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[Nirolak]

I dunno why people are expecting PC ports for everything.
Yakuza and Project Diva aren't the only series which haven't gotten PC ports recently. Anarchy Reigns, Viruta Fighter, Puyo Puyo, haven't gotten PC offerings.

Anarchy Reigns was sent to die as Sega was busy canceling Bayonetta 2 and Virtua Fighter has largely been a dead series.

Puyo Pop Fever did actually come out on PC in Japan.

I mean even NIGHTS and Jet Set got a PC rerelease.

 

[chaostrophy]

Well, that's not entirely true.

Sonic and Binary Domain made it over.

Not sure how many other home console games they've made in the past 2 years from Japan.

Edit: There are Yakuza and Miku but historically they don't leave Japan, so them being PS3 only isn't surprising.

It would be cool if they ported the PS2 SMT games to PC like they did with Nights and Jet Set Radio.

 

[Busaiku]

Anarchy Reigns was sent to due and Virtua Fighter has largely been a dead series.

Puyo Pop Fever did actually come out on PC in Japan.

In terms of scope/audience, Virtua Fighter is very much the size of the biggest Atlus games, if not bigger, so I don't see how things will be different.

 

[Glass Rebel]

And if they did they did, do you honestly think they would be on PC? Seriously, people who are hoping to see Persona and SMT on PC outside of a MMO spinoff or browser game are just asking for disappointment.

Your hypothetical scenario of SEGA releasing these games outside of Japan would require them to be completely different games so...

 

[firehawk12]

Total War series? Company of Heroes? Binary Domain? Sega isn't scared to get weird and already had a taste of those sweet Gaben bucks.

The only thing that Sega might have done on PC recently that might be considered a risk is porting all those Sonic games over. Binary Domain is the one outlier, but that's because as a Third Person Shooter, they just assume no one will get offended by it. lol

I see it going the other way, actually. They'll keep ATLUS US around for their localizations, but fold the people who have good relationships with indies into sega corporate.

I think they would still be allowed to localize stuff, no reason why they wouldn't be able to.

I am an eternal pessimist it seems!

That is incumbent on the fate of publisher Atlus USA. Indeed, something that gets forgotten here is Atlus USA is not just a localizer for Atlus Japan stuff but also publishers a fair amount of Western games as well, and we might be losing that.

Yeah. Although, we also got the Game of Thrones game too. lol

 

[StarCreator]

Anarchy Reigns was sent to die as Sega was busy canceling Bayonetta 2 and Virtua Fighter has largely been a dead series.

I like to think Virtua Fighter is more of an arcade darling than something they want to invest into making home ports of. Same with stuff like Border Break, which by all accounts I've heard does amazingly well in arcades.

 

[duckroll]

I just noticed something in the press release I didn't notice before, probably because I'm blind?

* On September 5, 2013, SEGA DREAM CORPORATION was established to become the transferee of the transfer of Index operations. Its business name is set to change in the future.

That basically confirms that it's a temporary name used to hold the Index business transfer until they finalize the details of the move. Could they be eventually changing the name back to Atlus?

 

[nbthedude]

As I'm processing this, it becomes more and more clear that this is a fucking disaster. Why Sega? They can't even do their own IPs justice...

Has absolutely nothing to do with how they handle acquisitions. Nothing.

Sega's internal stuff is terrible these days. The company's Sega owns are left alone and do great stuff.

 

[Silky]

Virtua Fighter has largely been a dead series.[/B]

Virtua fighter is more of a dormant series, as a new VF is released with every new SEGA Arcade tech or whatever. I wouldn't call it dead, as it's huge in Japan/has a good following in US. Hell, VF's arcade tech is based off of Linux, so it could be possible that it makes it to PC.

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

Some of those are handheld games which rarely ever leave handhelds (or often even Japan).

I'm assuming most people aren't expecting Etrian Odyssey on PC and are thinking more along the lines of PS3 games.

If Atlus starts making games that aren't unapologetically Japanese and starts making games that could appeal to people on a international basis, I could see it coming to PC. Persona and SMT though? Nah. SMT will probably be on handhelds for the foreseeable future and Persona probably won't have a 360/ONE port, let alone a PC port.

 

[Nirolak]

In terms of scope, Virtua Fighter is very much the size of the biggest Atlus games, so I don't see how things will be different.

Well I'm kind of assuming they're not going to stop localizing Atlus' games except years later on XBLA, but if I'm wrong I totally cede the possibility of PC versions of their console games.

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

Your hypothetical scenario of SEGA releasing these games outside of Japan would require them to be completely different games so...

Sega seems to give their developers creative freedom and if they keep Atlus USA(which I could see happening), there is no reason for them to change.

 

[Nirolak]

If Atlus starts making games that aren't unapologetically Japanese and starts making games that could appeal to people on a international basis, I could see it coming to PC. Persona and SMT though? Nah. SMT will probably be on handhelds for the foreseeable future and Persona probably won't have a 360/ONE port, let alone a PC port.

I expect zero handheld games on PC as a side note.

I'm not even saying its super likely for Persona, but given what they bring over I don't think it's unquestionable.

 

[jj984jj]

If Atlus starts making games that aren't unapologetically Japanese and starts making games that could appeal to people on a international basis, I could see it coming to PC. Persona and SMT though? Nah. SMT will probably be on handhelds for the foreseeable future and Persona probably won't have a 360/ONE port, let alone a PC port.

Why not? Persona fans seem to be in denial about this but both Catherine and P4A were multi-plat. Why would they stop that, even moreso now that they're with Sega?

 

[yami4ct]

I dunno why people are expecting PC ports for everything.
Yakuza and Project Diva aren't the only series which haven't gotten PC ports recently. Anarchy Reigns, Viruta Fighter, Puyo Puyo haven't gotten PC offerings.

I suspect that thought comes from Sega calling out "expanding their PC business" as a part of why they're buying Index. If I was a betting man, I'd say that has more to do with Atlus' indie work.

 

[Nirolak]

I like to think Virtua Fighter is more of an arcade darling than something they want to invest into making home ports of. Same with stuff like Border Break, which by all accounts I've heard does amazingly well in arcades.

Right, arcade focused games with rare home console ports are something I also don't expect.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Sega seems to give their developers creative freedom and if they keep Atlus USA(which I could see happening), there is no reason for them to change.

I was talking about the SEGA games you were referring to.

To clarify, you said that if these games (Yakuza, Phantasy Star etc) were to be released in the West, they wouldn't come out on PC. I'm saying, that these particular games are exclusively aimed at the Japanese market so it isn't surprising that they wouldn't come to PC. If they were planning to properly bring Yakuza to the West, it'd probably get a PC release but also be a different game.

 

[Sponge]

Why not? Persona fans seem to be in denial about this but both Catherine and P4A were multi-plat. Why would they stop that, even moreso now that they're with Sega?

Especially since Sega is confirmed to be working on games for PS4 and Xbox One, so it's not like they wouldn't let Atlus or anything.

 

[bakedpony]

Let's hope Sega let Atlus remain autonomous.

 

[Rich!]

I agree, I just hope this does not interfere with the Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tensei crossover game.

What is that photo for?

I don't get it.

 

[chrominance]

If they truly loved that platform, they would port Yakuza and Miku to it. Their Japanese stuff doesn't really get PC ports.


You are going to be disappointed, the Japanese stuff outside of phantasy star doesn't touch PC.

Yeah, and this to me is the number one problem. I love my Steam account, I love PC gaming in general, and I even love some Sega games on PC (though aside from Sonic All Stars Transformed Long Title Oh God, most of my exposure is to pre-buyout Relic games). Practically none of the titles Sega releases on PC are Japanese, and that doesn't look to change anytime soon. The one significant Japanese PC game I can think of is Phantasy Star Online 2, which guess what? Isn't out in the West.

Sega's definitely doing a lot better than a few years ago if you take the whole company into account, but I feel like the PC/Western side and the Japanese side are almost as separate as Square Enix and Eidos. If Atlus becomes another Eidos, then great! But I doubt the PC/Western arm of Sega is going to exert much influence, and if Atlus becomes subsumed by the Japanese side...

 

[yami4ct]

I just noticed something in the press release I didn't notice before, probably because I'm blind?



That basically confirms that it's a temporary name used to hold the Index business transfer until they finalize the details of the move. Could they be eventually changing the name back to Atlus?

Watch them change it back to Index. We might have to deal with the shambling corpse of that mess of a company going into the future, haha.

 

[erpg]

What is that photo for?

I don't get it.

Narcissism.

 

[Eusis]

Watch them change it back to Index. We might have to deal with the shambling corpse of that mess of a company going into the future, haha.

I hope it's Atlus just because who gave a damn about Index? Even outside of the US it sounds like Atlus pulled in money while Index was just a floundering business. Probably would've been left to die if it weren't for Atlus anyway. Kind of like Atari/Infogrames if Atari had actually been more than a recognizable name.

 

[Angelcurio]

After Sega's awesome handling of the Valkyria Chronicles IP, like failing to patch trophy support on the original game and the lack of localization on Valkyria Chronicles 3, i must definitely say that i'm somewhat worried about the future of all the Atlus IPs.

 

[oneida]

Right, arcade focused games with rare home console ports are something I also don't expect.

Only three revisions in twenty years did not get home console ports.

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

I expect zero handheld games on PC as a side note.

I'm not even saying its super likely for Persona, but given what they bring over I don't think it's unquestionable.

Why not? Persona fans seem to be in denial about this but both Catherine and P4A were multi-plat. Why would they stop that, even moreso now that they're with Sega?

IIRC, P4A and Catherine all sold like absolute shit on 360(in both Japan and the West, maybe Nirolak could back me up on some numbers?), and they were only multiplatform because the engine they were using is(Catherine used gamebryo and P4A used whatever engine arksys was using, plus it was a fighting game) and they wanted to test the waters in the west. Those games sold like 3 copies on 360 and the are building their own engine for P5, not saying it's impossible but don't be surprised if you don't see P5 on 360, let alone PC. And knowing Arksys, the new persona fighting game won't make it to 360 either(the new Blaze blue and Guilty gear aren't touching the platform).

I was talking about the SEGA games you were referring to.

To clarify, you said that if these games (Yakuza, Phantasy Star etc) were to be released in the West, they wouldn't come out on PC. I'm saying, that these particular games are exclusively aimed at the Japanese market so it isn't surprising that they wouldn't come to PC. If they were planning to properly bring Yakuza to the West, it'd probably get a PC release but also be a different game.

Oh okay, my bad

 

[yami4ct]

I hope it's Atlus just because who gave a damn about Index? Even outside of the US it sounds like Atlus pulled in money while Index was just a floundering business. Probably would've been left to die if it weren't for Atlus anyway. Kind of like Atari/Infogrames if Atari had actually been more than a recognizable name.

The ATLUS name is going to survive this, almost assuredly. It's too valuable a brand to let go. The shell subsidiary name is largely irrelevant.

 

[nbthedude]

After Sega's awesome handling of the Valkyria Chronicles IP, like failing to patch trophy support on the original game and the lack of localization on Valkyria Chronicles 3, i must definitely say that i'm somewhat worried about the future of all the Atlus IPs.

Again, this has balls to do with how they handle external studios. I don't understand why people don't get this.

 

[BennyBlanco]

If Atlus starts making games that aren't unapologetically Japanese and starts making games that could appeal to people on a international basis, I could see it coming to PC. Persona and SMT though? Nah. SMT will probably be on handhelds for the foreseeable future and Persona probably won't have a 360/ONE port, let alone a PC port.

Did you read the OP? Sega knows how much money there is in digital sales and bought Index in part to expand there PC business. Anything that was already localized and is older like the Persona series would be simple to get a PC version out with very little cost. They took the time to port Nights, what exactly makes you think none of these series are fair game?

 

[Kocolino67]

What is that photo for?

I don't get it.

Easy, they are in love and somewhat religious.

 

[Snapshot King]

Again, this has balls to do with how they handle external studios. I don't understand why people don't get this.

Really? Sega gutting its own internal localization studio, failing localization for most of its japanese titles because they're too niche, doesn't reflect at all on their acquisition of a studio that makes almost entirely niche japanese titles? How, exactly?

 

[Zomba13]

Well... Fuck.

Good bye any future english language Persona games.
Time to learn Japanese or hope people fan translate like with PSO2.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I just noticed something in the press release I didn't notice before, probably because I'm blind?



That basically confirms that it's a temporary name used to hold the Index business transfer until they finalize the details of the move. Could they be eventually changing the name back to Atlus?

Dunno why they would give a NewCo a name as elaborate as Sega Dream Corporation. Which frankly, sounds fucking awesome. But yeah, you're probably right about the name being changed back to Atlus. Why would they buy a company only to immediately destroy the good will associated with the name?

 

[yami4ct]

Really? Sega gutting its own internal localization studio, failing localization for most of its japanese titles because they're too niche, doesn't reflect at all on their acquisition of a studio that makes almost entirely niche japanese titles? How, exactly?

Nothing so far indicates this is happening. Right now, it's best to wait and see before claiming the worst case. The sky isn't falling yet.

 

[Bulbagarden]

It's interesting that Pachislot and Pachinko Machines were mentioned specifically as one of the reasons for the purchase. Mainly because Index had apparently already sold an exclusive license to develop machines based on Persona 4 to Newgin, with the machines coming out early next month. The takeover isn't going to change that contract.

 

[Stone Ocean]

Really? Sega gutting its own internal localization studio, failing localization for most of its japanese titles because they're too niche, doesn't reflect at all on their acquisition of a studio that makes almost entirely niche japanese titles? How, exactly?

And they just spent 140 million dollars to gut Atlus, right?

Calm down folks.

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

Did you read the OP? Sega knows how much money there is in digital sales and bought Index in part to expand there PC business. Anything that was already localized and is older like the Persona series would be simple to get a PC version out with very little cost. They took the time to port Nights, what exactly makes you think none of these series are fair game?

Verendus said Yakuza Ishin is coming to the west and if Project diva does well enough, the sequel will come over too. Using your logic, I expect to see Yakuza Ishin and miku on pc soon.

 

[Snapshot King]

Nothing so far indicates this is happening. Right now, it's best to wait and see before claiming the worst case. The sky isn't falling yet.

It's not falling yet, sure, but that doesn't mean I should be worried if a notorious criminal were to sit next to an open safe containing my life savings. All implications are negative.

 

[nbthedude]

Really? Sega gutting its own internal localization studio, failing localization for most of its japanese titles because they're too niche, doesn't reflect at all on their acquisition of a studio that makes almost entirely niche japanese titles? How, exactly?

You answered your own question. It's like saying since the store manager at the local Tacobell sucks the local KFC's food will suddenly become bad because Tacobell now owns KFC.

You have precedent for how they will handle external companies because they own several. They generally leave them alone to go about their business.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

A lot of folks here should really look at Sega's earnings and how their PC and digital emphasized business model switch has worked for them. They are not the same old Sega that gets parroted around as doomed and trash and haven't been in awhile. From year to year they used to lose around 20% in profits. That is no longer the case.

This year profits increased by 50% and they are healthy and financially stable. They still took some operating loss from the business end but going from $148 million in loss waaaaaaaaay down to $7.2 shows some huge leaps in the right direction and its expected to lower further. By next year they are estimated to be fully in the green and it hasn't been that long since they switched models for their business.At one point during the THQ bankruptcy they had more operating income than Ubisoft did (though it was prior to Assassin's Creed profits). Plus if you still think Sonic is trash you haven't paid attention. Sega is putting out good games again. Nothing mind blowing but by God good games are coming out. Sonic is good, their kart racing game is one of the best I ever played, their PC games like Football manager and Total War are pulling in huge crowds and overall they are doing good business.

Now with Atlus on board stop and think about what this means for PC. Sega is pushing digital and PC, its working and turning them around fast. Expect lots of Atlus titles soon to start getting announced for PC ports is my prediction.

I hope so. I mean, that's Common Sense, but hope has been beaten out of me and other Japanese gaming fans this generation. That hope for Segatlus must be EARNED, and that earning starts NOW.

 

[Snapshot King]

And they just spent 140 million dollars to gut Atlus, right?

Calm down folks.

Not Atlus. Atlus USA.

You answered your own question. It's like saying since the store manager at the local Tacobell sucks the local KFC's food will suddenly become bad because Tacobell now owns KFC.

It's more like KFC suddenly closes down your local Taco Bell because it isn't getting enough of a margin in your area.

 

[yami4ct]

And they just spent 140 million dollars to gut Atlus, right?

Calm down folks.

Yep.

Also, even of their niche titles, the west is a significant portion of the games sales. I think it was mentioned in last night's thread that the west accounted for 20% of total world wide sales for Etrian Odyssey IV. That franchise is growing as well. That's too significant a chunk to let go and a significantly larger chunk than what, say, Western sales of Yakuza are.

 

[Baron Aloha]

Ugh...of all the 3rd parties it had to be freaking Sega. Guess we can say good bye to Atlus games in the US.

 

[sörine]

In my little imaginary world SEGA keeps Atlus as a largely separate entity and allows them to publish their Japanese efforts like Yakuza, Phantasy Star and the Shining series.

Sega and Atlus USA used to have a pretty good relationship. Sega even let them handle some of their GBA/DS games like Shining Soul and Puyo Puyo Fever 2. I'd love to see a return to that, with Atlus USA doing passed over franchises like Shining, Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo, Valkyria Chronicles and so on.

 

[Eusis]

IIRC, P4A and Catherine all sold like absolute shit on 360(in both Japan and the West, maybe Nirolak could back me up on some numbers?), and they were only multiplatform because the engine they were using is(Catherine used gamebryo and P4A used whatever engine arksys was using, plus it was a fighting game) and they wanted to test the waters in the west. Those games sold like 3 copies on 360 and the are building their own engine for P5, not saying it's impossible but don't be surprised if you don't see P5 on 360, let alone PC. And knowing Arksys, the new persona fighting game won't make it to 360 either(the new Blaze blue and Guilty gear aren't touching the platform).

This can probably also shoot up the notion that games absolutely NEED to be multiplatform: it can help sales, but it may be a lot of effort for relatively little gain if it's not something with a roughly 50/50 split, Wii U's quite readily showing that in regards to basically third party titles that aren't stuff like Monster Hunter or Rayman Legends.

The ATLUS name is going to survive this, almost assuredly. It's too valuable a brand to let go. The shell subsidiary name is largely irrelevant.

Oh, definitely, at worst Atlus is a brand used for recognition's sake. The shell subsidiary name I'd prefer to be Atlus but I do recognize that's not really important and is just me fixating on an unimportant detail.

Sega and Atlus USA used to have a pretty good relationship. Sega even let them handle some of their GBA/DS games like Shining Soul and Puyo Puyo Fever 2. I'd love to see a return to that, with Atlus USA doing passed over franchises like Shining, Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo, Valkyria Chronicles and so on.

Yeah, the real ideal situation is not merely leaving Atlus USA alone, but having them take up duty on games Sega doesn't care to have their other branches deal with. And with the way things are Atlus probably IS better suited to pushing games like Shining Force.

 

[EMT0]

IIRC, P4A and Catherine all sold like absolute shit on 360(in both Japan and the West, maybe Nirolak could back me up on some numbers?), and they were only multiplatform because the engine they were using is(Catherine used gamebryo and P4A used whatever engine arksys was using, plus it was a fighting game) and they wanted to test the waters in the west. Those games sold like 3 copies on 360 and the are building their own engine for P5, not saying it's impossible but don't be surprised if you don't see P5 on 360, let alone PC. And knowing Arksys, the new persona fighting game won't make it to 360 either(the new Blaze blue and Guilty gear aren't touching the platform).

Basically this. I don't think we're seeing Persona 5 on an Xbox console short of MS moneyhatting it.

 

[yami4ct]

Ugh...of all the 3rd parties it had to be freaking Sega. Guess we can say good bye to Atlus games in the US.

Really? I don't get this. Who would you rather have? The only better suggestion I've seen was GungHo, but that's not that much better. Konami, Namco, Square Enix, Zenimax or Deep Silver, to name a few, would all be as bad if not worse for Atlus.

 

[Stone Ocean]

Ugh...of all the 3rd parties it had to be freaking Sega. Guess we can say good bye to Atlus games in the US.

What other options are there?

Square? Capcom? lol

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

Sega and Atlus USA used to have a pretty good relationship. Sega even let them handle some of their GBA/DS games like Shining Soul and Puyo Puyo Fever 2. I'd love to see a return to that, with Atlus USA doing passed over franchises like Shining, Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo, Valkyria Chronicles and so on.

Hmmmmm I never knew this.