Report: Sega Interested in Buying Atlus

[Cybylt]

As long as Nintendo doesn't buy them, I'm happy. Not that I have anything against Nintendo, I just think there' sa whole lot more potential in the PS4 than the WiiU and I'd hate to see Atlus and its IPs go Nintendo exclusive.

Atlus isn't exactly a company that goes for pushing the envelope in technical aspects, you know. The majority of their games at the moment are still reusing assets made in 2003(Persona 4 Golden using demon models first seen in Nocturne from early in PS2's life) in the case of the cg models and mid 90's in the case of sprites(SMT4 by and large just cleaning up art first made for the rereleased SMT2 on PS1.)

The only thing to change regularly is characters. They'd settle into any console pretty well.

Also, as a small japanese development team, don't expect them hopping onto the home console market any time soon this gen, too much money and effort for too little profit.

 

[cjspyres]

Sigh, please don't let this happen...I'd rather see them bought out by Sony. As many have already said, it's just stupid for Sega to even consider this. They can barely keep themselves afloat. Please, just please, don't take Atlus away from this gaming world.

Edit: I swear, every time I play a Persona game, something bad happens. I literally just started playing P3:FES yesterday.

 

[Cybylt]

Sigh, please don't let this happen...I'd rather see them bought out by Sony. As many have already said, it's just stupid for Sega to even consider this. They can barely keep themselves afloat. Please, just please, don't take Atlus away from this gaming world.

And as many others have already pointed out, it's not Sega interested in buying, it's sega's holding company SEGA-Sammy. Which has been seeing profits and as a holding company would be very hands off.

It's stupid that the japanese source article even says it's Sega-Sammy bidding but all the english articles are "SEGA's trying to buy ATLUS!"

 

[VanQ]

As long as Nintendo doesn't buy them, I'm happy. Not that I have anything against Nintendo, I just think there' sa whole lot more potential in the PS4 than the WiiU and I'd hate to see Atlus and its IPs go Nintendo exclusive.

Atlus isn't exactly a company that goes for pushing the envelope in technical aspects, you know. The majority of their games at the moment are still reusing assets made in 2003(Persona 4 Golden using demon models first seen in Nocturne from early in PS2's life) in the case of the cg models and mid 90's in the case of sprites(SMT4 by and large just cleaning up art first made for the rereleased SMT2 on PS1.)

The only thing to change regularly is characters. They'd settle into any console pretty well.

Also, as a small japanese development team, don't expect them hopping onto the home console market any time soon this gen, too much money and effort for too little profit.

You seem to be completely ignoring or forgetting the existence of Catherine. Atlus themselves said they would like to keep making games like that. The capabilities of the next gen consoles will mean less limitations on what they can do in regards to that and any possible new IPs we aren't aware of.

Atlus aren't just an SMT machine, you know? They do make other games.

EDIT: Oops, quoted the wrong post somehow.

 

[Cybylt]

As long as Nintendo doesn't buy them, I'm happy. Not that I have anything against Nintendo, I just think there' sa whole lot more potential in the PS4 than the WiiU and I'd hate to see Atlus and its IPs go Nintendo exclusive.

Atlus isn't exactly a company that goes for pushing the envelope in technical aspects, you know. The majority of their games at the moment are still reusing assets made in 2003(Persona 4 Golden using demon models first seen in Nocturne from early in PS2's life) in the case of the cg models and mid 90's in the case of sprites(SMT4 by and large just cleaning up art first made for the rereleased SMT2 on PS1.)

The only thing to change regularly is characters. They'd settle into any console pretty well.

Also, as a small japanese development team, don't expect them hopping onto the home console market any time soon this gen, too much money and effort for too little profit.

You seem to be completely ignoring or forgetting the existence of Catherine. Atlus themselves said they would like to keep making games like that. The capabilities of the next gen consoles will mean less limitations on what they can do in regards to that and any possible new IPs we aren't aware of.

Atlus aren't just an SMT machine, you know? They do make other games.

EDIT: Oops, quoted the wrong post somehow.

I'm not forgetting Catherine, but I'm also not forgetting that it came out five years into the console gen and wasn't really pushing it in any manner. I'm not saying it looks bad, far from it, but it has maybe 20 character models total(probably a generous estimation, really) and you rarely see more than four at any given time, and that's not even in the core gameplay itself where two or three was the cap with most of them sharing the same model with a different tie. Speaking of the gameplay, block puzzles are hardly technically demanding of any machine.

I will give it to them though, they had a really simple design here and used Gamebryo, which probably upped their workload exponentially and I never saw any of its signature bugginess. Imagine what they could do with an engine that's not shit.

I was just using SMT as an example since it makes up the majority of their work in a big way. Actually, Catherine aside I can't think of any non-SMT game they've made recently, most games that are published by ATLUS US that aren't SMT are games made by other developers under Index that are given to ATLUS to localize.

 

[Scribblesense]

This is a bit of a tricky situation, because it isn't just Atlus up for sale, but all of Index Corporation's assets; they aren't selling them off piece by piece but as a package deal.

In that case, the most likely to bid would be a company with experience in diverse operations such as Sega Sammy, Sony, or another financial holdings company. Sony could probably come up with the cash despite their financial troubles, but it could be a mark against them and cause even more unrest among their shareholders. If it looks like Sony is continuing to neglect their entertainment division in favor of their electronics division the proposed split could look more favorable.

Sega Sammy definitely has the know-how to handle this kind of transfer but I'm just not sure if they could raise that much capital that quickly, and I'm doubting any major Japanese publisher (Square-Enix, Capcom, Namco) could either, or that they would want to deal with the non-gaming assets Index has acquired.

Nintendo seems the most likely candidate to me, but they've never been aggressive from a business standpoint. They put a lot of faith in Atlus, with SMTxFE and SMT4 and no doubt would love to work with them more. They even have plenty of cash in their wallet (around $5 billion USD) and are one of the few gaming companies that are actually expanding at the moment instead of slashing operations. Atlus exclusivity would sell consoles, capturing a niche but dedicated market, and it would be a blow to Sony.

For the future of Atlus, I think Nintendo is a good home. They are a stable company who care a lot about quality games, and it's unlikely that Nintendo would be caught in a situation like this.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

SEGA is one of the better options... I hope they do end up buying it as that seems like it'd mean the fewest changes to Atlus's properties.

 

[Roxas1359]

snip

While console exclusitivity would be good for Nintendo, it would be bad for Atlus as it would tear its fans apart really, and I know many people who have said they wouldn't go out to grab a Wii U just for one game. Not to mention that while Nintendo are getting better with localization, they don't have the greatest track record for localizing things in a timely manner at all. SEGA Sammy, as I've stated in this thread, has come into a lot of money lately and they have multiple other subsidiaries besides SEGA Corporation, like TMS Entertainment, and they'd probably change the least with Atlus since it is a holdings company. Really a holdings company would be the best bet because then Atlus gets to stay multiplatform and Atlus USA can continue with localizing games for multiple consoles, because if Nintendo were to buy Atlus then I don't think they'd let Atlus USA localize games other than Nintendo ones, which means we Disgaea fans get screwed out of a new Disgaea game. Not to mention the fact that Persona 5 is already in development and one angry hornet's nest you don't want to disturb is the Persona Fan nest believe me.

 

[KOMega]

Atlus better be in one piece and working as they used to/are >.<
...
I suppose it's not bad news. But I'm pretty nervous.

 

[KefkaCultist]

Y'know, as long as it isn't Squeenix I'll probably be fine with it. I've lost all faith with them doing good JRPGs since FFXIII and don't want them going anywhere near SMT.

I want Nintendo to buy them, SMT X FIRE EMBLEM I want more then anything else.

Also, this would be amazeballs. I want this so hard.

 

[Roxas1359]

If Sega's <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Wind>handling <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Hearts>of <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Force_III>the <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Blade>Shining <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Ark>series <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Force_Gaiden:_Final_Conflict>is of any indication, Sega acquiring Atlus means WE WILL NEVER GET ANOTHER FUCKING PERSONA GAME AGAIN.

...Good think that SEGA Sammy wishes to be placing a bid on it, a move which means that SEGA does not own Atlus and cannot change anything about them since SEGA Sammy is a holdings company like how Index was...>.>

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Sega is a toss-up. Doesn't much interfere with the devs it owns, but they're also Nintendo's lapdog. Could go either way

SOE might not be bad. They've earned a bit of my respect as of late.

I don't know what to think here, but I know I'm nervous

I'd hardly call Sega Nintendo's lapdog cosidering Nintendo's woes as of late. And to be honest Nintendo gets nothing but mediocre Sonic titles out of Sega.

Anyway's its Sega's parent company Sega Sammy that's in the bidding. And they have money to spare with the way they've been buying gaming assets lately.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Sega, the guys who needed Nintendo's money to finance Bayonetta 2 and Wonderfull 101 are buying a company...
It feels wrong and dangerous for both.

They didn't need Nintendo's money for finance Bayonetta 2 or Wonderful 101. That's Platinum Games. Sega has nothing to do with Bayonetta 2 or Wonderful 101.


To clear up some misinformation Sega had a multi game deal with Platinum Games. Bayonetta, Infinite Space, MadWorld, and Vanquish. The latter 3 games flopped. MadWorld was updated into Anarchy Reigns in an attempt to bring the mature title that flopped on the Wii over to PS3/360 audiences. Flopped just as hard.

Sega decided not to renew the contract with Platinum Games. Also, the fact that Sega had to pay another company to make the PS3 port of Bayonetta ate up whatever profits that the game made. Sega made no money with Platinum Games.

That's why they needed a publisher. People act as if Bayonetta 2 was planned right after the first one's release. The series creator said there wouldn't be one. Nintendo was understandably looking for a 3rd party core gaming option for the Wii U. They struck a deal with Platinum Games.


Also, its Sega's parent company Sega Sammy who's bidding, not Sega. The OP should really add that to the article.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Well, better that SEGA buy Atlus than a company that doesn't give a crap about games. But what's with the pentagram next to the headline on the Escapist's front page?

 

[Cybylt]

Well, better that SEGA buy Atlus than a company that doesn't give a crap about games. But what's with the pentagram next to the headline on the Escapist's front page?

That's the Shin Megami Tensei logo.