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Index (Atlus) entering into a restructuring bankruptcy; looking to transfer/sell

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F

Flarin

Member
So Atlus was banking on the popularity of Persona to revive the SMT brand in the west? Interesting. I was sort of thinking about it backwards then. Makes sense though. A buddy of mine is buying SMT IV because he loved Persona 4.
 
M

Mondriaan

Member
oneida said:
Microsoft buying ATLUS would be so fucking funny. Just imagining the salty tears brings a stupid Jim Carrey grin to my face.

Sadly, it's not going to happen.
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Are there any game developers that MS has acquired that haven't become dried out husks of their former selves?
 
Z

zashga

Member
Terrible news. Is there any real chance that Atlus comes out of this (more or less) independent?

Any buyout is probably the end for Etrian Odyssey fans. I just don't see Sony or Nintendo or anyone else bothering to localize games that they know won't push 100k units overseas. A Square buyout would be the absolute worst case scenario in that regard, so praise the sun that company is in no shape to make acquisitions right now.
 
S

Sadist

Member
MechaX said:
Notwithstanding Bamco's willingness to even do it, they're a little bit harder to peg, despite how I thought they were a terrible option earlier this morning.

As Coxy mentioned way back, they did help out with Ni no Kuni to at least some benefit (at least much better than 99% of JRPGs these days, at least overseas, and even better than some "AAA" development efforts). Localization was definitely very, very spotty on the Tales front, but on the other hand... we've gotten Project X Zone out of all things.
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I'm still shocked I'm going to play a EU copy of that particular game. Of all the 3DS games, I always thought that one would stay in Japan.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Datschge said:
I wish the development teams stay together, but I have a hard time this being successfully realized. If Index can survive it likely needs to restructure, consolidate or split up its business. If it gets sold most companies are more interested in the IPs than in the staff behind them. Honestly Nintendo with its emphasis that it is not interested in buying brands but people may be the best company to hold the development teams together. What other possible companies with that mindset are there?
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Probably more than you'd expect, given how many of the THQ purchases DID involve buying development teams.

Still, it has to be all or nothing, though I actually imagine this is somewhat likely because of the degree of cross pollination, it's the only way to ensure you have everyone for those games.
 
P

Poetic.Injustice

Member
NeonZ said:
I think the main issue with Persona would be the lack of assets. People forget that Atlus' entire PS2 output had tons of shared assets among different games. That includes Persona 3 and 4. Persona 5 either would look like a upscaled PS2 game, something they clearly wanted to avoid, or would need completely new assets, which seems to be what they're trying to do, and why the development is so slow.
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Persona 4 was released in July 2008, They had more than enough time to work on the game. An entire console generation passed by while they could still not release one persona game. It's pathetic.
 
R

RMI

Banned
zashga said:
Any buyout is probably the end for Etrian Odyssey fans. I just don't see Sony or Nintendo or anyone else bothering to localize games that they know won't push 100k units overseas. A Square buyout would be the absolute worst case scenario in that regard, so praise the sun that company is in no shape to make acquisitions right now.
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ugh I hope not. I assumed Etrian Odyssey games are pretty easy to localize compared to most RPGs because there is very little dialog and no voice acting. I would hate for this series to go away.
 
T

the_sun_king

Member
Eusis said:
Probably more than you'd expect, given how many of the THQ purchases DID involve buying development teams.

Still, it has to be all or nothing, though I actually imagine this is somewhat likely because of the degree of cross pollination, it's the only way to ensure you have everyone for those games.
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I can't imagine a company not keeping the Persona 4/Catherine team together.
 
S

Sadist

Member
zashga said:
Any buyout is probably the end for Etrian Odyssey fans. I just don't see Sony or Nintendo or anyone else bothering to localize games that they know won't push 100k units overseas. A Square buyout would be the absolute worst case scenario in that regard, so praise the sun that company is in no shape to make acquisitions right now.
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Well NoE did localize the original EO game for DS.

... I got nothing
 
C

chertipros

Member
Poetic.Injustice said:
Persona 4 was released in July 2008, They had more than enough time to work on the game. An entire console generation passed by while they could still not release one persona game. It's pathetic.
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Their main job isn't to release persona games. What's so pathetic about it if their overall software output has been fantastic?
 
Z

Zee-Row

Banned
The only thing that would worry me about Nintendo or Sony buying them is that it would probably be the end of Atlus USA. We would be at the mercy of Nintendo or Sony's teams passing on those niche games that no one else would touch.
 
F

FluxWaveZ

Member
the_sun_king said:
They were. That's what they tackled after P4.
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After Persona 4, the development team responsible for it split into two. One worked on Catherine and the other worked on Persona 3 Portable (and later, Persona 4 Golden). The teams gradually joined together to work on what was presumably Persona 5.
 
L

Lunar15

Member
Flarin said:
Which is something I'll never understand. Did people even know what SMT was when Persona 1 came out? Did we really need that association? I didn't even know what SMT was.
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SMT: Nocturne was the first SMT mainline SMT released in the west, and it sold well enough to find a niche in the west. Then Atlus released DDS, which was also under the SMT brand.

Since atlus had established a niche with the SMT franchise, they saw it fit to release P3 under the SMT monkier, in order to garner more attention for it.
 
R

RM8

Member
Publishing-wise... man, we really needed Atlus :( XSEED can't possibly cover all the stuff Atlus brings over here.
 
J

jello44

Chie is the worst waifu
RMI said:
weren't they working on Catherine?
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Yes.

If I remember right, the Persona team was working on Catherine while doing P4, once P4 was finished they went full time onto Catherine and that was their litmus test on the HD consoles.
 
K

kewlmyc

Member
They won't be dissolved. Someone will buy them hopefully. Some things might be cancelled like the P3 movies, and some of their unannounced projects might be delayed, but I doubt Atlus is dead.
 
SEGAvangelist

SEGAvangelist

Member
This makes me sad. Catherine was one of the most enjoyable games of the generation for me. Hopefully someone worthy scoops them up and saves them... even the evil companies (EA, Activision, Ubisoft now?).
 
T

TheChaos0

Member
Lunar15 said:
SMT: Nocturne was the first SMT mainline SMT released in the west, and it sold well enough to find a niche in the west. Then Atlus released DDS, which was also under the SMT brand.

Since atlus had established a niche with the SMT franchise, they saw it fit to release P3 under the SMT monkier, in order to garner more attention for it.
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In all honestly so was Persona 1.
 
L

lunchwithyuzo

Banned
t26 said:
SE actually made more than one console game.
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So has Atlus, but not nearly as much. Internally developed (retail) console games from each this past/coming gen:

Atlus
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii) 2006
Trauma Center: New Blood (Wii) 2007
Trauma Team (Wii) 2010
Catherine (360/PS3) 2011
Shin Megami Tebsei X Fire Emblem (WU) tba

Square Enix
Final Fantasy XI Online (360) 2006
The Last Remnant (360) 2008
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Wii) 2009
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Wii) 2009
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3/360) 2009/2010
Mario Sports Mix (Wii) 2010
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (360/PS3) 2011
Dragon Quest X: Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online (Wii/WU) 2012/2013
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix (PS3) 2013
A Realm Reborn: Final Fantasy XIV Online (PS3/PS4) 2013/2014
Final Fantasy X HD (PS3) 2013
Final Fantasy X-2 HD (PS3) 2013
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (360/PS3) 2013
Final Fantasy XV (PS4/XB1) tba
Kingdom Hearts III (PS4/XB1) tba
 
G

Galang

Banned
I forgot Atlus have the Snowboard Kids ip also. I hope whoever buys them can at least re-release the original games even as they were. Been waiting in vain for that forever, but keeping hope alive..
 
S

Silky

Banned
Kyon said:
idts. SMT been struggling till P3/4 came along
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Because Digital Devil Saga, Nocturne, Raidou Kuzonoha were so poorly recieved in the US.

They weren't. They were niche back then, they're still pretty niche today.

niche =/= bad.
 
A

ALN1031

Member
Poetic.Injustice said:
Persona 4 was released in July 2008, They had more than enough time to work on the game. An entire console generation passed by while they could still not release one persona game. It's pathetic.
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Because clearly Atlus has nothing else to do in their company except make Persona games.
 
F

FluxWaveZ

Member
jello44 said:
Yes.

If I remember right, the Persona team was working on Catherine while doing P4, once P4 was finished they went full time onto Catherine and that was their litmus test on the HD consoles.
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No, it was after Persona 4. Catherine wasn't really a "test"; they just had an idea and wanted to go with it.
 
T

TheChaos0

Member
kewlmyc said:
They won't be dissolved. Someone will buy them hopefully. Some things might be cancelled like the P3 movies, and some of their unannounced projects might be delayed, but I doubt Atlus is dead.
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I don't see the movies getting cancelled. Aniplex is working on them as far as I remember.
which incidentally belongs to Sony
 
C

Clott

Member
Can't wait to hear a resolution. Who ever and if someone like Sony pick them up, I hope they take into account what kind of developer they are.
 
L

lunchwithyuzo

Banned
Lunar15 said:
SMT: Nocturne was the first SMT mainline SMT released in the west, and it sold well enough to find a niche in the west. Then Atlus released DDS, which was also under the SMT brand.

Since atlus had established a niche with the SMT franchise, they saw it fit to release P3 under the SMT monkier, in order to garner more attention for it.
Click to expand...
For reference Nocturne only sold 60k in the US. Both P3 and P4 more than doubled it's sales iirc.
 
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