Atlus: Catherine Ships 200K In First Week

Atlus has revealed that it's puzzle-game-meets-relationship-anime Catherine has shipped over 200,000 copies in its first week on U.S. store shelves, according to the company. The number comes from an elaborately decorated cake, of all places, a picture of which was posted to Atlus USA's official Twitter account today. "Congratulations: 200,000 sold in the first week," the cake reads, alongside a picture of the game's box art. An Atlus PR representative confirmed the message referred to units sold to retailers, and not necessarily sold through to consumers. Yesterday, Atlus revealed that Catherine was the largest launch in Atlus history, but declined to give specific sales numbers. Catherine hit American stores on July 26 and received generally positive reviews from critics who cited punishingly difficult gameplay mixed somewhat awkwardly with a surprisingly mature story. The game premiered atop the Japanese sales charts in February selling over 140,000 copies in its first week in the country. Deep Silver is planning to publish the title in Europe sometime this year.