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Sega Sammy confirms that Sega Dream Corporation has fully acquired Index (Atlus)

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Nirolak

Mrgrgr
I think it will be November. They'll announce it after the deal has been finalized.

It's not uncommon to announce things before a deal is finalized.

For example Disney didn't officially acquire LucasFilm for around 6 or so months after they announced the new trilogy.
 

vall03

Member
Wait, since Sega Dream Corp is newly established, its basically the new name for Index right? Though it feels weird to read that this is a subsidiary of Sega Corp and not by Sega Sammy Holdings. Just hope they will still have full creative freedom.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Wait, since Sega Dream Corp is newly established, its basically the new name for Index right? Though it feels weird to read that this is a subsidiary of Sega Corp and not by Sega Sammy Holdings. Just hope they will still have full creative freedom.

Conceptually yes, in the same way that Eidos is Square Enix Europe.
 

Pooya

Member
For Atlus USA the following things that could happen

1. Atlus USA close. All games are now release by Sega USA.
2. Atlus USA and Sega merge. That could affect which game get localized due to change in management.
3. Sega USA close and Atlus USA stay open. Unlikely since Atlus USA is smaller.
4. Sega keep both Atlus USA and Sega USA. Unlikely due to redundancy.

No matter how you look at it, it is very unlikely things will stay the same.


how many employees Atlus USA has? I can see Sega employ staff they need for localizing some titles from Atlus USA (people already working on those titles and familiar with Persona etc) and let go of the rest of company. Atlus USA is a publishing arm with parts Sega probably don't need. So I think there will definitely be layoffs of some sort.

Atlus USA is publishing bunch of west made digital games and other external project too right now, wonder what will happen to those.
 

amardilo

Member
This could be good news.

It would means games developed by Atlus would be published by Sega in Europe so games could come out sooner in that region.

It could also mean that Atlus could develop games using some of Sega's old RPG IPs.
 

Coxy

Member
Or what if Sega recognises the good work that Atlus USA has been doing (assuming they have actually been profitable), and decides to apply that talent to some of their own titles, such as 7th Dragon, Valkyria Chronicles, etc.?

or what if unicorns gave everyone a million dollars and the fairies left shenmue 3 under our pillows and...
 

Squire

Banned
It's not uncommon to announce things before a deal is finalized.

For example Disney didn't officially acquire LucasFilm for around 6 or so months after they announced the new trilogy.

Sure. It's just a hunch. I'd be thrilled to be wrong, believe me.
 
Hopefully this means that new Atlus games will be released in Europe in a sane amount of time and not that SMT V and P5 are going to be pachinko games releasing in February.
 

TheChaos0

Member
Well, it's better (for everyone) than Nintendo or Sony buying them. SEGA is hardly the worst of the lot. They are fairly neutral on my scale but had a string of not localising titles that I want. As long as people don't start leaving Atlus, everything's going to be alright.
 
Well, it's better (for everyone) than Nintendo or Sony buying them. SEGA is hardly the worst of the lot. They are fairly neutral on my scale but had a string of not localising titles that I want. As long as people don't start leaving Atlus, everything's going to be alright.

How is Sega not localizing any future Atlus games better for anyone compared to Atlus games becoming exclusives?
 

Meia

Member
Well, it's better (for everyone) than Nintendo or Sony buying them. SEGA is hardly the worst of the lot. They are fairly neutral on my scale but had a string of not localising titles that I want. As long as people don't start leaving Atlus, everything's going to be alright.



This is the major cause of everyone's concern at the moment with this news. Throw in that Sega has a localization branch and that Atlus USA has been one of the best out there and may get terminated now as a cost cutting measure....
 

Skinpop

Member
I really just hope that Atlus USA stays together in some way, shape, or form. Those guys are just SO top notch. They've been my oasis in this desert of an industry for years now.

I'm horrified at the thought of SEGA localizing an atlus game, giving it the same treatment as yakuza - butchering and cutting away parts the west "doesn't understand":
 

t26

Member
I'm horrified at the thought of SEGA localizing an atlus game, giving it the same treatment as yakuza - butchering and cutting away parts the west "doesn't understand":

Same thing Atlus been doing, cutting away the mahjong game in devil summoner
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
To be clear it's a new subsidiary of Sega, not of Sega Sammy, in the same way all of Sega's recent acquisitions have been.
How I feel about it, and I think people are going overboard on the silly so far. It's okay to worry or be concerned as with any acquisition, but calling SEGA the devil is a bit much for me. I'm in the cautiously optimistic group as there's still much to be seen, but SEGA have handled all previous acquisitions fairly confidently, so I don't see reason to be too doubtful of them. I actually think with SEGA's willingness to take risks on niches this could be a good thing. The one concerning factor is The Western Market, but Atlus has grown their market overseas more recently with Persona and Catherine, tackled that SEGA is pretty respectful of the companies that it has come on-board as they usually acquire in interests of what they do to be part of their plan, not to buckle them to what they think is right like some here seem to be under the impression of. And as Atlus has it's own translation branch, and likely will express the want for this to SEGA, I think the 'SEGA HARVESTING ATLUS INTO THEIR HIVEMIND' mentality is silly.
 
Did they buy them so they could put all the of Atlus' ips on infinite hiatus like with Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Panzer Dragoon, Jet Set Radio, etc.?
 

Chindogg

Member
Legitimately scared about Persona 5 not coming out on any of the big 3 (everyone should be able to play it)

Given their recent console relationships, I wouldn't be surprised to see it on Wii U at least as an eShop game.

i agree PC, ios, android should definitely be where it p5 goes

Am I the only one who really, really hates phone ports? The lack of buttons just ruins a lot of the experience.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
From what I remember, Persona 4 sold significantly more than Yakuza 4 in the US.

It's stuff like Etrian we should be worried about...
 

Busaiku

Member
How I feel about it, and I think people are going overboard on the silly so far. It's okay to worry or be concerned as with any acquisition, but calling SEGA the devil is a bit much for me. I'm in the cautiously optimistic group as there's still much to be seen, but SEGA have handled all previous acquisitions fairly confidently, so I don't see reason to be too doubtful of them. I actually think with SEGA's willingness to take risks on niches this could be a good thing. The one concerning factor is The Western Market, but Atlus has grown their market overseas more recently with Persona and Catherine, tackled that SEGA is pretty respectful of the companies that it has come on-board as they usually acquire in interests of what they do to be part of their plan, not to buckle them to what they think is right like some here seem to be under the impression of. And as Atlus has it's own translation branch, and likely will express the want for this to SEGA, I think the 'SEGA HARVESTING ATLUS INTO THEIR HIVEMIND' mentality is silly.

You have to understand that this is a very different situation from acquiring companies like Relic or The Creative Assembly.
Those are companies with very big games, that line up with Sega's business moreso than Atlus.

Atlus is a very niche company that relies on a much smaller, but dedicated fanbase to remain profitable.
Under Sega, this model may not mesh with their interests, so we could be in for some terrible changes.

Persona will still be ok, there's no doubt about that.
But will Etrian Odyssey, Devil Survivor, Devil Summoner, Growlanser, and all the 3rd party games Atlus USA brought over make the cut anymore?
Will we see the same things, such as 1st print special editions out the wazoo, without extra costs?
That's what most of us are terrified about.
 

Coldsun

Banned
So what are the chances of SMT x Fire Emblem happening now?

Unless there was a clause in the contract between Nintendo and Atlus, the same chances as before (100%).

Just because the company was bought doesn't mean past contracts aren't entirely enforceable.
 

IrishNinja

Member

rebels why exactly is this bad

Valkyria Chronicles 3?

on a dead system, even operation rainfall wasn't getting that many people checking for it last i saw

Yakuza 5?

still comin (source: BELIEVE)

Basically canceling Bayo2?

relative to the property, they marketed that one, particularly in japan & didn't see returns. let's compare the list of big pubs checking for Platinum Games & see if its more or less than for Atlus.

So what are the chances of SMT x Fire Emblem happening now?

...you're worried about the project Nintendo's involved in? really?

i mean Etrain got namedropped as a property but there's stll more concern there
 
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