Author responsible for JRPG icons like Shin Megami Tensei and Persona says Atlus game royalties aren't as big as you'd expect: "That's why people call me a novelist"

The author whose book was adapted into the first Shin Megami Tensei, which itself spun out into multiple hit JRPG subseries, says that he doesn't really get that much money from Atlus' popular games.

In 1986, Aya Nishitani began to release a trilogy of sci-fi novels called Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, which were soon adapted into two video games of the same name. That series was eventually renamed to Shin Megami Tensei and has since spawned several semi-related subseries, including Persona, Soul Hackers, and Devil Summoner.

Almost 40 years later, Nishitani shares that the royalties he gets from the MegaTen multiverse of games aren't as big as you might think. "Let me answer it this way," he tweeted in response to a fan's question. "The royalties I get from the MT and SMT games are less than the royalties from all the novels I have written. That's why people call me a novelist."

Nishitani is, of course, a prolific author outside of Digital Devil Story, too, and Atlus has morphed its games into something completely unrelated to the novels at this point, so maybe it's not too surprising even if games like Persona 5 Royal have reportedly sold over 7 million copies.

Elsewhere on social media, the author revealed that an overseas company approached him about finally translating Digital Devil Story into English. "Therefore, I am in the process of first consulting with the Japanese publisher to see what Atlus thinks about my opinions on illustrations for the novel," he wrote.

There's not much news on what comes next for the MegaTen game aside from the upcoming Persona 4 Revival and the recently released Raidou Remastered.

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