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[Korigama]

Sega don't even know how to manage their own properties properly, and don't even bother trying for anything in the West that isn't Sonic. Having them buy Atlus would be a terrible outcome.

 

[Mista_Donzie]

http://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/123-MQVZXW6JIJUX01.html

There's a small update on the status of Index's search for a buyer. Sources close to the matter have disclosed to Bloomberg that there are about 20 companies who have expressed interest in taking over Index's businesses, including Sega Sammy Holdings. The bids in the recent tender apparently went up to 200 million dollars, exceeding the previously expected 150 million value. Potential candidates for the sale are expected to be narrowed down by next week, and if things go well a deal could be closed within this month.

I would much rather see Kadokawa or Gung Ho getting it. Even Sony.

As long as it stays as a parent/holder company relationship. SEGA would likely just keep Atlus down.

 

[NeonZ]

The fuck @ strange journey and radiant historia outselling anything in my list. you are definitely wrong about that.

edit: If you include strange journey I might aswell include P3P as well
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - 136,149
Radiant Historia - 57,115
SMTIV - Don't remember but it's lke 200k

Persona 3 Portable - 208,877
Catherine - 206,557(PS3)/17,768(360)
Persona 4 Golden - 229,044
Persona 4: Arena - 184,9979(PS3)/9,346(360)

Shin Megami Tensei 4 had hit 245.568 by Jun 23. I don't think sales had even been mentioned there though.

 

[QuiteWhittle]

The fuck @ strange journey and radiant historia outselling anything in my list. you are definitely wrong about that.

edit: If you include strange journey I might aswell include P3P as well
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - 136,149
Radiant Historia - 57,115
SMTIV - Don't remember but it's lke 200k

Persona 3 Portable - 208,877
Catherine - 206,557(PS3)/17,768(360)
Persona 4 Golden - 229,044
Persona 4: Arena - 184,9979(PS3)/9,346(360)

SMTIV sold 240k.

Edit:Beaten to the punch

 

[Almighty]

A lot of hate towards Sega in this thread. I guess us PC fans must be getting treated like kings by Sega.

Anyway after thinking about it I don't really care who gets Atlus as long as they allow them to keep dong what they are good at. Which means releasing Persona 5 in the west on at least one of the platforms I care about(PS3, PS4, PC). I will be happy.

 

[duality1123]

Really hoping that Nintendo don't drop the ball here (again) and decide not to buy Atlus/fail to dig into the over 5 billion cash that they have just because of Iwata's desire to meet that profit figure he said he'd hit.

It's seriously one of the best bloody opportunities in recent times to really show itself and with both their fuck up in regards to being ready for HD development + having to support both the Wii U and the 3DS they need more development teams and honestly they need them fast.

I've had a lot of respect for Iwata and the other members of Nintendo's management but my god I'm going to lose a lot of it if they don't start making some decisive actions to fixing their fuck ups (which seriously comes down to, really, not having enough people to adequately carry both of their consoles).

 

[AhmazingArab]

Really hope Nintendo doesnt buy Atlus. Would hate to see them go exclusive for the wiiU and 3ds

 

[AhmazingArab]

It's so weird how PC fans love Sega and want them to buy-out everything, while console fans despise them and want them to leave franchises alone. I mean, it was only in 2010 that they released Vanquish.

We just want more Sonic Allstar racing characters

 

[cafemomo]

If atlus gets acquired, I hope it's either NIS or Marvelous that gets them.

I really don't see Ninty picking up Atlus. And if they do, it will probably be just a small stake in the company (like 5-10%). Something similar, like Sony currently having a 8% share of Squeenix

 

[goomba]

hope they find a good home that wont tie them to any one platform holder

 

[mrjohill]

Really hope Nintendo doesnt buy Atlus. Would hate to see them go exclusive for the wiiU and 3ds

I have a 3ds but I'm really not trying to have a reason to buy a wii u. With x and smt x fire emblem on the system persona 5 would probably push me over the edge

 

[Raysoul]

Spoiler

Deep inside I want Ninty to buy Atlus just to see the haters burn so badly

Sega is a good choice. Capcom is a bad one.

 

[duality1123]

Really hope Nintendo doesnt buy Atlus. Would hate to see them go exclusive for the wiiU and 3ds

Why? (More so asking in regards to the 3ds here where it seems most of Atlus' non-persona games have been lately i.e. SMT, EO)

If not Nintendo (who honestly are the people I believe who NEED Atlus, and Atlus USA the most at the moment) who would you recommend?

 

[Matt Attack]

Marvelous and Namco Bandai are still my top two choices, especially Marvelous. But I'm not sure I see either of them happening. I'd like Atlus to remain third-party, but I'm honestly feeling really hesitant about Sega getting them.

 

[edgardavids]

I wouldnt be happy if sega wins. I'd much prefer NIS over them, namco as well even.

 

[Amir0x]

I just hope whoever gets 'em continues Atlus vision and doesn't start corrupting it.

 

[metalslimer]

Would honestly rather Namco got them. I don't want them exclusive and i sure as hell don't want them with current sega

 

[duality1123]

Spoiler

Deep inside I want Ninty to buy Atlus just to see the haters burn so badly

.

While I do admit that there would be a small amount of vindictive glee if Nintendo did I'd be more happy that Nintendo had actually started making a step forward to fixing some of their problems; understaffing being the main one.

 

[edgardavids]

I just hope whoever gets 'em continues Atlus vision and doesn't start corrupting it.

Thats what will happen when a profit profit profit company like capcom and sega will step in. Atlus needs to be kept niche.

 

[ULTROS!]

Would honestly rather Namco got them. I don't want them exclusive and i sure as hell don't want them with current sega

I sure could use SMT5 on PS4~

 

[duality1123]

I just hope whoever gets 'em continues Atlus vision and doesn't start corrupting it.

You'd hope so. I mean Atlus have proven that they know their audience pretty damn well and are really good at making a game to budget and profiting off of that budget. Honestly whoever gets them should just give them a blank check and walk away. You know if you do your going to get your money back since they've proven it before.

You just need to make sure your not expecting them to be selling a million copies every time they release a game.

 

[Amir0x]

Thats what will happen when a profit profit profit company like capcom and sega will step in. Atlus needs to be kept niche.

SEGA is OK, I don't think that'd be a doomsday scenario. CAPCOM, though. Dear God, no. What Capcom has turned into is too much to handle... to see them destroy Atlus would be Industry Exit time.

 

[BlackJace]

I would honestly cry if Capcom copped them. I'm fucking serious.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Capcom could make megaman battle network persona though

 

[Killah]

Capcom could make megaman battle network persona though

for iOS and Android, Japan only.

 

[RE_Player]

If Microsoft wants to make a dent in Japan this time around it wouldn't hurt to have something like Persona 5 exclusive to Xbox One...

 

[Amir0x]

If Microsoft wants to make a dent in Japan this time around it wouldn't hurt to have something like Persona 5 exclusive to Xbox One...

dont say this shit out loud, it might actually fucking happen! Jinx the shit out of gamers everywhere

*looks around shiftily*

 

[cafemomo]

Persona 5 exclusive to Xbox One...

Get ready to pay 5 bux to visit the velvet room and $1.50 to fuse your persona

 

[Village]

Capcom could make megaman battle network persona though

While that would be the best thing ever, and would fit right in to the theme of both games.

They would find a way to mess it up.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

for iOS and Android, Japan only.

While that would be the best thing ever, and would fit right in to the theme of both games.

They would find a way to mess it up.

Ive made a huge mistake..

 

[z0m3le]

oh god, whoever buys them, needs to let Atlus continue to make Atlus games... I was really hoping either Sony or Nintendo would pick them up since either one would allow the company to make the games that Atlus wants to make... Sega is a big uneasiness for me, since they are moving to PC and really make bad title decisions all the time.

 

[iavi]

If Microsoft wants to make a dent in Japan this time around it wouldn't hurt to have something like Persona 5 exclusive to Xbox One...

I doubt MS is going to do another Vesperia this time around--aka take a big name RPG series and get some exclusivity on it.

 

[Takao]

Why? (More so asking in regards to the 3ds here where it seems most of Atlus' non-persona games have been lately i.e. SMT, EO)

If not Nintendo (who honestly are the people I believe who NEED Atlus, and Atlus USA the most at the moment) who would you recommend?

Nintendo has little use for Index outside of the Atlus game development part. They don't make phone games or arcade games so those divisions are useless. Nintendo already has a publishing and localization arm so those are useless. Frankly, I'm not sure people want to see a company whose biggest successes typically aren't on Nintendo hardware go exclusive to the one manufacturer that still supports region locking, and has historically been picky about the niche Japanese games they localize and traditionally have been against third parties picking up games they've passed on.*

* The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower are recent notable exceptions but neither title was internally developed by Nintendo.

Of the hardware manufacturers Sony probably would need Index the most. The company has few IPs relevant in the Japanese market with even fewer development studios, would likely continue their mobile development division, and if the rumors are true about the company wanting to expand their localization efforts Atlus USA could certainly come in handy. Heck, it even expands outside of video games as Aniplex (a division of Sony Music Japan) has a successful history of adapting the Persona IP to television and now film. The problem is that SCE has never bought a Japanese games company AFAIK and the reason they have so few relevant IPs in that market is because they're against investing in it.

Thinking about it, Gungho really does make sense. The company makes phone games so they'd probably just fold that into their internal development teams, and if Fruit Ninja can have an arcade machine lord knows Puzzle & Dragons can too. But most importantly I think Gungho would benefit from Index's history of retail publishing. Sure, the Japanese side has some internal history and Acquire, but I'm not sure they'd be as good as Index. Gungho's western branch has never published a retail game, so Atlus USA would be a big help.

As for NIS, there's no way they can afford to drop $200 million. I'd be shocked to find out he company even has that kind of money on hand.

 

[Dolphin_Butter]

Nintendo has little use for Index outside of the Atlus game development part. They don't make phone games or arcade games so those divisions are useless.

Someone get Nintendo to buy Atlus.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Nintendo has little use for Index outside of the Atlus game development part. They don't make phone games or arcade games so those divisions are useless. Nintendo already has a publishing and localization arm so those are useless. Frankly, I'm not sure people want to see a company whose biggest successes typically aren't on Nintendo hardware go exclusive to the one manufacturer that still supports region locking, and has historically been picky about the niche Japanese games they localize and traditionally have been against third parties picking up games they've passed on.*

* The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower are recent notable exceptions but neither title was internally developed by Nintendo.

Of the hardware manufacturers Sony probably would need Index the most. The company has few IPs relevant in the Japanese market with even fewer development studios, would likely continue their mobile development division, and if the rumors are true about the company wanting to expand their localization efforts Atlus USA could certainly come in handy. Heck, it even expands outside of video games as Aniplex (a division of Sony Music Japan) has a successful history of adapting the Persona IP to television and now film. The problem is that SCE has never bought a Japanese games company AFAIK and the reason they have so few relevant IPs in that market is because they're against investing in it.

Thinking about it, Gungho really does make sense. The company makes phone games so they'd probably just fold that into their internal development teams, and if Fruit Ninja can have an arcade machine lord knows Puzzle & Dragons can too. But most importantly I think Gungho would benefit from Index's history of retail publishing. Sure, the Japanese side has some internal history and Acquire, but I'm not sure they'd be as good as Index. Gungho's western branch has never published a retail game, so Atlus USA would be a big help.

As for NIS, there's no way they can afford to drop $200 million. I'd be shocked to find out he company even has that kind of money on hand.

See thats why I thought Gung Ho or NB would be good partners but you raise a good point about Sony. They need for Japanese franchises, they have a mobile sector and Sony Music Japan is big. In many ways they are a far better candidate then Nintendo. However, Atlus' biggest franchise, Persona and now DC is already exclusive to their platforms so they might not be enough incentive to spend 200 million to lock down those franchises.

 

[metalslimer]

I sure could use SMT5 on PS4~

Its not happening and wouldn't even if namco did own them. And honestly i dont see why anyone is so eager for a 1st party to own them when it means their back catalogue would be exclusive as well

 

[LOCK]

You guys need to understand that if Nintendo bought Atlus that it has no affect on Operating income or profits, which is what Iwata is worried about. A purchase only affects net income. They have the money to buy a crap load of companies if they want.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

I sure could use SMT5 on PS4~

We might get something even better....Persona 5 on PS4

Spoiler

lol

 

[wrowa]

Thinking about it, Gungho really does make sense. The company makes phone games so they'd probably just fold that into their internal development teams, and if Fruit Ninja can have an arcade machine lord knows Puzzle & Dragons can too. But most importantly I think Gungho would benefit from Index's history of retail publishing. Sure, the Japanese side has some internal history and Acquire, but I'm not sure they'd be as good as Index. Gungho's western branch has never published a retail game, so Atlus USA would be a big help..

Do we know how much Gungho paid for Acquire, GameArts and Grasshopper? They certainly are interested in expanding into the traditional gaming market, but it strikes me as a company that prefers to buy other companies for cheap. Atlus doesn't fit that pattern; at $200 million they are likely only worth the investment if the buyer plans to restructure it, putting emphasises on their more succesful IPs. Taking Gungho's hands-off stance in mind, I'm not sure if they are interested in that.

Considering that Index recently made a distribution deal with Sega, I'm not sure if Index's retail arm is really worth as much in Japan as you think.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

EA should buy them.

Spoiler

Said no one ever.

 

[metalslimer]

You guys need to understand that if Nintendo bought Atlus that it has no affect on Operating income or profits, which is what Iwata is worried about. A purchase only affects net income. They have the money to buy a crap load of companies if they want.

And yet outside of persona Atlus has basically been a de facto exclusive developer to them so blowing money on them would be pointless. Atlus isn't making a ton of high end games for the PS3 so it pretty much leaves the 3DS as the only real viable system and its really cheap to make games for. I do wonder whats happening with FExSMT while they are in limbo.

 

[Gormless Noodle]

Purely from a business standpoint, it would be unwise of Nintendo to let Sony have their way, if Sony is a big contender that is. But at any rate, I hope it's picked up by a company that's not platform specific and doesn't hold Atlus back from getting their games in all regions.

 

[Amir0x]

Its not happening and wouldn't even if namco did own them. And honestly i dont see why anyone is so eager for a 1st party to own them when it means their back catalogue would be exclusive as well

To me the exclusive angle doesn't matter, just the security of the company and the freedom to continue their vision. If that meant Sony or Nintendo got them, then I'd be OK with that. If it didn't, then I wouldn't.

 

[MercGH]

Sega wont own Atlus. They made a bid but anyone can make a bid. I highly doubt Sega's bid was close to competitive. I wish they listed the top bidders at least.

 

[duality1123]

Nintendo has little use for Index outside of the Atlus game development part. They don't make phone games or arcade games so those divisions are useless. Nintendo already has a publishing and localization arm so those are useless. Frankly, I'm not sure people want to see a company whose biggest successes typically aren't on Nintendo hardware go exclusive to the one manufacturer that still supports region locking, and has historically been picky about the niche Japanese games they localize and traditionally have been against third parties picking up games they've passed on.*

* The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower are recent notable exceptions but neither title was internally developed by Nintendo.

Of the hardware manufacturers Sony probably would need Index the most. The company has few IPs relevant in the Japanese market with even fewer development studios, would likely continue their mobile development division, and if the rumors are true about the company wanting to expand their localization efforts Atlus USA could certainly come in handy. Heck, it even expands outside of video games as Aniplex (a division of Sony Music Japan) has a successful history of adapting the Persona IP to television and now film. The problem is that SCE has never bought a Japanese games company AFAIK and the reason they have so few relevant IPs in that market is because they're against investing in it.

Okay I'm going to go through those 1 by 1

1) Personally That's a good thing considering Square-Enix and Capcom lately just to name 2. Business wise though there's nothing to say that the games that they are making can't be moved/developed for the Wii U and 3DS eshops like GameFreak's been starting to do lately.

2) Nintendo have been saying that they want to bring over and localise a lot more games recently (Bravely Default for instance) and with them hiring more people recently (like Audrey Drake from IGN) its obvious that they need more people to do so, thus there's no reason why the majority of Atlus USA can't be integrated into Nintendo's Localising departments

3) I may be wrong about this and if so please feel free to correct me but hasn't SMT IV sold over 240 000 copies so far and is one of if not (and this is where I really stick my head out) Atlus' best selling game? (Recently at the very least?)

4) Very similar to 2, they've said that they are going to bring more games across, evidenced primarily by Bravely Default I admit but hopefully we'll start hearing more stuff soon.

5) Really Disagree with you here. Sony has great 3rd party support and Nintendo, quite frankly doesn't. As much as Sony may need more Japanese targeted IPs, Nintendo on the other hand needs more games PERIOD. Sony generally doesn't need its 1st party to sell and define its console; Nintendo DOES and having Atlus able to make more Eshop and 3DS games and the odd console game here and there once the install base is there allows Nintendo's other teams to knuckle down and do what they need to do. Also having Atlus complements Monolith Soft quite nicely in regards to RPGs and several other niche genres filling out Nintendo's portfolio nicely

 

[duality1123]

You guys need to understand that if Nintendo bought Atlus that it has no affect on Operating income or profits, which is what Iwata is worried about. A purchase only affects net income. They have the money to buy a crap load of companies if they want.

Oh it doesn't? Wonderful, I wasn't 100% sure about that. Well then Iwata, break open the piggy bank and go on a spending spree; it may sound quite strange but look to the long term. Your having trouble now with HD development and a slow expansion from wasting the last couple of years, how much trouble are you going to be in 5 or 10 years down the track if you keep going the way you are.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

1) Personally That's a good thing considering Square-Enix and Capcom lately just to name 2. Business wise though there's nothing to say that the games that they are making can't be moved/developed for the Wii U and 3DS eshops like GameFreak's been starting to do lately.

I don't think the eshop market is as lucrative as the mobile sector.

3) I may be wrong about this and if so please feel free to correct me but hasn't SMT IV sold over 240 000 copies so far and is one of if not (and this is where I really stick my head out) Atlus' best selling game? (Recently at the very least?)

Yes, but the Persona series is probably what he is referring to and its much bigger than SMT. Catherine did 500k and DC did 300k just in Japan.

 

[duality1123]

I don't think the eshop market is as lucrative as the mobile sector.


Yes, but the Persona series is probably what he is referring to and its much bigger than SMT. Catherine did 500k and DC did 300k just in Japan.

DC?

And while I wasn't too sure which series was bigger (I knew that SMT came first and Persona was a spin off but that Persona 3 became one of their biggest hits) thanks for the info.

Obviously while the eshop market is no where near as lucrative as the mobile sector as a whole there's so much in the mobile sector that a lot of gems get lost in the trash. Besides the eshop games don't have to be as lucrative as mobile sector games; Business wise, they just have to be profitable really.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

DC?

And while I wasn't too sure which series was bigger (I knew that SMT came first and Persona was a spin off but that Persona 3 became one of their biggest hits) thanks for the info.

Obviously while the eshop market is no where near as lucrative as the mobile sector as a whole there's so much in the mobile sector that a lot of gems get lost in the trash. Besides the eshop games don't have to be as lucrative as mobile sector games; Business wise, they just have to be profitable really.

Dragons Crown.

Persona is definitely much bigger even more on WW perspective. P4G ( an updated port of P4) did 200k+ on such a small install base for instance. Even during the PS1 days it sold 400k or so in Japan but not sure how SMT did in Japan in that era. Persoan 3 is what made it known in the West.

 

[Pound_lb003]

I honestly have a feeling Microsoft will whip it up.