Persona fans are still holding out for a new installation in the franchise as a part of its ongoing 25th-anniversary celebration, but Atlus recently revealed that it has some different plans in mind. Later this year, Atlus will release Soul Hackers 2, a sequel to the 25-year-old Shin Megami Tensei spinoff Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. While Soul Hackers 2 comes as a surprise, it certainly looks compelling. The unexpected sequel still shows a lot of its SMT roots, but its high-tech aesthetic gives it a unique vibe, and the mechanics that it borrows from the Persona series will serve it well among Atlus' growing audience.
Although much about Soul Hackers 2 looks praiseworthy so far, there's one thing about the upcoming game that's strange. Atlus doesn't appear to have plans to release Soul Hackers 2 on the Nintendo Switch, in spite of recent movements that suggest Atlus wants to establish a strong audience on Nintendo's console. Soul Hackers 2 seems like it would thrive on the Switch, so skipping this platform in favor of the Xbox is baffling. Atlus should have given Soul Hackers 2 a chance on every current console, rather than limiting it to its current list of platforms.
Atlus and the Switch's Relationship
The last few years of Atlus titles have strongly suggested that Atlus wants to release games on the Switch more consistently. While Persona 5 isn't on the Switch yet, Atlus has started releasing Persona side games like Persona 5 Strikers and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on the Switch more frequently. What's more, Switch users got exclusive access to Shin Megami Tensei 5 and Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remaster, thoroughly establishing Shin Megami Tensei as a part of the Switch's library. As the SMT and Persona fanbase expands, it only makes sense that Atlus would try to establish a presence on more consoles so that more fans can enjoy its games.
Technically, Soul Hackers 2 does reach out to a new console. Even though Persona and Shin Megami Tensei have been absent from Microsoft consoles in the last few years, Soul Hackers 2 will be available on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X, among others. Trying to court Xbox fans with Soul Hackers 2 makes sense in a vacuum, but unfortunately, the move seemingly comes at the cost of a Switch version. Plenty of games release on PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch all at once, so it's strange to see that Soul Hackers 2 will skip Nintendo's console without any apparent reason, especially when Atlus could be capitalizing on an established audience of Switch fans.
A Future Soul Hackers 2 Release
It's hard to say if the Xbox versions of Soul Hackers 2 have anything to do with the lack of a Switch release. Maybe Soul Hackers 2 demands more processing and rendering power than Atlus has let on, meaning it's simply not viable on the Switch right now. In that case, branching out to the Xbox instead makes more sense. There's no knowing yet if that's the case, though. Atlus may have plans to bring Soul Hackers 2 to the Switch later, after making some adjustments to accommodate its hardware. Either way, though, it's a shame that Soul Hackers 2 won't release on every major game platform at once.
Soul Hackers 2's mysterious absence from the Switch release calendar highlights a longstanding complaint that fans have had with Atlus. The company sometimes lacks consistency when choosing release platforms for its games; some titles are PlayStation exclusives, while others are available on a multitude of platforms. Whether these choices are due to game development obstacles or Atlus' generally cautious outlook is unclear, but whatever the case, Soul Hackers 2 falls into that pattern. It may not be destined for a launch on the Switch, but maybe Soul Hackers 2 will come around to Nintendo fans someday.
Soul Hackers 2 releases August 26, 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.