Persona 4
Persona 4 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for Sony's PlayStation 2, and chronologically the fifth installment in the "Persona" series, itself a part of the larger "Megami Tensei" franchise. The game was released in Japan in July 2008, North America in December 2008, and Europe in March 2009. "Persona 4" takes place in a fictional Japanese countryside and is indirectly related to earlier "Persona" games. The player-named protagonist is a high-school student who moved into the countryside from the city for a year. During his year-long stay, he becomes involved in investigating mysterious murders while harnessing the power of summoning Persona. The game features a weather forecast system with events happening on foggy days to replace the moon phase system implemented in the previous games.
Persona (series)
By October 2018, the series had sold about 9.3 million copies worldwide. The first "Persona" was referred to at the time as a sleeper hit, and the success of it and "Eternal Punishment" helped establish both Atlus and "Megami Tensei" in North America. In Europe, the series did not become established prior to the release of "Persona 3" and "4", both of which were highly successful in the region. According to Atlus CEO Naoto Hiraoka, the main turning point for the franchise was the release of "Persona 3", which was a commercial success and brought the series to the attention of the mainstream gaming community. "Persona 4" received an even better reception. The "Persona" series' success has allowed Atlus to build a strong player base outside of Japan, contributing to the success of other games such as "Catherine".