http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2013/09/17/sega-purchases-atlus-for-14-billion-yen/55909/ edit: f u post button Wondering if this will mean more PC ports of Atlus games.
Actual working source link: http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASDD1801E_Y3A910C1000000/ (Since the link above didn't work for me) I find this ironic, considering the DS version of Puyo Puyo Fever was published by Atlus in the US instead of Sega.
I don't know whether to be optimistic or pessimistic. Sega doesn't have the best track record for localization from what I understand. But on the other hand, now they have a pretty kickass localization team under their belt. We'll have to see I guess.
Seems like Sega's been grabbing up a lot of companies lately. Not sure how I feel about this since Atlus is one of my favorite game companies. It's going to be weird seeing the Persona games as a Sega franchise...
Isn't SEGA still distributing Atlus games in Japan? I'm actually a bit happy about this. Though, they did say there would be restructures... We'll see how this all plays out.
They have been acting as distributor for Atlus in Japan, and I'm pretty sure Atlus USA, who has been doing their own thing will keep doing...just that. Also I found concept art for the next DLC for Transformed guys. Look:
My main concern at this point is if Sega of America decides to shut down Atlus USA and handle the localizations themselves. Hopefully that won't be the case. EDIT: I assume Atlus USA would continue to localize other "niche" games in this case rather than be shut down entirely.
So... Worst-cast scenario realized. RIP, Atlus USA, quite possibly. Chances are we won't be seeing anything from Atlus getting localized, knowing Sega's track record.
http://gene.sonicretro.org/random/GeneMadeFrankenstein.mp3 I REGRET NOTHING. Spoiler This is by no means supposed to be good, but if someone wants to actually give this justice, go right ahead. ...just keep the WAY HEY HEEs where they belong. They're too good there.
That would be funny if this meant we would eventually see an Alex Kidd RPG... wait, no that's a terrible idea.
I'm going to choose to be optimistic about this and simply imagine how fucked up Sonic's persona would be. I'm betting Tails's persona would be something like Kanji's.
Not really - Atlus only really bothers to translate their products into English, and thus a good chunk of their produce never reaches Europe. Conversely, Sega loves Europe of course Europe doesn't much care for Atlus... but whatever - globalisation! I think the net result of this will be fewer games released overall, but better marketing for the one or two cult Atlas classics which are seen to matter (e.g. Persona). But I'm personally pretty indifferent about the whole thing - Atlus likes to produce JRPGs for PlayStation handhelds... that's like, the opposite of the games I like
You guys realize Atlus USA is very likely to operate as they've been doing for the past several years. SEGA has already been helping the company put out games in Japan. They bought Creative Assembly in 2005 and recently released Company of Heroes 2, with Relic Entertainment lifted from the THQ buyout that recently released Total War: Rome II as normal. Japan development and distribution will be fine. American distribution will continue as normal. Europe is up in the air. Capcom isn't really in a position to buy out other companies at this point. Namco sucks. Nintendo didn't care. Microsoft could have bought them and probably left for them to die on Xbox One because nobody in Japan cares about Xbox. Konami would be more likely to consolidate everyone involved at Index. I highly doubt anyone else would give them a better situation.
I don't know about Nintendo didn't care (they were apparently the #2 bidder) but I doubt Index would have gone with a company that would essentially require them to be exclusive to a single platform. Atlus is probably the only major third-party player left not playing the multiplatform game. Also didn't Namco already own a majority stake in Atlus immediately before the Index buyout? Also be careful not to overestimate Sega's relationship with Atlus. The Atlus USA publishing Sega games thing was limited to some versions of Puyo Pop Fever and the GBA Shining games. Atlus in Japan haven't done anything on Sega's hardware (not even arcade hardware) since 2001. As it stood, Index existed a s a partner of Sega of Japan, like a number of other major players. And the situation with Relic Entertainment/Company of Heroes and The Creative Assebmbly/Total War are different in that both series are apparently major sellers...?
Agreed on Capcom (although they're one of the few big companies that aren't associated with buyouts from what I've seen), not sure on Namco, but I know Nintendo has Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem in development so they have a clear stake in Atlus' survival. They probably would've put out a stronger bid if a rival first-party exoressed interest interest (many fans were hoping for Sony, even though Atlus has performed best on Nintendo portables over the past few years.) in order to make sure that game wouldn't be forced to be cancelled, but they have a good relationship with Sega anyway. If Sega screws this up, I will claim that Nintendo probably would've been the best option for Atlus, since another Monolith Soft would surely be a good thing. Microsoft would've cared the least out of any of the choices. "What's Atlus? Oh, they're Japanese? Who cares! We need to finish Halo of Duty: Game Of NFL2013's DLC Edtion with free Doritos and Mountain Dew!" Konami... fuck, you just had to remind me what they did to Hudson Soft. :/ Either way, from the current situation. HYPERBOLIC UNREALISTIIC BEST CASE SCENARIO: Sega decides to use Atlus USA as their primary localizer for their niche-label games. PSO2, Yakuza, Sakura Wars, etc. get localizations again. Fighters Megamix 2 with Atlus characters. Sonic gets operated on by Derek Stiles. Jack Frost Limited Edition Dreamcast consoles appear out of nowhere. Hardcore Japanese game fans everywhere rejoice. Sega's true 2nd coming. MOST PROBABLE GOOD SCENARIO: Sega leaves Atlus USA alone. All appears as status quo. MICROSOFT SCENARIO: Atlus is used as grunt work to make shovelware, losing their original soul. It's IPs get farmed out to third parties for future projects of mixed quality. KONAMI SCENARIO: Atlus is completely dissolved. IPs left to rot. Who wants to make a bet on one of these? EDIT: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-09-18/atlus-games-hiraoka/business-to-continue-as-before Atlus is assuring it's fans that everything's A-OK. An expected announcement, but being from Atlus's side I'm inclined to trust it.
