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Bloomberg reports that Index (Atlus) sale could be decided within the month (details)
- Thread starter duckroll
- Start date
The only Nintendo that doesn't have great third party support in Japan is the home console Nintendo. Atlus has made one game on Wii U level hardware in the past eight years. They aren't helping that situation at all. While PS4 is guaranteed some big name Japanese games, that's not the platform SCE needs to be successful for PlayStation to remain relevant in Japan. That platform is Vita. Vita has no third party support on a global level, and while things are a lot better in Japan it's still not great. SCE clearly doesn't have the internal ability to turn it around because they lack relevant IPs in the market, and have only released a single internally developed Japanese game on the platform. Atlus on the other hand are pretty prolific on handhelds, and in fact have created the most successful Vita game in Japan via Persona 4: The Golden. Persona 4: The Golden certainly owes some of its success to Persona 4: The Animation from Aniplex.
I don't believe the purchase price of Gungho's previous acquisitions were made public.
While Gungho has been pretty hands of so far I imagine that'll have to change eventually, especially in regards to publishing. I doubt Acquire and Gungho will operate two separate retail publishing arms forever and while Index is no Namco Bandai, if it's better than what Gungho has it's an improvement that might be worth the risk.
There's no guarantee that Persona will always ne exclusive, as the other SMT subseries have shown. There's almost no guarantee that Dragon's Crown is going to be a franchise, haha.
Namco Bandai probably wouldn't want Index. Everything Index does Namco Bandai probably does more successfully. They're Japan's largest third party publisher, so IPs aren't needed. They apparently do arcades pretty well, and have a mobile division. On a global publishing side they have divisions across the world.
duality1123
Neo Member
That they've only made one game on that sort of level so far doesn't mean that they can't release 1 or 2 Wii U games once the install base is there. However the more important part for Nintendo is more games in general i.e. 3DS and Eshop stuff.
I do agree with you in regards to the Vita stuff and its definitely interesting how important Atlus is for both Nintendo and Sony's handhelds (Nintendo needing strong RPGs and Sony needing games for the Vita in general)
I still personally believe that Nintendo needs Atlus more in order to remain competitive over the long term for both Handheld and Console since Atlus also fills a nice niche that Nintendo at the moment doesn't have much talent in compared to their other strengths.
Though even if they do succeed in buying Atlus they probably still need to be about twice the size that they are now I'd say (that's Nintendo I'm talking about not Atlus)
To be blunt I'm saying that the reason why the games people complain about not getting localized are franchises that were given perfectly good attempts and failed because the fanbase didn't buy the games. Sega can't afford to continue to put out games that aren't going to sell, but most other publishers likely wouldn't have given games like Yakuza or Valkyria Chronicles a chance to being with.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Sega mishandling Valkyria Chronicles isn't something that should be blamed on the fanbase. They're the ones who made the decision to put the second game on a system that was dying outside Japan in an attempt to improve domestic sales. It didn't work, the game sold about the same amount as the first game, but they lost their western fanbase with the platform switch.
And PSO came out over a decade ago, I don't think they can really blame the fanbase for that either.
Can't speak for Yakuza and Shining.
Mortimer Brewster
Member
YuriLowell
Member
Yakuza has always been put out as a 60 dollar disc only title.
Needs to be download only with a much lower price point, or simply raise the price as I know I would pay up to 100 bucks to have Yakuza 5 localized for me.
Needs to be download only with a much lower price point, or simply raise the price as I know I would pay up to 100 bucks to have Yakuza 5 localized for me.
So annoying that Nintendo is likely going to pass this up. Owning Atlus would fill a serious gap in their offerings on both home consoles and portables. Though they have the games on portables this would lock in various series for good without the possibility of losing them which happens.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
Spending over 200 million for Atlus would be hands down the dumbest thing Nintendo has ever done.
Bolded for maximum efficiency.
Black Republican
Member
we'll know more details this week right?
You shouldn't because that's not realistic at all.
That hole is already filled. The majority of Atlus releases are on 3DS. That isn't likely to change.
FalsettoVibe
Member
Come on Sony...Do this. Persona 5 on PS4.
Colonel Mustard
Banned
That's going to happen any way...without Sony needing to invest the money.
No first party should buy Atlus.
Not they aren't. Where are the receipts?
Tha last Atlus developed games are:
Catherine - February 17, 2011
Persona 2: Innocent Sin - April 14, 2011
Nora to Toki no Kōbō: Kiri no Mori no Majo - July 21, 2011
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 - July 28, 2011
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked - August 23, 2011
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment - May 12, 2012
Persona 4: The Golden - June 14, 2012
Etrian Odyssey IV - July 5, 2012
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers - August 30, 2012
Shin Megami Tensei IV - May 23, 2013
Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl - June 27, 2013
Bolded are DS/3DS games.
So yes, the majority of Atlus developed games are on 3DS.
Stone Ocean
Member
Yep. They are fine financially but coughing up that kind of money for a niche dev/publisher while the Wii U rots would be fucking asinine.
Nope.
Most of Atlus' games aren't on 3DS, but it's interesting/amusing to watch Nintendo fans continue to try and force that dream into a reality.
I thought we were talking about full games, not mobile spin-off such as a pinball game.
Yeah, you listed DS games when making a case for the 3DS, specifically. I figured games are games and anything goes!
While it's completely stupid to think Nintendo is going to buy Atlus (they won't, stop dreaming). Outside of DS 2 (which is getting an enhanced port on the 3DS later), the list still holds true, most of their recent output has been on the 3DS.
It really doesn't mean anything though, just that the 3DS is a viable platform for some of the game they make, just like DS was, or the PS3 is, or the Vita is, etc etc...
That's my point. It's great the 3DS is getting games from them. It doesn't indicate any sort of corporate love affair though, which is what some people are bent on pulling from it.
Oh indeed, but the guy who was quoted saying that the majority of Atlus' recent output has been on 3DS (which is true, don't know why Kyon called him out on that, I guess that's his schtick) was not talking about that though. Just that Nintendo didn't really need to buy Atlus considering they already release plenty of games on their platforms.
What would be more telling of some good corporate relationships is SMTxFE, but still not something that means Nintendo is looking into buying them. As I said that's a stupid dream because somehow people think Nintendo are often willing to buy studios when it's been pretty obvious they'd rather have partnerships.
Fair enough.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
But the ones that sell the most aren't on DS though.
Atlus' biggest team is the Persona team.
There is not a single Persona team game on a Nintendo platform.
Not to mention most of these are re-releases.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Because Nintendo needs more studios. They're trying to fully support two platforms but don't have the man power to do it, which leads to release droughts.
More studios can also mean more diverse offerings, that's why a lot of people want to see them expand with western studios to create games specifically to cater to western audiences. They already partner with studios for Japan-specific games.
Sony has similar issues (see: Vita) but they also tend to get better third party support overall. 3DS and PS4 will probably see similar support (granted one from Japan and one from western devs) but the WiiU will probably continue to see worse third party support than the Vita everywhere. So there's more ground to make up.
I never said there's a love affair between Atlus and Nintendo, nor it was my intention. I just pointed that most of recent Atlus games are on 3DS.
cj_iwakura
Member
I would rather Activision buy Atlus than Nintendo.
Pound_lb003
Member
Have you not seen the Japanese market shift to mobile, and every single Japanese publisher/developer struggle to understand where they're relevant?
Sony would actually invest money in an exciting HD JRPG, which is in no way a certainty otherwise.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
Do you know how many studios you can make with 200 million? Do you know how many games/what type of games you can money hat with 200 million? 200 million would be better spent elsewhere for nintendo.
You don't mean that.
kunonabi
Member
recent psp/vita stuff are mostly re-releases too. as long as they don't end up mobile only or get picked up by sony or sega i don't care where they go.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I didn't say they should waste money on Index, I've been against that since this popped up. He asked why Nintendo always comes up when acquisitions (or possible ones) are brought up and I answered.
Absolutely.
The last thing Nintendo needs, though, is to waste money on a small Japanese developer who makes otaku games.
.
Pound_lb003
Member
A Japanese development team that can put out any cross platform HD game, is worth their weight in gold. In case you didn't notice 70% of them died trying.
Add to that dozen or so undeniably valuable IP and I can't say it's a waste of money for any company.
It's a waste. Atlus IPs are deeply loved, but not at all so valuable they're worth a corporate bidding war of any sort.
You could make a very reaching case for Persona. You'd look dumb trying to sell SMT. Etrian Odyssey isn't worth peanuts; you see where I'm going with this.
It doesn't matter anyway though. No one is buying Atlus, they're buying Index, which means they're investing in businesses that aren't games.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
The only people that want Atlus to be purchased by Nintendo or any other first party are simply fanboys.
Same could be said about those who want Sony to buy them.
Pound_lb003
Member
No, Index is selling Atlus.
Atlus is the company attracting bids for $203 million. Because development teams cost a hell of a lot of money.
I wasn't trying to spin the IP's as a selling point, but they are undeniably a value add proposition. Persona and SMT both have at least some weight in Japan. You pay for that kind of nostalgia.
If Sony is at the table, Nintendo should be too. 200 million+ may seem stupid if things are going to stay the same without it, but the added value of preventing their rival from getting an upper hand makes the investment more enticing. You can easily swap Nintendo and Sony in my statement.
no-one else is gonna do anything with them