Well, they had a good run. Sega SAMMY to purchase Index Holdings and Atlus

[Mr. Gundam]

Article is in Japansese:
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASDD1801E_Y3A910C1000000/

14 Billion yen. Deal should be done in November.

At least it wasn't Nintendo. Those fanboys would've been insufferable.

[Mr. Gundam]

This was one of the best case scenarios, tbh.

Yep. I figured it would've been Sega SAMMY or GungHo. Would've preferred GungHo since they're not as freaked out about localizing games right now.

[Mr. Gundam]

I wonder if they'll mess with Atlus USA and absorb them into Sega of America or leave them alone and let them be the little "arthouse" studio.

[chronovore]

Well, what did Sega/Sammy do to Sega USA, and then Sega/Sammy USA?

...oh, yeah.

[Mr. Gundam]

Persona 5.

Pachislot exclusive.

[thisismyusername]

SEGA of America barely exists anymore.  I can't imagine Sammy bought up a profitable studio just to hand them over to the dumblefucks that have been dragging down the bottom line.

I'd honestly worry more for the few jobs left at SoA.  Sammy might just want to hand over localization to Atlus USA and label everything SEGA.

That actually wouldn't be bad. If Atlus did Val Chron 3 and Persona 5 at the same time (maybe Sammy lets them ramp up a little) I wouldn't fear like I do right now.

My problem with this is Sega's track record with localizing niche titles, and Atlus is the niche game company.

[Rahxephon91]

Well I hope Oscar and Himu are right and this turns out ok.

[Himu]

I can't think of any better scenario for Atlus. A hardware company buys them? Limits their audience. Someone like GungHo? We don't really have a reason to trust them yet. SE? After what happened to Eidos? Lol. Western pub? Lol.

[Mr. Gundam]

I'd love to know who the other 19 bidders were.

And Index was initially hoping for 15 billion yen. There were rumors that the bids went up to 20 billion, but Sega Sammy won with 14 billion yen.

[AdmiralViscen]

I hope Sega buys Nintendo in 5 years

[headwalk]

sega have been pretty good to the PC devs they've picked up and they couldn't have been more out of their wheelhouse.

[thisismyusername]

sega have been pretty good to the PC devs they've picked up and they couldn't have been more out of their wheelhouse.

Plus Sammy (after years, granted) gave the Guilty Gear IP over to Arc System Works so they could finally do a 3rd (er-"Xrd") Guilty Gear game instead of numerous rehashes of the second. So it isn't a complete doom and gloom, but more a gloomy wait and see.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Just as long as Nintendo didn't purchase them, I'm ok

[D3RANG3D]

Or Sony for that matter.

[thisismyusername]

That's probably because SEGA-Sammy are taking the whole company on, debts and all, while others might have been bidding just for assets.

Speaking of which...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=82425761&postcount=610

[headwalk]

Or Sony for that matter.

yeah, i don't think i'd ever be able to visit GAF again.

[Purple Filth]

SEGA of America barely exists anymore.  I can't imagine Sammy bought up a profitable studio just to hand them over to the dumblefucks that have been dragging down the bottom line.

I'd honestly worry more for the few jobs left at SoA.  Sammy might just want to hand over localization to Atlus USA and label everything SEGA.

That actually wouldn't be bad. If Atlus did Val Chron 3 and Persona 5 at the same time (maybe Sammy lets them ramp up a little) I wouldn't fear like I do right now.

My problem with this is Sega's track record with localizing niche titles, and Atlus is the niche game company.

If Sega are smart they would leave them alone with that and hell push those titles they are afraid of (Yakuza, etc) under the Atlus brand

[thisismyusername]

SEGA of America barely exists anymore.  I can't imagine Sammy bought up a profitable studio just to hand them over to the dumblefucks that have been dragging down the bottom line.

I'd honestly worry more for the few jobs left at SoA.  Sammy might just want to hand over localization to Atlus USA and label everything SEGA.

That actually wouldn't be bad. If Atlus did Val Chron 3 and Persona 5 at the same time (maybe Sammy lets them ramp up a little) I wouldn't fear like I do right now.

My problem with this is Sega's track record with localizing niche titles, and Atlus is the niche game company.

If Sega are smart they would leave them alone with that and hell push those titles they are afraid of (Yakuza, etc) under the Atlus brand

That's what I'm hoping for. Sega's titles have a better chance of being localized by them not touching Atlus US while also allowing Atlus US to localize Atlus titles. Sega'd be like "okay, just localize these and make a small profit, we don't give a damn." And Atlus be like "'Kay, we got this." Outside of miscalculating their fanbase on some stuff (Game of Thrones, seriously?) Atlus has been pretty successful in being able to stay afloat with small niche titles.

[Trent Dole]

You guys are being far more upbeat about this than SA is.

[MCD]

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=82438397

WHAT

[Purple Filth]

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=82438397

WHAT

I guess its not "official" yet (it happened but no PR, etc)?

[Purple Filth]

from Bloomberg

Originally Posted by Bloomberg

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. (6460) won an auction to buy Index Corp., the bankrupt Japanese developer of handheld games, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

 The acquisition may be valued at about 14 billion yen ($141 million), said one of the people, who asked not to be identified before an announcement scheduled for as early as today. Index’s bankruptcy advisers plan to complete a deal with Sega Corp., a unit of Sega Sammy, in early November, they said.

Kazumasa Otsuka, a lawyer at Nijubashi Partners representing Index in bankruptcy, declined to comment, as did Tetsuya Hasegawa, a spokesman for Sega Sammy.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-18/sega-said-to-win-auction-to-buy-bankrupt-japan-gamemaker-index.html

[MCD]

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=82446357

Confirmed.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I'm not sure if 140 mil is a good price or not.  Seems kinda high, considering all of Eidos went for 300 mil, and the pieces of THq didn't even sell for a hundy.
even Persona isn't really that big of an asset.  "Hey, we just got the 4th or 5th biggest JRPG franchise!" Says nobody excitedly.

however, if there's a chance in hell that this helps get Yakuza 5 localized (probably wont), then I'm so in for this.

[MCD]

They are gonna turn every Atlus IP into arcade $$$.

Gonna be fun visiting that Sega arcade in Akihabara next year.

[magus]

has this rustled some jimmies? i haven't been paying attention

oh and when is sonic and his shitty demon friends coming out?

[radioheadrule83]

They are gonna turn every Atlus IP into arcade $$$.

Gonna be fun visiting that Sega arcade in Akihabara next year.

(1) gain access to prominent IPs in the home video game software, through which the Company can expect to achieve steady flows of revenue;

(2) expect further facilitation of revenue growth for the PC Online Game Business and Content Business for Smart Devices operated by SEGA and SEGA Networks Co., Ltd. by exploiting acquired prominent IPs

(3) maximize the value of acquired IPs by effectively deploying them in the Pachislot and Pachinko Machines segment, Amusement Machine Sales and Amusement Center Operations segments.

And/or maybe Android/IOS crap?

Not sure if want. But maybe that might be fun if they made Trauma Center come back and stuff..

[MCD]

Mobile is given. Raging about it won't do you any good nowadays.

[radioheadrule83]

I don't really mind when the idea fits and its fun, I don't even mind that companies divert resources into making them -- they gotta do what makes them money. It's only really when it steers well loved franchises or game ideas away from better suited hardware that it becomes irksome.

I'm willing to be turned around on them, but Layton 7 for example... Breath of Fire 6... I dunno. In the case of that new game in the Layton universe it looks like such a massive departure that you can't really know how to feel. The traditional puzzle adventure games would probably work fine on a mobile, I don't get what they're trying to do there.

Anyway, I didn't realise Atlus were sort of in deep with mobile games already in Japan --

if SEGA can help steer them to greater success and more localisations, this is probably a good thing. Remains to be seen though, doesn't it.

[magus]

Mobile is given. Raging about it won't do you any good nowadays.

it's not like there haven't been mobile persona games,it's just that they happened when raging at them wasn't still a cool thing to do

http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Aegis:_The_First_Mission
http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Persona_3_Social

[archie4208]

I can't wait to get Persona 5 on a Steam sale. 

[Shaka Khan]

This was one of the best case scenarios, tbh.

[thisismyusername]

they already put out a fucking shit-ton of smartphone stuff, radiohead.  it just doesn't get translated into English.  which is why sega-sammy are expecting growth for their existing market in smartphones.

though if this results in Mara Dash, Mara Jump, or Angry Maras, I'll be pretty happy.

Instead of flicking Mara to throw him at buildings you flick Mara to have a Mara cast out of his...

Mobile is given. Raging about it won't do you any good nowadays.

it's not like there haven't been mobile persona games,it's just that they happened when raging at them wasn't still a cool thing to do

http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Aegis:_The_First_Mission
http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Persona_3_Social

Actually, from screenshots if they redid P3:Social I'd be all-over that (on consoles). Both of those came out before Smartphones made it big so the graphics and resolutions are like PSX textures on N64 polygons. :/

[Brehvolution]

Is Sammy in sega sammy have anything to do with Samsung?

[Human Snorenado]

This was one of the best case scenarios, tbh.

(Image removed from quote.)

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

PazuDora clone with Kaneko demon art?

[brob]

what's Kaneko up to these days anyway? I seem to recall the last game he did art for was Strange Journey. Did he work on SMT4?

[DCharlieJP]

I knew the reaction to this news from several people before i checked Twitter/Facebook.

[Himu]

what's Kaneko up to these days anyway? I seem to recall the last game he did art for was Strange Journey. Did he work on SMT4?

no, but there's hope he's involved in persona 5

[brob]

the dude who did the previous persona games has a nice aesthetic that fits the games I think. I would prefer some slightly more apocalyptic stuff from Kaneko, pretty please.

Unless Persona 5 takes place during the apocalypse ofc

[Himu]

I prefer Kaneko's Persona stuff. Have Kaneko design the characters and have Soejima do the in-game art, like they did with Persona 2.

[MCD]

What's going to happen to Atlus, post-Sega?

by Christian Nutt: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ChristianNutt/20130920/200739/Whats_going_to_happen_to_Atlus_postSega.php

Good read.

[Positive Touch]

15-odd years later and i still crack the fuck up when i see that dudes name

[Himu]

Atlus games are lucky if they do 200k worldwide, let's have Nintendo buy them! I'm sure that will give them more business!!! Nintendo tends to not release games with mature content! LET'S HAVE NINTENDO BUY ATLUS.

[Rahxephon91]

It was a fight for Nintendo to even release Xenobalde the way they did. They still did'nt release say Fatal Frame Wii or the Last Story or that Giant Slayer game. When it comes to obscure Japanese games they seem pretty bad at bringing them over.

[Himu]

It was a fight for Nintendo to even release Xenobalde the way they did. They still did'nt release say Fatal Frame Wii or the Last Story or that Giant Slayer game. When it comes to obscure Japanese games they seem pretty bad at bringing them over.

Let's have Nintendo buy them anyways!

[Himu]

A big problem I've got is that many people don't even have the time to figure out the diff between Sega and Sega Sammy. Whoever thinks Sega has the payola to buy something for billions of yen is living in Opposite Land.

[Purple Filth]

Because Fire Emblem x SMT!

I like how he offers up Gungho as a good choice while at the same time mentioning why Gungho wouldn't be good: Game Arts.  Gungho pretty much bought them, twisted off their adorable kitten head, and sucked out the delicious IP.

Ferr also makes the same mistake many are making: he's behaving like SEGA bought them.  SEGA's parent bought them, set up a subsidiary completely separate from SEGA, and are tossing them in there, I'd assume specifically for the purposes of keeping them separated from SEGA.

I wonder if any name changes will happen (doubt it since that would be dumb imo)