Support NeoGAF

[Gadirok]

Hey guys, remember that time THQ went under and the big three console manufacturers snapped up all those high quality developers?

Yeah, I don't either.

Well in that case most of their games were multiplatform and in development for multiple consoles.

Their appeal was also very limited, and grabbing certain properties as exclusives wouldn't bring in massive fanbases or add to their portfolio.

I think Atlus' ips has a strong appeal to some hardcore gamers and have had some franchises exclusive to certain platforms for a long time.

Really, this could settle Persona leaving Sony's platforms for the first time, all because of this one move.

 

[Aquamarine]

Nintendo bought a controlling interest in Monolith Soft in 2007, but the company wasn't actually a first party until 2011. Namco still owned a stake until then.

1st-party developer = Subsidiary

Subdiary = Majority of stock controlled by a parent company

Nintendo bought the majority of Monolith Soft shares in 2007 = Monolith has been a subsidiary of Nintendo since 2007 = Monolith has been a 1st-party developer since 2007.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

That's the biggest reason why I wouldn't want most major companies to end up with Atlus, there's no guarantee they'd localize half of the games. EO would probably never leave Japan again since I seriously doubt they'd find it worth the effort. I wonder who would give their IPs both the attention and care they've had so far. The chances of things remaining as they are isn't likely unless they find a small company or an outside investor who'd have a real interest in letting Atlus grow further from where they are right now.

Level 5.

Bonus: we'd get more L5 localizations too probably.

 

[chertipros]

barely outselling P4G in the 200k sector isnt selling more than ever.

Shin Megami Tensei isn't persona

 

[anexanhume]

Sony or Nintendo would benefit most from this purchase, but gamers will benefit most if they can stay independent.

 

[Kyon]

GungHo buy ha so we can all keep our barely there saniTy plz

Shin Megami Tensei isn't persona

of course its not. and will never be in the same caliber

 

[GuessMyUserName]

Fixed.

To be fair, that's what I said in the paragraph!

 

[t26]

They did localize games like Folklore and Tokyo Jungle

They also localize Aquanaut's Holiday and Afrika and passed on US release. More recently RPG like Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke.

 

[famousmortimer]

It would be a nice grab for nintendo or sony... and i own both systems each of them produce (or will produce). But i would prefer it stay third party. I don't think either Nintendo or Sony would bring over the more obscure stuff.

 

[NeonZ]

They should have released Persona 5 on PS3/360 earlier in the generation instead of making stuff like Catherine, They had a franchise with a ton of traction in the US but chose to go with a new I.P. Some stupid handling that was.

I think the main issue with Persona would be the lack of assets. People forget that Atlus' entire PS2 output had tons of shared assets among different games. That includes Persona 3 and 4. Persona 5 either would look like a upscaled PS2 game, something they clearly wanted to avoid, or would need completely new assets, which seems to be what they're trying to do, and why the development is so slow.

 

[RM8]

Shin Megami Tensei isn't persona

Not to mention we don't know how Persona would perform on 3DS.

That being said... I don't want anything to change Crap, Atlus. Ugh.

 

[iavi]

Sega buy Atlus pls

 

[Velcro Fly]

As a gamer, I hope this doesn't disrupt the amazing record Atlus has of bringing over 3DS games.

As a person, I hope that no one loses their house or family as a result of this.

 

[Herla]

As a PAL user, I really hope it's not Nintendo.

 

[AniHawk]

Pretty sure Sony would publish (or is that Atlus?) Persona in the west.

Souls was a new IP. Persona is not

but then what about stuff like smt, etrian odyssey, or radiant historia

this is the company that passed on bleach, demon's souls, wkc ii, and wkc psp in the us.

 

[newshinycd]

3. Square buys Atlus. Announces brand new game in the Persona series: "Lightning's Personas" - each Persona is now replaced with Lightning in a new costume

Oh god, where is my michael-scott-no.gif?

 

[chertipros]

GungHo buy ha so we can all keep our barely there saniTy plz



of course its not. and will never be in the same caliber

That wasn't my point. Mainline Shin Megami Tensei sales have reached a high point on the 3DS and I don't think it'd be a stretch to say that it P4G was on 3DS, it would have sold more on there as well

 

[Kyon]

but then what about stuff like smt, etrian odyssey, or radiant historia

this is the company that passed on bleach, demon's souls, wkc ii, and wkc psp in the us.

Europe got them ;__;

How would anything even work tbh? If its not US its EU if its not one its the other.

 

[imBask]

Spoiler

3. Square buys Atlus. Announces brand new game in the Persona series: "Lightning's Personas" - each Persona is now replaced with Lightning in a new costume.

the thread was all fun and games until now, that's over the line

just the speculation of that makes me feel like shit inside

 

[RurouniZel]

Sega buy Atlus pls

So there can be even less localization?

 

[MechaX]

Why would people want Sony or Nintendo to buy them? That just means Atlus would be company-specific. Honestly screw that.

Because it makes "good business sense" (even though both companies not only have their own problems with either haphazard localizations or not even being able to get its own Japanese studios to get games out the door, but the IPs were never really worth that much in the grand scheme of things, plus they would have to take on the dev teams and start paying them or let the talent go and run the risk of missing what the IP was all about, etc, etc).

Spoiler

They're fanboys.

 

[ElFly]

So can anyone estimate the value of Atlus?

 

[vocab]

SE still in business, and Atlus struggling to even stay alive.

Fuck this horrible life.

 

[dakkumauji]

I dunno, if we're to take the "merge/be bought by a company with a European presence" Tecmo Koei is the one that LOOKS like it might have the room to allow Atlus USA to stick around, not unless there is a healthy, active TK USA and it's just they have no PR front.

I would be super OK if Tecmo Koei bought Atlus and basically made their EU branch take over for the Atlus EU releases and had Atlus's US branch take over for T-K's USA releases.

Both regions win and that can only mean PERSONA MUSOU after ATELIER MUSOU gets made!

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

barely outselling P4G in the 200k sector isnt selling more than ever.

It's nearly more than SMT3 already (238k to 245k) and also extremely supply constrained afaik. It'll probably creep closer to 300k in the end.

 

[t26]

SE still in business, and Atlus struggling to even stay alive.

Fuck this horrible life.

SE actually made more than one console game.

 

[Kyon]

So can anyone estimate the value of Atlus?

They are owned by Index so -$15 mill

Spoiler

idk

It's nearly more than SMT3 already (238k to 245k) and also extremely supply constrained afaik. It'll probably creep closer to 300k in the end.

yeah i agree it will be in below P4 (PS2) in LTD. Good numbers for atlus

 

[Sadist]

Yeah Sega suggestions won't help either. Unless they want to go all digital with Atlus's output.

Of the major publishers, I expect Bamco going in.

 

[ec0ec0]

Well, right now, the better place for realising atlus games is 3ds ,right? I mean, even if they also have public in playstation, ps3 is really old and vita is not doing very good so... Also, theres Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem...

 

[iavi]

So there can be even less localization?

True. I feel like Sega would retain the development culture there, though.

 

[Nakazato]

Sony plz for the love of god

 

[Flarin]

Shin Megami Tensei isn't persona

You're right, because Persona is SMT

 

[Kyon]

You're right, because Persona is SMT

not in japan

 

[AniHawk]

barely outselling P4G in the 200k sector isnt selling more than ever.

he meant in comparison to their respective franchises. the 3ds has grown the userbase for the etrian odyssey and smt proper franchises in a time when fanbases are shrinking for other franchises.

 

[Lunar15]

You're right, because Persona is SMT

Only in the west, though.

 

[Dick Justice]

I fucking hope that the end result isn't Persona 5 not releasing on the PS3/PS4.

 

[Ponn]

SE still in business, and Atlus struggling to even stay alive.

Fuck this horrible life.

Add one of the last bastions of jrpgs teetering on the brink and all Gaf does is turn it into some more bullshit console war shitfest. Fucking priorities people. Gonna end up playing nothing but backlog and replays the rest of my life.

 

[Tripon]

It's obvious that it's going to be Nordic Games.

 

[MechaX]

Of the major publishers, I expect Bamco going in.

Notwithstanding Bamco's willingness to even do it, they're a little bit harder to peg, despite how I thought they were a terrible option earlier this morning.

As Coxy mentioned way back, they did help out with Ni no Kuni to at least some benefit (at least much better than 99% of JRPGs these days, at least overseas, and even better than some "AAA" development efforts). Localization was definitely very, very spotty on the Tales front, but on the other hand... we've gotten Project X Zone out of all things.

he meant in comparison to their respective franchises. the 3ds has grown the userbase for the etrian odyssey and smt proper franchises in a time when fanbases are shrinking for other franchises.

To put it in perspective even more, Persona heavily, heavily retracted from the PSX days. In comparison, SMT IV managed to beat out Nocturne in its first month.

 

[Flarin]

Only in the west, though.

Which is something I'll never understand. Did people even know what SMT was when Persona 1 came out? Did we really need that association? I didn't even know what SMT was.

 

[Kyon]

Which is something I'll never understand. Did people even know what SMT was when Persona 1 came out? Did we really need that association? I didn't even know what SMT was.

P3/4 made SMT relevant(again). Rose it from its grave tbh

 

[oneida]

Microsoft buying ATLUS would be so fucking funny. Just imagining the salty tears brings a stupid Jim Carrey grin to my face.

Sadly, it's not going to happen.

 

[imBask]

Which is something I'll never understand. Did people even know what SMT was when Persona 1 came out? Did we really need that association? I didn't even know what SMT was.

i'll probably buy SMT IV even if I never played a SMT before, juste because I loved Persona 4 and the name is on the box

if it worked for me I guess it'll work for other people

 

[chertipros]

Which is something I'll never understand. Did people even know what SMT was when Persona 1 came out? Did we really need that association? I didn't even know what SMT was.

The first 2 persona games didn't have the SMT branding

P3/4 made SMT relevant(again). Rose it from its grave tbh

In the states you mean. Which makes sense, since we never got then majority of the SMT games. But You can argue the opposite as well, that persona wouldn't have been successful without its SMT association.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

I am now confident that Persona 5 will be revealed this year.

 

[Datschge]

I wish the development teams stay together, but I have a hard time this being successfully realized. If Index can survive it likely needs to restructure, consolidate or split up its business. If it gets sold most companies are more interested in the IPs than in the staff behind them. Honestly Nintendo with its emphasis that it is not interested in buying brands but people may be the best company to hold the development teams together. What other possible companies with that mindset are there?

 

[Kyon]

i'll probably buy SMT IV even if I never played a SMT before, juste because I loved Persona 4 and the name is on the box

if it worked for me I guess it'll work for other people

worked for me. I'm getting SMTIV too because of iT. Never bothered with that franchise

 

[w1gglyjones]

Is it confirmed that Atlus will have a new owner... just don't know who yet?

 

[Pooya]

Namco Bandai seems like a very good option... right now. The thing is with very big publishers, leadership, company goals & priorities can change drastically, who knows how they're like in a few years.

 

[Silky]

P3/4 made SMT relevant(again). Rose it from its grave tbh