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

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M

MechaX

Member
Man, people are still hung up about Nintendo/Sony not swooping in? Both of those options are bad decisions for us (most of us) for different reasons.

Yeah, Nintendo would definitely have a lot to reap from mainline SMT at this point (especially since 4 not only did a lot better than other mainline/non-Persona spin-off titles in the entire series, but at least its JPN sales are comparable to PS2-era Persona 4). And they would definitely benefit from their smaller franchises like Etrian Odyssey (or maybe even Radiant Historia). But there is a big risk in Persona not having as much of a crossover on Nintendo platforms (thus, you run the risk of sinking one of Atlus's big moneymakers).

On the Sony side of the fence, sure, you would still have Persona. And maybe you would get that super awesome AAA budget HD Persona 5 on PS4 or something. But that would very much sink the mainline Megami Tensei games (especially in light of 4's sales), Etrian Odyssey would be dead, Trauma Center would be even deader than it is now, and there are still potential localization hurdles based on "old school graphics" like the ones that plagued PS1 Soul Hackers and allegedly PSP Devil Summoner. So for the price of keeping Persona, you potentially prematurely cut off a renewed interest in the old school style of mainline MegaTen games by suddenly switching platforms (and this worked out so well for Namco-Bandai when they were playing hopskotch across platforms before they settled on the PS3).
 
K

KillerTravis

Banned
In the hypothetical case that Nintendo bought Atlus, what I would've been most excited about is the possible merge of the Treehouse and AtlusUSA, 2 of my favorite localization houses.
 
Bitmap Frogs

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
zashga said:
Oh. That's bad.



Even if they keep making them, Sega's localization record is really discouraging. They didn't localize 7th Dragon or Valkyria Chronicles 3, just to name a couple (roughly) comparable titles.
Click to expand...

EOIV is the biggest seller in the franchise so far and with the numbers they do, the west represents maybe 20% of the sales... that's a notable chunk.

I don't know... heck at the moment we don't even know if millenium girl will make it to Europe.
 
B

BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO

Junior Member
Shengar said:
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.
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SMT IV was very story heavy and could easily be made into a anime.
 
H

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
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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Exactly, SEGA as a whole has been managed fairly well as of late. On the other hand, Index has been atrocious at managing assets and it NEEDS to restructure for it to be making a bunch of awesome games. Sammy is known for its pachinko, but it also has quite a presence in the Casino Slots. I was quite surprised to see their huge presence in the USA whenever I walk around a Caesar's hotel.

Until I see how they manage the localization studios, what they did is a GOOD THING by rescuing Index and giving them a much needed corporate structure change. Atlus USA could be completely independent or they could be re-branded as Sega of America and have an expanded team to work on internally published stuff and licensed work. If it is independent, the fact that it is owned by the same parent company means that Sega would be more willing to license riskier products under the "Atlus USA" brand since it will ultimately go to the same pockets (remember, SEGA is weary of licensing to outside companies, so having an internal 2nd localization company would help more than hurt). It could be as much a positive for Sega's current localization efforts as much as it could be a band thing.
 
Y

yami4ct

Member
Bitmap Frogs said:
EOIV is the biggest seller in the franchise so far and with the numbers they do, the west represents maybe 20% of the sales... that's a notable chunk.

I don't know... heck at the moment we don't even know if millenium girl will make it to Europe.
Click to expand...

With the bigger focus on story, I could see Untold doing significantly better than IV in the west. I have been seeing a lot more talk among people wanting to use that as a way to pick the series up. It'll never be a super amazing seller, but those games are certainly profitable. On the upward trend of sales as well. Sega localized 5 Yakuza games with that franchise's garbage sales, I don't see why they wouldn't keep a decently selling and significantly cheaper series around.

Also Sega-Sammy != Sega as has been said multiple times in this thread. For all we know, Atlus is still operating independently with no real changes besides a more stable parent.
 
P

Psi

Member
Well, maybe Persona 5 will still be localized...

Edit: My initial thinking in this is that the logical move for Sega Sammy would be to integrate Atlus employees into Sega. But I guess we'll see.
 
C

chrominance

Member
I guess the emphasis on Sega Sammy being the new owner is to imply that Sega and Atlus will be treated more like siblings under the same corporate umbrella rather than Atlus being a subsidiary of Sega? I guess that's cause for hope in theory.
 
R

RoboGeorgeForeman

Banned
Definitely prefer Sega having Atlus to Sony or Nintendo . I want both portable titles and next-gen titles and the only way that could happen is through another 3rd party dev. I am a bit worried that some good games might be left overseas, but at least I'll be able to import them.
 
C

Coxy

Member
Great news, Sega has done an excellent job managing and localising its own RPG IPs so Atlus' portfolio will look great alongside Skies of Arcadia 2, Dragon Force 4, Shining Force 7, Panzer Dragoon Saga 3, Resonance of Fate 2 and Valkyria on ps4 on western shelves next year!
 
Y

yami4ct

Member
Yukiari said:
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that Sega and Sega Sammy were two different companies?
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Sega-Sammy is the parent company with Sega being a brand underneath their umbrella. It's unclear if Atlus would be another subsidiary underneath the whole big thing or folded into Sega.
 
M

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Yeah, people over here is so much pessimistic about this operation for Atlus itself that is quite scary: Atlus will be fine. Sega even wants to IMPROVE Indec's console and handheld development, what's bad about that. Things won't change (not that much).

We must see what happens with Atlus USA, though. Hopefully, they'll stay, since they'd be so helpful for SEGA itself in US.
 
K

kuroshiki

Member
Coxy said:
Great news, Sega has done an excellent job managing and localising its own RPG IPs so Atlus' portfolio will look great alongside Skies of Arcadia 2, Dragon Force 4, Shining Force 7, Panzer Dragoon Saga 3, Resonance of Fate 2 and Valkyria on ps4 on western shelves next year!
Click to expand...

my sarcasm detector is not working right. you not serious right.
 
S

Some Nobody

Junior Member
I was one of those people that wanted Nintendo to nab them. Presuming they didn't massively fuck up development of P5 or SMT, it would just add more IPs to their library. Eventually they'd force themselves to become popular by sheer virtue of having so many interesting games. Of course, that's a magical scenario in which Nintendo puts all their properties to work.

Anyway, SEGA buying Atlus is a thing that I don't really have emotions for since I don't much care for Atlus or SEGA all that much, unless Atlus makes a Skies 3 or something.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
vinnygambini said:
Wow... I am beyond confused. Bloomberg and Nikkei reported Sega Sammy had purchased Index...
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Generally companies prefer to make their own acquisition announcements than have other companies leak them.

I suspect that's what we're seeing here given Bloomberg and Nikkei are rock solid.
 
L

Lazy vs Crazy

Member
Mpl90 said:
Yeah, people over here is so much pessimistic about this operation for Atlus itself that is quite scary: Atlus will be fine. Sega even wants to IMPROVE Indec's console and handheld development, what's bad about that. Things won't change (not that much).

We must see what happens with Atlus USA, though. Hopefully, they'll stay, since they'd be so helpful for SEGA itself in US.
Click to expand...

I don't think SEGA has "improved" much of anything in the past 12 years or so.

I mean they may want to, but their execution on, well, everything kinda sucks these days.
 
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