Hoping Sega's stance is something like, "These guys make money on their own, so we'll just let them do their own thing and make us more money."
Isn't that what they do with Relic, Creative Assembly, and Three Rings???
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SEGA Sammy acquires Index (Atlus) for 14 billion yen, now a subsidiary of Sega
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Isn't that what they do with Relic, Creative Assembly, and Three Rings???
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
This could be a Bayonetta 2 situation if you get what I'm saying.
If Nintendo bought Atlus, at least we can play the games if one owns Nintendo consoles. Since Sega has them, we may never get to play them at all!
The good news is that, Atlus Japan, where a good deal of the actual development is done, should now be reasonably stable and secure, at least for the near future.
The big unknown here, is what happens to Atlus USA. The pessimist view of course would be to assume that Sega closes it down, but, that might not be a realistic assessment. Remember Atlus USA is more often than not, a fairly lucrative venture. Not only that, but Atlus USA owns a number of very valuable assets, including distribution channels, industry contracts, and publishing rights to a number of franchises.
Any branch of Sega would be foolish to simply shuttle off all that into a warehouse and ignore it. Something will be done with Atlus USA, the question is, what exactly.
The options as I see it are, first, that Sega keeps them around as a localization and publishing label, largely for the purpose of marketing. Conversely, Sega could absorb Atlus USA more wholly, in which case some of the many employees and projects would likely be dropped.
Chances are that significant elements of Atlus USA will at least survive at Sega. What happens to the franchises and employees that do not carry over, is anyone's guess. Who knows, maybe XSeed will swoop in and pick them up.
The big unknown here, is what happens to Atlus USA. The pessimist view of course would be to assume that Sega closes it down, but, that might not be a realistic assessment. Remember Atlus USA is more often than not, a fairly lucrative venture. Not only that, but Atlus USA owns a number of very valuable assets, including distribution channels, industry contracts, and publishing rights to a number of franchises.
Any branch of Sega would be foolish to simply shuttle off all that into a warehouse and ignore it. Something will be done with Atlus USA, the question is, what exactly.
The options as I see it are, first, that Sega keeps them around as a localization and publishing label, largely for the purpose of marketing. Conversely, Sega could absorb Atlus USA more wholly, in which case some of the many employees and projects would likely be dropped.
Chances are that significant elements of Atlus USA will at least survive at Sega. What happens to the franchises and employees that do not carry over, is anyone's guess. Who knows, maybe XSeed will swoop in and pick them up.
Snapshot King
Member
In my upset state Im honestly having trouble telling the difference. Can you clarify it? It'd probably do much to ease some peoples minds.
Ah, so there may still be some autonomy for Index? It's not as if Sega Sammy owns Sega, and then Sega controls the video game related aspects of Index?
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
Well Nintendo could have purchased Atlus and applied what they have done with Pokemon; create a company where one manages the brand, merchandising and licensing - hence the Pokemon Company, a separate entity from Nintendo.
I mean Nintendo does manage the Fire Emblem series which has a cult following and dedicated fan base much like the Persona franchise. I mean the possibilities are endless as to how Nintendo could of managed the ''Atlus brand'' but remaining a third-party entity is ultimately the best though.
AcademicSaucer
Member
sega , why didnt u took those 150 m to make shenmue 3 and skies of arcadia 2 ...
Better marketing could have made them sell better, for sure, but I'm not sure how you make them sell enough to offset the tremendous localization costs they likely have. The best bet they had was to try to sell it as a GTA clone, a terrible fallacy but decent marketing idea, but that failed miserably with 1.
DXB-KNIGHT
Member
Its happening again isn't it 
Shadow Hog
Member
Sega-Sammy owns Sega, Sammy, and now Atlus.
Sega owns its internal developers and its various affiliated developers, like Sumo and Relic. Sega does not own Sammy or Atlus.
Something like that. I'm a bit vauge on where Sammy fits in, honestly.
If we take Fire Emblem as an example, Nintendo never signed up a Fire Emblem: Awakening anime despite having a huge sales surge in large part due to appealing more to that audience and the styles/production values they like.
The synergy there was obvious, but they didn't take the opportunity.
Well I'm sad now.
KillerTravis
Banned
In any case, now that Atlus and Sega are united there's nothing stopping a re-release of the game we've all been clamoring for.
I thought that was released on the 3DS Virtual Console? At least in Japan.
Pureauthor
Member
FE:A was going to be the last game in the series until it ended up selling better than expected. Ask Advance Wars fans how they feel.
SEGA-Sammy is the parent company to both. There's nothing saying Atlus is now subservient to Sega although of course cooperation between the two is almost certainly going to happen. What SEGA-Sammy proper decides to do with Atlus is of course up in the air, including things like simply letting Atlus chug on with doing whatever they were doing.
As always, the big question mark is what happens to Atlus USA.
Sammy just churns out Pachinko machines anywhere and makes mad bank.
Yeah, i'll agree with this. My posts weren't thought out too great, but the core of the idea I was trying to get at was there.
That would be the worst possible case, and my main source of worry so far. If they keep it around and running or even localize Sega's niche game, that is the best possible outcome for us.
Just, a little thought.
Best case scenario, Sega keeps Atlus USA largely intact, uses them for localization and the publishing of small titles. Net result, Sonic, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Persona, and Shina Magumi Tensai, all end up existing under the same room, and very little else is impacted.
Also, something else that people haven't addressed yet.
By purchasing Index, Sega now owns Madhouse, the animation studio.
Best case scenario, Sega keeps Atlus USA largely intact, uses them for localization and the publishing of small titles. Net result, Sonic, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Persona, and Shina Magumi Tensai, all end up existing under the same room, and very little else is impacted.
Also, something else that people haven't addressed yet.
By purchasing Index, Sega now owns Madhouse, the animation studio.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Sweet
I was under the impression Sammy was just the management side and a Pachinko farm at this point. Not sure if that's really the case.
Augemitbutter
Member
i will be sad for all eternity. shining series was a masterpiece.
IrishNinja
Member
In any case, now that Atlus and Sega are united there's nothing stopping a re-release of the game we've all been clamoring for.
well shit, now i wanna play this
really having a hard time thinking of a better one, despite this thread's tone
I know, I'm just being dumb. I wanna play it in English somehow!
Oh man, totally forgot this. That could be tricky. At least MadHouse has the juggernaut that is Hunter x Hunter right now, but once that's forced to go on hiatus it'll be really tempting for someone like Sega-Sammy to drop them from the balance sheet.
Well, it's fine if you only care about Persona. Us Etrian Odyssey fans were probably screwed no matter what.
I think you misunderstood somewhat. The former option, Sega keeping Atlus USA around in name, is one of the best case scenario's. It'd mean that most of Atlus USA would survive the buyout with relatively few changes. When I said they'd keep the brand around for marketing purposes, I meant that they wouldn't change it into just another part of Sega and drop the name. There are, after all, a number of people out there that'll buy games solely because of the Atlus label.
Yeah for me the best case scenario would be Nintendo buying them (I know it screws other people a lot). I would have a bigger chance to get a new EO, and other stuff that goes to other platforms as well.
Oh well. I wont overthink this, we have to wait and see.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
They could just get them to make the SMT IV anime.
Pureauthor
Member
Because Nintendo is really big on localizing sub-50K sellers, yes.
Index owned 10% of Madhouse and its not like they even collaborated on anything. NTV (the broadcaster) owns 85% of Madhouse and completely controls it.
didn't they bring w101 over?
Evil is stirring in Nippon-koku. The Dreamcast has awoken. It has heard its masters call.
But it was destroyed! Dreamcast was destroyed!
No, NeoGAF, the spirit of Dreamcast endured. Its life force is bound to Sega and Sega survived. Dreamcast has returned. Its dev studios have multiplied. Its library of first party offerings has been rebuilt, in Nippon-koku. Dreamcast needs only Atlus to cover all the lands in a second darkness...
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
Nintendo did explore the anime venture in 1996 with Fire Emblem. However, I understand your point completely, it was definitely a missed opportunity with FE:A. However, stating that Nintendo does not understand or how to market intellectual properties such as Persona is far from the truth.
Ok, this makes way more sense. No wonder I forgot about Index having any involvement with Madhouse.
According to wikipedia they only own 10.54% so it is unlikely to make any impact.
Gung Ho.
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
The next Sonic Racing title could get very interesting if they include Atlus characters and levels.
Beautiful.
Pureauthor
Member
Mara Chariot!
I could see what you mean, thanks for the heads up.
The main fun of SMT game is from fusioning demons and curbstomping them (if possible lol) in battle. Unlike Persona who have social link to replace those fusions and battle sequence (which in the end, rather executed badly too), SMT don't have nothing worth to show. Unless they decide to make drama or conversations between demon.
Servizio
I don't really need a tag, but I figured I'd get one to make people jealous. Is it working?
Augemitbutter
Member
where is my Grandia IV.
That would be the greatest thing ever grace on earth. Imagine Primal Force.
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