Just one week after breaking into the international market and Catherine has become Atlus’ biggest launch title to date.

In an interview with IGN, VP of Sales and Marketing Tim Pivnicny says that:

Catherine has exceeded our highest expectations. It released last week to tremendous critical acclaim and fan response, bolstered by the release of a demo a couple weeks prior, and continues to generate discussion among fans for its mature themes, engrossing subject matter, and frantic, challenging gameplay.

It is fitting, then, that Catherine can boast the largest launch in the 20-year history of Atlus, and continues to see strong sales at retail.

While the game certainly targets a niche market of players (hey, how many gamers look forward to a puzzle game?), Atlus has done quite well generating hype and properly marketing Catherine (and/or Katherine) to the right ears.

I for one am glad the game is selling well. Atlus deserves props for listening to fans and taking the risk to bring Catherine outside Japan. Of course while gamers could simply have imported the Japanese version (which would be a problem with region-locked consoles, the 360 and the Wii… yay for the PS3), not everyone speaks the language and has the proper faculties to appreciate the game in it’s native tongue. Purists could argue that Atlus could’ve preserved the atmosphere and much of the game’s feel by including the japanese voice over (and simply giving us the option to switch voices) but personally, I think they did a great job with localization. After all, this is the company that gave us Persona 3 :).

Without exact sales numbers, it’s hard to gauge the game’s success but the NPD results should clear the matter within a few weeks. In that regard, I’m still saddened that I wasn’t able to buy the Deluxe Edition. 🙁

source IGN