Many eager Persona 5 fans tuned in to Twitch this morning to watch the New Game+ Expo (NGPX), an online live stream showcasing upcoming new games as well as appearances from video game developers. After Atlus was confirmed to make an appearance at the event earlier this month, rumors began to circulate that their appearance would mean an official announcement regarding the highly-anticipated Western release of Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers.
However, those fans' excitement soon turned to disappointment as they realized that not only would Atlus have no news regarding Persona 5 Scramble, but that the majority of their appearance was dedicated to promoting a game that technically came out nine years ago.
Let's break it down...
Atlus kicked off NGPX with a brand new trailer for the Nintendo Switch port of Catherine: Full Body. Catherine: Full Body came out as a PlayStation 4 and Vita exclusive title last year; but it's actually an enhanced version of another game, Catherine, which came out back in 2011. While the new trailer showed off some impressive gameplay of the game's signature puzzles, it's nothing that can't be easily found on YouTube or be experienced in one of the PlayStation ports.
Atlus briefly popped up again during the middle of the stream to show a couple of seconds of the upcoming 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, which will be heading to the West on September 8, 2020. But these two games marked Atlus' only two appearances during the actual NGPX showcase.
Notably, both of these titles were announced quite a while ago, and Atlus has already been doing their own PR to market the games leading up to their release.
Fans were optimistic that more news would be shown after the showcase, during the individual thirty-minute segments dedicated to video game developers to show off some of their new games in detail. Unfortunately for fans, Atlus spent their half-hour playing through some of Catherine: Full Body without any flair or commentary.
Needless to say, fans were pretty disappointed with Atlus' appearance at the New Game+ Expo.
In total, the criticisms ranged from fans who had been hyped for the potential Western release of Persona 5 Scramble to unimpressed viewers who were disappointed by Atlus' lack of new content during their presentation.
Despite much speculation, at this time there has been no official word from Atlus regarding a Western release of Persona 5 Scramble.
Source: Twitter (@NayrmanBSC,@OnTheDownLoTho, @PhantomArtifice, @ShinyKirbz)