Atlus Is Now a Sega Joint

Seems like he's basically confirming the business as usual approach. Good to hear.

In Persona 5 you'll be able to fuse Knuckles.

Nothing good will come from this.

Seems like an interesting pairing. Maybe they can bring back/ revitalize some of the Sega franchises that haven't been seen in a while.

As long as Sega stays in business I think this will be an ok or even good thing.

I'm cool with Sega owning Atlus as long as their games come over to the west.

I'd smoke a Sega joint

Thank g-d they didn't get acquired by Nintendo as the rumors were saying. I'm not getting a Nintendo platform again. Atlus are too valuable, they must remain multiplatform!

Persona 5 is WW3 with armies of Persona users.

This is totally reasonable given the slightly bizarre Sega RPG titles from the last few years. Something like Resonance of Fate, would've easily fit in the Atlus catalog (terrific game, by the way). Would love to see a PS4 or PC Valkyria Chronicles game too.

I share your concern. I hope SEGA knows how popular the franchise is in the rest of the world.

@winsord: The reason they localized Project Diva F was almost certainly because it cost them incredibly little money or time or effort. They only needed to translate some menus, convert the subtitles to romanji, and didn't need to hire any voice actors (hell, they didn't need to hire VAs for the JP version either, since the whole point is anime voice synth robots). Super-simple stuff that they could expect to easily make them back the money they put into it, even though it's incredibly niche.

Atlus have apparently made consistent money for years now, I can see SEGA just letting them go about whatever they where doing as long as they continue to make bank. If they stop making cash then I can see SEGA then stomping on down with the boot of ignorance.

Valkyria Chronicles meets Persona.

Let's do this SegAtlus; let's make this happen.

When is Persona coming with Sonic and Tails?

My only concern is that lately Sega seems to be less and less interested in localizing things for English. Phantasy Star Online 2? Nah. Yakuza 5 or the HD remakes? Nah. They did just put out Project Diva F though, so really, who knows what their priorities on localization are. Sega seems to be doing better in general lately, so I guess I'll remain optimistic for the time being; there are certainly much worse publishers to which Atlus could have gone.

Awesome, Sega has been getting some great acquisitions lately. Looking forward to Persona: Total War. Mmmmyesssss.

Message from Naoto Hiraoka President And CEO

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/09/18/a-message-from-atlus-to-their-fans-following-their-acquisition-by-sega/

Goodbye, localization. Hello Japanese-only social and hand held games.

SEGA's been really lax about translation and localization lately, so having an excellent studio like Atlus USA under their banner could help them bring over more than just Atlus stuff.

I really doubt they'll interfere creatively with anything Atlus is known for doing. Also maybe they'll release some persona-themed outfits for PSO2.

Atlus is my favorite publisher these days, so of course any change is worrying. But I don't think Sega is completely terrible at getting games localized (I was not expecting that Hatsume Miku game to come to NA PS3s.) I hope they plan to use them to perhaps localize some of their other properties? Just dreaming, of course. But really, the news could have been far worst for Atlus, so I remain optimistic... just keep giving me Shin Megami Tensei games without requiring me to brush up on my Japanese!

Dark Souls, huh.

And yeah, they gave Bayonetta a chance. And then they didn't give Bayonetta 2 a chance.

Sega's actually been really good with its alternate studios from everything I've seen and heard. I mean, they published Bayonetta, which is incredible, and...yeah, they've been super good. I'd bet they're not going to mess with Atlus at all. Dark Souls and Persona are far too strong to need to do anything.

Or you could wait and see. It is absolutely fucking amazing how many people are just assuming that this means big changes are in store for Atlus in terms of western releases or even business in general.

I'm just going to take this as meaning no more Atlus games in the west and if they do bring it over, they're gonna get screwed over just like Platinum did.

I really hope they don't hurt Atlus.

Sega lets Creative Assembly do their thing. So... why not here as well?

Considering all the ways this could have gone, I'm not too upset about this.

There's two scenarios, a best-case and worst-case and I don't see much room in between.

Worst Case Scenario: Sega is Sega, treats the niche titles that Atlus specializes in the way they treat their own niche titles and rarely brings them outside of Japan, and by the time they do, it's too little too late, as the crowd that's amped for those things have probably imported by that time. Atlus' presence erodes after years of steady and strong build, and Atlus USA, one of the best localization houses in America, is wasted.

Best Case Scenario: Sega becomes Atlus. Not for things like Sonic, but for things like Valkyria Chronicles, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F, and Yakuza and allows Atlus to be Atlus as well. They use this to publish and promote their own niche titles and use Atlus' built in fan base to expand their own niche titles while allowing for the development team to continue to work and grow, especially with European distribution. Atlus gets access to better tech and can be quicker on the upcoming generation of consoles.

(Edit: Interesting, I thought that 4C was a part of Index at some point, guess it was Madhouse and they were acquired by Nippon in 2011. Actually looks like a lot of things were bled off by Index between 2010 and 2011.)

Poor Atlus. They deserved a clean death.

As it turns out, Sega sold Atlus to EA.

Wow! I remember hearing rumors a while back, but I never thought it would actually happen.

As the Elcor would say:

"Genuinely surprised."

@alex why is this in the EA forums ?

Honestly, with Sega's track record of dumb decisions, I have a strong feeling that one of the best localization teams ever is about to get canned, and we'll never see an Atlus game in NA ever again.

Although, if Sega decides to think, and does the smart thing with all the money they plopped on the table, Atlus will be untouched. They were the best branch of their last parent company, being profitable, it would be wise to just back off and let Atlus be Atlus.

It's nice to be optimistic but cynicism will keep me safe. I better start learning Japanese.

Just so long as Persona continues to exist as a series its devs have absolute control over, and s'long as Atlus continues to exist as a thing that does what it does, I'm cool with it.

This could go either amazingly or frightfully bad. Time will tell. I'm optimistically hopeful? Hopefully optimistic?

Phantasy Star to the people that do Persona/Devil Summoner/Mega Ten? Sure. Yes. Please.

While not a fan of Atlus it would have been a shame to see the company go under luckily they found a home. Hopefully SEGA uses them to their full potential, they could have been stuck with a worse company.

I'm just amazed Sega is in good enough financial shape to be buying anything. Their pachinko machines must be selling well.

Stiiiiiill waiting for SMTIV down here in Australia...

This may be better news for some franchises than others. In particular the Yakuza series. I'm actually optimistic that we will get the games in the series at a better clip than we have being that Atlus does handle niche titles (although really, aren't we only missing 2 games?). Maybe there's even hope for PSO2 now?

Posted that before I read the other thread. The situation still seems pretty decent and no major cause for alarm.

We have far more than this. Both Atlus and Sega have officially stated what the plans and goals are concerning this acquisition.

I feel uneasy about it. I love that Atlus continue to make the games they want to make, even in today's economic climate. I hope Sega Sammy leave Atlus alone to do what they want to do and perhaps leverage a good team with Atlus USA, but I have no faith in Sega to do so.

I'd contribute to a discussion if one existed outside of people mostly freaking out when there's little, if any, info on Sega's intentions.

Literally all we have is that Sega bought Index/Atlus. But people are blowing it up into an end-times scenario for Atlus and Persona. Seems pretty moronic to me.

Edit: Also, notice how I'm saying 'people'. Not everyone.

That is true. We can't know whether this is a good or bad thing yet, but Atlus' PR response makes it sound like the former even though that is to be expected from what they would say.

@fluxwavez: Snap judgments are snap judgments. People need to chill out regardless of the Atlus/Sega relationship.

I really don't get all the death knells. I'm guessing that Atlus will probably continue being Atlus.

I don't know what to think. If Sega sticks its nose in Atlus' projects, then I believe that will cause a huge issue with fans. Sega just bought Relic also, does this company have more money than we give them credit for? Localization seems to be the biggest issue with everyone, fearing Sega won't spend the money to get popular franchises over to the USA. Hopefully Sega fully understand how far Atlus' fan base will go to ensure they get what they want (by that I mean setting the internet on fire).

Atlus is a subsidiary of Sega and not Sega Sammy Holdings, so...