Of course they do. They're not doing it out of the goodness of their heart.
Deep Silver will market and distribute the games in Europe, and inevitably take some of the money from European sales too.
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Deep Silver publishing Persona 5, SMT4A, 7th Dragon (& more Sega/Atlus games?) in EU
- Thread starter Nibel
- Start date
Deep Silver will market and distribute the games in Europe, and inevitably take some of the money from European sales too.
guybrushfreeman
Unconfirmed Member
Dates please. I'd be surprised if Deep Silver was interested in anything but as close to simultaneous release with the US as possible though. We shall see. Still, it's good news.
Spieler Eins
Member
Sounds incredibly expensive for big games like P5 and SMT4A. Did they even do it for Catherine?
That would be the icing on the cake. Etrian Odyssey in german.
That's already a thing though
I don't know I trust Atlus localization team. The others languages localization could be ugly.
purseowner
Member
If Catherine's anything to go by, this means Europe gets a different Special Edition.
...am I really going to buy 3 collector's editions of Persona 5?
...am I really going to buy 3 collector's editions of Persona 5?
Yep.
Emperor Hol Horse
Neo Member
Cool, didn't know the first game was multi5. It still would be great to play EOV in my native tongue.
EO1 was handled by Nintendo in Europe though, so I wouldn't expect multi-5 for EO5
Emperor Hol Horse
Neo Member
Ah, makes sense.
Well, I'm just happy that we will get the game eventually.
The Cartographer
Member
Italian too.
It's pretty rare to see a post on the Sega blog, so I would ask that people pay attention to this. They're pretty upfront about what Sega Europe has been about the past few years and the subtext of asking Deep Silver for help publishing makes sense.
Bots are better than you
Banned
So 7th Dragon will be a physical and digital release? Oh boy oh boy, i hope that applies to SMT too!
Burning bridges ?
Koch Media the parent company of Deep Silver already published Persona before, so they already had a relationship before.
Curious how they will pull it off, as the situation changed a bit with the growing popularity.
formasymphonic
Member
Out of curiosity, for people wanting FIGS - In your experiences do your games normally end up with;
FIGS translations based on the original JP?
FIGS translations of English localisation?
localisations for each individual language/country?
I have basically come to accept that most times we get dual audio and subtitles, the subs are often of the English localisation and not always direct translations of the original language. But I'm grateful to even get that tbh.
FIGS translations based on the original JP?
FIGS translations of English localisation?
localisations for each individual language/country?
I have basically come to accept that most times we get dual audio and subtitles, the subs are often of the English localisation and not always direct translations of the original language. But I'm grateful to even get that tbh.
dreamlongdead
Member
Excellent news for our European friends. They've been burned despite being loyal customers to these Japanese devs and publishers.
I think they are sometimes even more worthy to receive those titles than us American gamers at times.
I will be picking up a new copy of 7th Dragon III. My other anticipated games won't be out until September.
I think they are sometimes even more worthy to receive those titles than us American gamers at times.
I will be picking up a new copy of 7th Dragon III. My other anticipated games won't be out until September.
Jonneh3003
Banned
News of the year, thanks Deep Silver. I was worried if we'd get Apocalypse at all and by the sounds of it we're even getting a physical version.
Ragnar Blackmane
Member
A simple text translation not that much. Dubs - no chance. There is a huge difference between hiring 1-2 translators and an editor and hiring those and a whole bunch of voice actors on top.
I'd argue that Persona has become big enough to warrant multi language localizations (German, French, Italian and Spanish in addition to Atlus' English one) for Deep Silver. Far more niche JRPGs and Catherine got that treatment from Deep Silver in the past.
Not that it matters to me, I'll play the game in English anyway and will probably get the US version if they take too long in bringing it over to Europe.
Some kind of arrangement being worked out for Persona 5 was a given, but Apocalypse is a pleasant surprise. Especially if it's a relatively timely complete release instead of a years-late digital-only thing; but I wasn't even sure if expecting the latter was going to be hoping for too much beforehand.
witchedwiz
Member
man don't play with my heart!
Oh man could it mean...
purseowner
Member
Given the "something" is Deep Silver who blindsided even Concept in the Mighty No 9 Fuckup sweepstakes. I'll pull a Pat and say I'd rather have nothing.
Besides that, Pyuo Puyo 2 still isn't in my hand today any more than it was yesterday,
Sumio Mondo
Member
Great fucking news. I will stop bitchin' about Atlus USA and SEGA EU now. Hope this relationship stays water tight after the unfortunate NIS America break up.
YianGaruga
Banned
People are way too cynical. Yes, DS doesn't have the best track record, but there doesn't seem to be a better alternative at this point.
This IS better than the nothing we had a few months ago.
This IS better than the nothing we had a few months ago.
YianGaruga
Banned
slavesnyder
Member
Good move, Koch.
The last Atlus game that Deep Silver published in Europe came out 7 months later after NA. I'll wait until we have a confirmed release date.
kamikazekoala
Member
Well, I guess the past is the past, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right? I would be over a limited physical release of SMT4 as part of Apocalypse special edition. Sort like the Fire Emblem limited edition maybe? I think it would do very good numbers...
Yeah, I'm not too worried about Deep Silver. What concerns me the most is the fact that this arrangement is between Sega of America, Atlus USA and Deep Silver.
Since the japanese branch of Sega/Atlus is not involved, I fear we may get the games way later than the US.
Eolz
Member
Well we're getting KOF XIV about the same time this summer and it's DS in Europe, Atlus in the USA.
I thought you weren't buying their games because of lack of JP voice anyway
Who said i was buying them ?
I do think that by now a publisher would have realized that there's a big demand for good JRPGs in Europe and with a decent marketing push Persona in particular could do very well.
I wonder why Squeenix didn't want to do it, considering they published P4 here.
Why do you care about a date then? Or are you telling me you're going to pirate the games?
Andrefpvs
Member
Challenge accepted! All of the following is totally real, I did my investigatation.
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"Atlus fans all over the world shed a tear as they realize the company they love is poor."
by Andrefpvs
Europe woke up today with a sigh of relief. No, the UK still doesn't want back in. But the second best-case scenario is happening: Persona 5 has been announced for release in Europe and PAL territories.
Atlus and German publisher Deep Silver have announced a partnership that will allow Atlus and SEGA games to be released in Europe. Still, this does raise one valid question: why isn't Atlus able to release their own games in Europe, when seemingly everyone else has it figured out? Why is their relationship with the Old Continent so complicated?
This is the story of how I spoke to all relevant parties to try to figure this out, and traveled all over the world to hear the stories of heartbroken fans.
First, I reached out to Nippon Ichi Software (NIS), a wealthy, mainstream Japanese company (who until very recently collaborated with Atlus), and asked how it was possible for them to release games in Europe very shortly after their North American release dates. "Well," said a representative of the company's American branch (who wished to remain anonymous), "when you publish mainstream, multi-million-seller games such as Disgaea 5 and Criminal Girls: Invite Only, you kind of stop looking at the financial aspect of things and just focus on making your fans happy!".
The representative added: "We know struggling companies like Atlus, who only make niche games like Persona 5, have difficulty getting their games out in Europe. We sympathize with them, because that could have totally been us. Thankfully, our fans' support has made it possible for us to grace the entire world with our highly-anticipated, award-winning games, such as Tactical RPG 'Grand Kingdom' which we've actually published first in Europe, second in North America!"
"I'd tell you to contact Idea Factory International -- they're doing even better than we are! -- but currently all you get when you call them is a remix of Hail Mary Mallon's "Whales", with every instance of the word 'money' replaced with 'Nep' "
In an attempt to find out why Atlus doesn't have the funds to publish their own games in Europe, I called Atlus USA, the North American subsidiary of the Japanese company. A very nice young lady welcomed my call, but as soon as I uttered the word "Europe", the bubbliness vanished from her voice. "I'll transfer your call to PR," she monotonously said.
After a few minutes, a PR representative of the company picked up, explaining that these matters are exclusively handled by Business Development, but agreeing to talk if I could guarantee their anonymity. The call sounded like it was being answered from a restroom, due to the echo in his voice.
"So, ever since I joined the company about three years ago," the anonymous man said, "I keep getting requests for timely European releases of our games." His voice sounded defeated. "It's it's just complicated. Every time I hear the word 'Europe', I immediately feel bad for our fans on the other side of the Atlantic. We really want to make them happy, we really do! But things are bad. Monetarily, I mean. Last year, we put all of our marketing efforts behind what we believed was our highest-quality title ever: Persona 4 Dancing All Night. But the game didn't sell well enough to even make us our investment back. We are completely in the red. We have to hope Persona 5 sells more than 100,000 copies for us to get back on track, and you just know that's not going to happen with a niche series like this -- P4
AN really opened our eyes to this reality. Still, I'm glad Deep Silver decided to take a shot at this.""Things are bad for the people here. We can barely afford salaries. I even have to share my desk with the new guy from SEGA -- dammit Samuel, I'm using the toilet. Wait your turn!"
"Anyway, I think some folks are starting to lose it. There's this guy in the Marketing department that, whenever he thinks he's alone, constantly repeats to himself: 'Bamco took our Souls... Bamco took our Souls '. I haven't been here long enough to know what that means, but yeah, I worry about everyone here..."
I felt bad for this man. I could feel, despite the powerlessness in his words, that his heart was in the right place. He ended the call by suggesting I reach out to their parent company, the actual Atlus in Tokyo, Japan.
I decided to call them. I'm not proficient in Japanese at all, but after years of watching high-quality anime such as "My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute", I could masticate enough Japanese words to eventually get them to transfer the call to someone who actually spoke a bit of English.
I'm afraid to say our talk didn't go that well. When I asked why they had trouble with Europe when NIS was able to release 'Grand Kingdom' there first, he immediately erupted, repeatedly shouting a Japanese phrase that sounded to me like a British person saying "backer guy gin". After this person calmed down, I figured I should open my Android 'Google Translate' app, in hopes of having it automatically translate any further random outbursts of Japanese. This immediately proved to be the correct decision, since after I repeated the word "Europe", the man once again started shouting a phrase that my app translated as "such a place, fool a foreigner, it does not exist". Unfortunately, I was never too good with online translators, and as such I have no idea what this cryptic sentence actually means.
The man eventually calmed down once again, blaming his temper on his empty stomach. He then claimed he had to hang up, due to "having to reserve energies" until his next paycheck.
I was left without a clear answer, but I had enough data to form a hypothesis: Atlus, as a company, was struggling. They could barely afford to support their home territories, let alone expand into dangerous new ones.
But, maybe, it was the European Atlus fans that were at fault here. Maybe they didn't show enough support or demand for the existence of an European Atlus branch. I personally confronted self-proclaimed "Atlus no. 1 European Fan", Andreas Müller, about this.
"Well, I thought my support of Atlus so far was okay. I bought every version of Persona 3, including that first weird one published by Koei. I have purchased all seventeen Persona 4 spin-offs, and even got the Hatsune Miku DLC for Dancing All Night."
I frowned at Andreas, and told him about the difficulties Atlus was going through.
"O-oh ," he stuttered, the tears welling up in his eyes. "I I guess I could have supported them better. I have purchased all of their games multiple times, but maybe that wasn't enough. I suppose this time I'll just send them a package full of money."
When I suggested he add a bunch of Lady Gaga CDs to that package, Andreas looked at me with a blank expression. I guess he didn't understand the reference.
On the other side of the Atlantic, under the sunny skies of California, I spoke with American Atlus fan Jonathan Fitzgerald. I asked Jon (who was wearing a Rise Kujikawa T-shirt) the same thing I had asked Andreas.
"How many times I've purchased each Atlus game? Just one. Why would I buy the same game more than one time??"
I explained to Jon that Atlus was going through some tough times (Jon covered his mouth, and his eyes started getting wet), and that therefore they were unable to publish their own games in Europe.
"I mean, I can sympathize with the Europeans," Jon started, regaining his composure and wiping his eyes with his hand, "but honestly, they whine too much. Why don't they just import the games from North America? Yeah, it sucks that you have to wait weeks for them to arrive, and you might get taxed by a third of the game's price, and sometimes they are region-locked, but that is no reason to be such crybabies about it. You don't see me complaining about our lack of free healthcare!"
When I pointed out that "at least they have free healthcare" was the default American answer for US/EU comparisons, Jon simply told me to "shut up, you backer guy gin."
As I returned home, I had to accept that this was all I was going to get. At the end of the day, why Atlus doesn't operate directly in Europe is still a mystery. One the general public will probably never be able to solve.
Still, for now, European Atlus fans are full of hope. Hope that their future can forever be bright, like the shine of deep silver.
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