to make its way to Steam, but it is the first one credited to Atlus. Catherine Classic came earlier, and it’s published on Steam by Sega and developed by The Eccentric Ape. In comparison, a new Creator’s Page was launched on Steam for Atlus, and the Japanese studio is directly involved. The P-Studio logo appears when you start Persona 4 Golden, and that wasn’t the case for Catherine Classic and Studio Zero. The credits also contain P-Studio staff, including Daisuke Yajima listed as Director and Sachie Tousuji as Art Director. These two have served other roles in the past and seem to have been in charge with this project.
Persona 4 Golden PC development wasn’t entirely internal at Atlus Japan, mind. Sega’s America and Europe branches are also included in the credits, and it seems like third-party Japanese developer Preapp Partners did a lot of the dirty work. Despite that, Atlus Japan’s direction of the port and involvement in the project, Steam page, and other factors like Japanese marketing suggest a new investment from the company in PC releases.
Persona 4 Golden is currently available for the PlayStation Vita and the PC.
