Tizoc
Member
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is getting a digital release for PSP and Vita[/quote]
I'll be bringing the
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Sega Sammy confirms that Sega Dream Corporation has fully acquired Index (Atlus)
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I'll be bringing the
Let's take a look Index's businesses:
Index Business 1 = Atlus Mobile
Index Multimedia = Not games related (Web/Mobile Solutions)
Index Corp (Thailand) = Not games related (I honestly can't tell, but their site is in Flash and, uh, they're offering WAP services. Probably something like the above.)
Index Business 2 = Atlus
Index Digtal Media, Inc. = Atlus USA
Index Business 3 = ??? (Arcade?, Pachinko?)
Net Index, Inc. = ??? (Probably not games related, their site doesn't even work.)
Index Amusement, Inc. = Not games related (CG/3D movies)
That doesn't mention what shares they hold though. I know they used to be the primary stockholder of Madhouse before selling most of their shares to Nippon Television. According to Wikipedia they still own about 10% of it, but I'm not sure of the validity of that information.
Index Business 1 = Atlus Mobile
Index Multimedia = Not games related (Web/Mobile Solutions)
Index Corp (Thailand) = Not games related (I honestly can't tell, but their site is in Flash and, uh, they're offering WAP services. Probably something like the above.)
Index Business 2 = Atlus
Index Digtal Media, Inc. = Atlus USA
Index Business 3 = ??? (Arcade?, Pachinko?)
Net Index, Inc. = ??? (Probably not games related, their site doesn't even work.)
Index Amusement, Inc. = Not games related (CG/3D movies)
That doesn't mention what shares they hold though. I know they used to be the primary stockholder of Madhouse before selling most of their shares to Nippon Television. According to Wikipedia they still own about 10% of it, but I'm not sure of the validity of that information.
Magicpaint
Member
Yeah - as much as I'm concerned for the future of localisations, I still think this is a preferable scenario than a Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft acquisition. Just hope the structures we've come to expect aren't thoroughly dismantled.
Its Sega, no need to wait. Why should Atlus have a USA division when Sega had to close and work out of a shack.
Persona 5 TGS announcement means shit to me now in the US.
IrishNinja
Member
a handful of super-niche titles for dead platforms, a few assumptions, and a dash of hyperbole - this was a P&B post alright
Azure Phoenix
Member
Well this is quite possibly the worst outcome.
Sega are the worst fit imaginable, they don't even bother to localise the majority their own games any more, nor do they have any retail publishing presence in Europe outside of Football Manager/Total War. Now they've bought a company which specialises in niche retail releases targeted at a small but dedicated fanbase, one which already has no European presence.
Great for Japan I suppose, they'll be seeing a ton of Sega/Atlus crossovers. Bad for the rest of the world - we'll be lucky to even see Persona 5 localised.
Sega are the worst fit imaginable, they don't even bother to localise the majority their own games any more, nor do they have any retail publishing presence in Europe outside of Football Manager/Total War. Now they've bought a company which specialises in niche retail releases targeted at a small but dedicated fanbase, one which already has no European presence.
Great for Japan I suppose, they'll be seeing a ton of Sega/Atlus crossovers. Bad for the rest of the world - we'll be lucky to even see Persona 5 localised.
Alias Greed
Neo Member
This is great news that they were bought by a third party and no first party bullshit.
Now Sega give Atlus access to Valkyria Choronicles and all your old IP. SMTxSF crossover.
Now Sega give Atlus access to Valkyria Choronicles and all your old IP. SMTxSF crossover.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
You know though I really do hope / wish that SEGA would make a "HD" port or a remaster anyways of the Black Panther series for the PS3 or PS4 as a PSN only download.
Since the combat and story in the first one was pretty damned good. The 2nd one fell apart a bit due to how they reworked the camera and combat, plus the shit VA they used to replace the original one. Its the reason why I stopped playing the second title after having enjoyed the first one so much.
tgs announcement? lol
Come on Irish, excluding the two Black Panthers, Kenzan, Yakuza 5, Valkyria Chronicles 3 and PSO2 are all games a company like Atlus would've released here, for the simple reason that they are a small company and they don't have insane expectation.
But I agree that people are too negative, there's a possibility it will turns out great for both parties.
Tizoc
Member
PSO Nova got announced so maybe that's got a (slightly) higher chance of getting localized?
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Reactionary attack on individual poster with no information to counter mine: yup, typical dreary IrishNinja post alright.
Atlus USA made publishing on niche platforms a viable business and in taking risks on properties other people didn't want to touch at the time. They also connected with their base on an almost molecular level (which is what made all the Arena stuff such a shame, but out of their hands).
Sega West and their translation teams (if they still even exist at this point???) could only dream of the success and positivity Atlus enjoyed with properties that should be a lot more niche than a bloody and brutal game like Yakuza or a sequel to fucking Phantasy Star Online.
GungHo, Namco, or Sony were my top running choices. But now I get another reason to fucking loathe modern Sega if Atlus USA is fucked with in any way whatsoever.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
Persona 4 came out for PS2 in 2008 fyi, so if that was sega, we would have never gotten it. What if Persona 6 came out in 2016 on PS3? Are you saying we wouldn't get it? Sega is doing alright but when it comes to localizing games, they are absolutely terrible.
Pureauthor
Member
I think even Atlus would be wary of something like Yakuza 5 or VC3, given how well their predecessors sold.
Takamura-San
Member
So they are still multiplat.
Good.
Good.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
Why did it take so long for anarchy reign to come to the west?
Anything new that comes out on home consoles probably has a good chance of being ported. I wouldn't expect P3, P4G or the like though, seeing as how Sega didn't bring Valkyria Chronicles to PC either.
Stone Ocean
Member
Better than Nintendo buying them. Gotta wait and see to know what will happen to Atlus USA, but this could turn out a very good thing.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
The second VC was pretty terrible with the story / setting. Its why things were changed up so drastically with VC3 that was actually quite good. Not to mention the main character was an irritating idiot for the most part.
Gormless Noodle
Member
It's pretty safe to say that this is the end for their presence in the West then. Sega is a corpse that just got a little more bloated.
GeekyDad
Member
I think it is. Atlus and, more importantly, its IPs will live on, and the way they seem to have hashed things out, the Atlus properties won't be Sega-ized.
Well... I'm feeling pretty god-damn terrible right now. There's absolutely nobody that can, as of this moment, convince me that Atlus will be the Atlus I know and love from this point forward.
Atlus really was one of the biggest things to make me happy in gaming. I might as well just quit the hobby now and get it over with. *sigh*
Atlus really was one of the biggest things to make me happy in gaming. I might as well just quit the hobby now and get it over with. *sigh*
Tizoc
Member
My guess?
At the time SEGA's financials were low, and thus focused on only releasing titles during the later half of 2012 that would have the highest chance of making good sales, or were safe for them to release and get good sales off of.
Anarchy Reign was not considered among them...and that game apparently bombed in the west even with the price reduction I believe?
IrishNinja
Member
eh, it's even more of a long shot than those hoping for Kenzan, to be honest...no Kiryu, don't recall them selling well, nor ranking high with fans. to be fair, i go off Segata's personal ratings a lot as well.
PSO2 and Yak 5 are no doubt late but still very much assumptions. Black Panthers strikes me as an assumption (though they did like PSP) but acting like Sega didnt support Yakuza out west after 4 titles and a spinoff strikes me as silly. VC3 i can see your point though.
the excess negativity/hyperbole - without a better option, as pointed out prior - yeah its grating.
i honestly don't know why they're dragging their heels, but everything about PSO2 reads like the model they set out with a year back, and it's been successful for them. i admit it's odd to not hear anything yet but if sizeable elements of GAF still think Last Guardian is possible, i think it's weird to write PSO2 off, yeah.
your reputation proceeds you, P&B. and that post i quoted was a perfect example.
Atlus is great with their fanbase & expectations/budgeting properly, this is known if nowhere else than with Demons' Souls and like titles. I never once said this wasn't the case or that Sega was perfect for encouraging that model.
but here you are a) assuming said team is somehow gone (we had one, one translator on the sega forums say he was leaving?), b) act like Yakuza's not very much niche (its spinoffs like Kenzan, even before the controversy of its content, doubly so)...i mean i don't know what to do with that. i question how familiar you are with the series you're citing.
the fact that you think locking them to Sony platforms - or arguably worse given how they've handled most things that weren't Tales this gen with Namco - is somehow more ideal is bizarre. was the recent Mikku release a conservative move for you? do you want to go back over your list and point out specifics? because the narrative you're selling does have some merit, as far as smaller titles no doubt - but the degree to which you're selling it is absolutely ridiculous. you're literally taking it to the extent i would if this was, say, Konami.
i see your example, and offer this: Yakuza 2 came out for the PS2 over here in the fall of 2008, a year into a new console's cycle and only a few months prior to P4, another title that many having PS3's after BC was dropped saw themselves potentially locked out of. i hope you're seeing why this potentially isn't the disaster some are chicken little-ing it out to be.
I'm new be nice
Member
Does Sega (Sega Sammy?) have a history of changing the direction of previous games they have acquired? It seems like most of the titles they've adopted have remained the same
Impeccable
Member
I personally feel like Sega has been making some good moves recently.
AyaisMUsikWhore
Member
I'm feeling horrible about this because it sucks that Sega got them but I'm feeling happy about it because I'm glad neither Sony and Nintendo and Definitely not Microsoft buying them so I'm okay with this.
Takamura-San
Member
...
Is not going to be the same... but is it going to be that much different? What makes you believe this is going to be the case?
Fact is recent Sega history isn't supporting your optimism either. If Yakuza is niche, ALL of Atlus games are niche. If they don't think Yakuza is worth bringing over, do I really need to finish that thought? It's not really that hard to understand some well founded concern, is it?
Again, look to Atlus USA, as their fate is what's going to tell this whole tale.
TheRealTalker
Banned
Nice to see them stay third party.. Yet I wonder if certain contracts that they previously made before the buyout are still valid
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Could be good or could be trainwreck considering how Atlus has been. Their games don't necessarily sell CoD like numbers but they do put out quality.
Azure Phoenix
Member
Sega is not in the same position as they were 5 years ago, they've been through major changes in that time including transitioning to being a mostly digital publisher and barely having a European publishing arm. We've seen their niche output dwindle to the point where they cannot even bring over Phantasy Star Online 2 in a timely manner - a digital F2P product which is incredibly popular in it's home market and is an established franchise in the west.
Atlus USA meanwhile is basically doing the exact same thing now that they were 5 years ago, localising niche products with realistic expectations and efficient print runs.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Yup. I'm not sure where Irish's misplaced optimism is coming from considering the Sega that published Yakuza 2 on the worlds most successful console and the Sega "Sonic, Aliens, Total War, Football" of today are worlds apart.
PSO2 is the just no nonsense argument winner in this case. You can sing the niche tune about Yakuza and Valkyria, but not about PSO. Not to mention that Atlus could have made a success of Yakuza if they'd been given the reigns back in Kenzan and 3's days because they own and perfectly pitch to the base those games appeal to. Instead huge licensing costs and some weird backroom plays by Sega made them want to keep it all internal. Ironic now.
Atlus USA was/is a well managed bloat free outfit that made profit or at the very least money back on projects most other pubs deemed un-profitable. Same thing with XSEED. However, now when you introduce the bloat of a corporation like SEGA, they can no longer operate to that same level of autonomy and the end result is bad. Particularly because Sega has been setting a "we rarely translate these japanese games as much these days" precedent (alongside Square and Capcom of course).
But XSEED wanted to publish VC3 and SEGA declined. Not only that but Atlus has a completely Japanese game-centric fanbase, VC2 under Atlus name would've sold better just for being Atlus since it's an anime-ish game (and because they don't expect the game to sell 500,000 or 1 million copies).
Nintendo let XSEED publish a big and important game like The Last Story and it was a great success. Small publishers work very well with certain fanbases and game genres (like JRPGs), while big publishers totally ignore them because "opportunity costs".
Yakuza series could easily sell to the otaku crowd that loves Atlus games.
To be fair, it's probably related to the costs involved in getting the right amount of servers up in the US and Europe. That stuff isn't cheap.
exmachina64
Banned
GAF history in the making.
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