I'm not gonna defend the regional pricing because it sucks, but considering the work they did on it plus Atlus tax, the Western price is actually in line with what I expected.
P4G on PC was an anomaly for a variety of reasons:
- Sega probably being overly cautious about how well it'll sell on PC
- A port of a Vita game (which was full priced when it released)
- Already cheap to buy on Vita, especially in Europe where NISA published it and pretty much decimated its shelf value in a matter of months
It's not an apples to apples comparison. Nocturne is remaster that has had a lot of work going into it. The whole game has been rebuilt in Unity, they've touched up some of the visuals and redone the localisation by the looks of it. Also take in mind that this isn't a full-priced Atlus game.
I think if this were any other publisher, I'd be expecting it to come in at around £30-£35. Given the Atlus tax (which is part hubris, part confidence), we're looking at £45. A full-priced Atlus game right now is coming in at £55.
It's a steep price if you think about it as a PS2 game, but this remaster has gone beyond being just a port. Plus, because of its difficulty, the audience for a SMT game is far more limited compared to a mainline Persona. Atlus can price Persona games more flexibly to reach more people, but SMT III is only going to sell a fraction of what P4G did on PC regardless of price.
And as always, if the full price is too high for you, wait for a sale. The game will be discounted as soon as it's on GMG/WinGameStore, and if that's still not enough Nocturne's aesthetic lends itself to a 30-50% Halloween Sale discount later in the year.