Sega Wants Atlus to Stay Independent

[StewShearerOld]

Sega Wants Atlus to Stay Independent

Sega Sammy CEO Naoya Tsurumi believes that Atlus's RPG expertise will be a boon to Sega's operations.

You may recall back in September when <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127904-Sega-Buys-Atlus-Parent-Company-Index-Holdings>Sega purchased Index Holdings, the owners of Atlus. Despite <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128010-Atlus-Assures-Fans-Business-Will-Continue-as-Normal>assurances from Atlus's president and CEO Naota Hiraoka, it was a deal that left many of the developer's fans scared for its future and the future of its many beloved franchises. Speaking on the acquisition recently however, Naoya Tsurumi, the CEO of Sega Sammy, affirmed the company's intentions to leave Atlus to its own devices.

"The plan is to have Atlus and Sega continue shining as brands, while aiming to increase their degree of independence," said Tsurumi. "They'll continue managing their own brands and IPs, and making them bigger. Then, Sega will be the ones to sell them." He went on to offer assurances that Atlus's development structure "will remain the same" and that Sega has "no plans to undertake any of their work." That being the case, Atlus has apparently been welcomed to make use of Sega's own IPs. "While we have no intention of forcing this," he said. "We'd definitely love to have them utilize any of Sega's dormant IPs."

According to Tsurmi, Sega simply has more to gain from leaving Atlus intact as it is than it would from changing it. "Sega have never excelled in RPG titles," he said. "The fact that [Atlus have] been able to capture fans from North America is really huge. That said, for Sega, it's a big plus to have more IPs, but an even bigger plus to have more genres." In the end, Tsurumi believes that the most important thing it can do is keeping fans happy. "If we were to lose fans, then all would be for nothing. Making fans and the employees of Index happy is what I believe will be our best return [for the company], and we'll do our best to keep that up."

Source: <a href=http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/27/atlus-free-use-dormant-sega-ip-says-company-president/#gmJGut2abOQSfQsP.99>Siliconera





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[Drummodino]

This makes me so very happy. Atlus is probably my favorite developer right now, so you just leave them be Sega and they'll make you a shitload of money.

 

[SilverUchiha]

Told everyone they were worried over nothing. Sega may not be perfect, but even they aren't dumb enough to ruin all the potential from gaining Atlus. It's not like they're EA. but, seriously, great news for Sega to confirm what I was sort of expecting.

 

[RicoADF]

This is what EA and others need to learn, you spend millions if not billions to bring in the talent and profit these devs have, the smart thing to do is leave them to do what they do best, make awesome games. Hats of to Sega for realising this rather than pulling the crap most publishers do.

 

[AldUK]

Good guy Sega using common sense to turn a profit. Maybe EA should pay attention about how to handle these acquisitions sensibly.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Valkyria Chronicles 3 Please!

There is one. it's... not good.

 

[Kaimax]

"We'd definitely love to have them utilize any of Sega's dormant IPs."

-Valkyria Chronicles PLEASE. Already played all of them, but it really needs a localization.
-Shining Series, once again needs localization
-New Sakura Wars for the heck of it.

 

[Hazzard]

I'd like to be happy, but I'm fairly annoyed with SEGA over Rome 2's release.

 

[AgentLampshade]

Please don't forget you have fans in Europe too. If P4A2 or P5 is delayed 8+ months again, or worse not at all (looking squarely at you SMTIV) then I don't think I could cope.

 

[Covarr]

I hope Atlus also continues to localize games other companies want nothing to do with.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Omnicrom]

My concern is that Sega continues to allow Atlus to release niche titles (theirs and others) to their niche audience in America. Atlus has strained over the years to get everything to America, the only time they've failed was P2EP on the PSP and that was because of direct intervention from Sony itself who was trying to kill the system. I want Atlus to keep releasing their games in America, and also more quickly in Europe for the EU fans.

 

[Eve Charm]

On top of VC you have yakuza 5 and that other pc Phantasy star mmo they could bring over to

 

[Cybylt]

I actually wouldn't mind Atlus US being used to localize some of the niche SEGA series like Valkyria since they know how to do a limited release for a small fanbase and make a profit on it.

 

[Yagami_Kira]

And yet they've done nothing to remove my fears. No one has worried about Atlus being able to make games, they're worried they won't be localized/sold outside Japan, because Sega is notoriously isolationist, with them delaying/refusing to sell games already localized. And this article says Sega will be in charge of selling games. So we probably won't see any of Atlus' stuff.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Wise words. Let's see if they stick to them.

 

[majes]

"Sega have never excelled in RPG titles,"

What about Phantasy Star? Phantasy Star Online is one of my favorite games. I'd say that's a pretty good RPG.
There's also Shining Force, which is a strategy-RPG. The one for the genesis was pretty good.

 

[Something Amyss]

This is what EA and others need to learn, you spend millions if not billions to bring in the talent and profit these devs have, the smart thing to do is leave them to do what they do best, make awesome games. Hats of to Sega for realising this rather than pulling the crap most publishers do.

In fairness, Sega's gone that route in the past, too. If they're legitimately turning things around, great. Keep in mind, though, EA's talking change right now, too. Oddly enough, a bunch of companies are trying this approach, and we'll see.

 

[Fappy]

"They'll continue managing their own brands and IPs, and making them bigger. Then, Sega will be the ones to sell them."

Am I reading this right? I thought SEGA and ATLUS were going to be 100% separate. Does this mean ATLUS won't publish games anymore (since SEGA will be publishing ATLUS games)?