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SEGA Sammy acquires Index (Atlus) for 14 billion yen, now a subsidiary of Sega

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weevles

weevles

Member
Well, considering Atlus was going to go under, this has got to be better than that, right?

I don't think Sega will interfere too much with how Atlus currently operates, but we'll probably see less output and maybe less obscure or unproven stuff overall.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
StreetsAhead said:
To clarify (finally), Sega Sammy wants to revitalize Index's handheld and home console games division. Sega has been loosing money the last two quarters largely due to a downturn in the Western gaming market [according to the article, dunno if it's true].

Atlus, Index's gaming brand, has quite strong gaming franchises, like Shin Megami Tensei and has been making a yearly profit recently. Sega Sammy would like to use the assests of Atlus productively, including the idea of them developing games for smartphones.
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This should be added to the OP. :)
 
V

VariantX

Member
Silky said:
kplm7xS.png

I WANNA FLY~ TO IWATODAI~
LETS GOOOO~~~ TOGETHER~!
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Lmao

I would have used rings though lol
 
S

starmud

Member
i thought atlus USA had a nice niche of localization junkies to keep the branch successful ;___; so, this means more niche geames to localize with sega in tow.... DOSENT IT...
 
E

Eusis

Member
androvsky said:
Is it? Sega over the last year has pretty much decimated Sega USA, moving most operations outside of simple marketing to Europe. Coincidentally, Atlus has no presence in Europe. As far as I know, there's surprisingly little overlap.
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On the other hand that may mean they REALLY don't see a point in Atlus USA and rip them apart anyway. Ideally, yeah, they just expand Atlus USA to be the new Sega USA and buff them up into a bigger localization arm, but I get the feeling more and more companies would rather move most of their international operations to Europe.
Vyse The Legend said:
There's no "even" here. Nintendo would've been the ideal scenario.
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A third party without serious game investment or without a western branch would've been ideal. Index for example was fine as far as what we consumers saw (or so it seemed) and mostly failed due to their shady accounting, a company like that WITHOUT the scandalous crap sinking them would've been the ideal, not another game company. And hell, if we HAD to go with another game company someone like Gung Ho really probably would've been best, they have a western branch but I don't know how big it is and they may be at the right size they'd just run both of them. Or at least favor Atlus USA.
 
B

BronsonLee

Member
MagiusNecros said:
SMTxFE is probably Nintendo funded project.
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Wouldn't matter if Sony bought them. Refund their money and tell them to S my Persona. That shit would never have come out.

If someone on GAF can name me an acquisition SEGA's done recently that they've think SEGA fucked up on, I would love to hear it. Cause I'm racking my brain and finding none.
 
Y

yami4ct

Member
cajunator said:
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!!!!!
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I'm kind of leaning that way, honestly. ATLUS US has been one of the most consistently profitable companies localizing Japanese games. No reason to believe that they won't keep those guys around. They be stupid not to. If anything, this should hopefully revitalize SEGA's localizations. If anyone gets axed over redundancies, it'll be on the SEGA side, not ATLUS.
 
C

charlequin

Banned
Nirolak said:
Were someone to choose a rock to stand and complain on, it should be about their games going more AAA than mobile only.

Atlus USA though, yes there are notably real worries here, and perhaps some worries about localization for things they don't see as flagships.
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Right. The concern that Atlus is going to see an inevitable talent drain now, or they'll be pressured to scale their titles up unsustainably, or that they'll start to move into social/mobile gaming over a long period of time -- that's all pretty reasonable. But the idea that Persona 5 is going to come out and not be released in the US is dopey.
 
R

Resplendent Elk

Banned
As a huge Sega fan and Atlus fan, I feel weird about this, and even weirder because I somehow don't feel this is a good fit. For me, Sega died with the dreamcast and has been a former shell of itself, especially ever since it embraced the casual market, smartphones, and tablets. They don't have the balls to bring even their big hitters here, let alone develop their own original stuff like atlus's catherine did or how atlus would acquire all those gems we have come to know and love (though to be fair, aksys, xseed, and nis america, have largely taken over those duties).

They embrace crap like ouya, f2p, tablets and smartphones, full on digital distribution with all the lack of ownership that comes with it. (they are very wary of physical retail releases, let alone collectors editions, which atlus is known for). If this were the glory days for Sega, I might feel differently, but this really just feels like bad news...
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
charlequin said:
A very good chance. People need to look at this process with some logic instead of just flipping out.

Atlus itself -- not Index as a whole, but the consumer games development division that we're talking about here -- is a consistently profitable enterprise. The listed sale price is $141m in US dollars -- a price that would be quite excessive simply to pick up a couple IPs whose value is heavily invested in their current, dedicated-niche-fanbase manifestation. Sammy also bought Atlus over a variety of other bidders, after Index specifically talked about looking for a buyer who would maintain some continuity in the operation.

Paying that kind of money to just loot the corpse and turn currently profitable IPs into mobile waste dumps would be quite pointless when, as it stands, they can buy Atlus, let them remain profitable doing what they already do, and also exploit them via sleazy mobile titles and so on.

Atlus USA is definitely the bigger concern here.
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After the multitude of shenanigans, antics, and dare I say monkeybusiness from corporate Japan over the last 8 years, that flipping out came AFTER some processing via logic.

It's understandable. MORE than understandable.

And personally, they better fucking be smart about it.
 
G

GuardianE

Santa May Claus
yami4ct said:
I'm kind of leaning that way, honestly. ATLUS US has been one of the most consistently profitable companies localizing Japanese games. No reason to believe that they won't keep those guys around. They be stupid not to. If anything, this should hopefully revitalize SEGA's localizations. If anyone gets axed over redundancies, it'll be on the SEGA side, not ATLUS.
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I wish I had this level of faith in Sega.
 
D

DSveno

Banned
Acid08 said:
They brought out five fucking Yakuza games in the US. FIVE. Of a franchise that sold like shit here.

But of course one that sells well, like Persona has proven it can, definitely makes sense it won't come over here. Makes total sense.
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This.

Seriously, people. Won't you guys just look at this and take a little bit of time to think? The only problem I have with SEGA is how they are marketing their games.
 
L

Lucentto

Banned
You guys and your overly pessimistic mindsets. I am somewhat interested to see what SEGA Sammy plans to do with Atlus. If Atlus and the USA branch gets fucked over by this then that sucks, oh well, shit happens.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
charlequin said:
Right. The concern that Atlus is going to see an inevitable talent drain now, or they'll be pressured to scale their titles up unsustainably, or that they'll start to move into social/mobile gaming over a long period of time -- that's all pretty reasonable. But the idea that Persona 5 is going to come out and not be released in the US is dopey.
Click to expand...

Shit Persona's every year.

No Megatens ever.

GAF Cries
 
MagiusNecros

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
RyoonZ said:
He's saying it'd be better for Sony to acquire Index Corp rather than SEGA SAMMY. So if Sony acquired them do you think it'd not be canceled even if it's Nintendo funded project?
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Probably be a last hurrah. Or Nintendo would have to sign some agreement with Sony which honestly would have Nintendo take the SMT franchise and have Sony take the Persona franchise.

But that is speculation at best. You raise a good question though.
 
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