Atlus x Sega: It’s Not a Dream

It was a little over a month ago when we were tipped off by Bloomberg Japan that Sega Sammy Corporation was one of the biggest candidates in the bidding war to take over Atlus’ Parent Company: Index Corporation. Index was looking to sell its assets by the beginning of November after filing for bankruptcy protection in June, which happened after its board of directors was investigated for fraudulent dealings. Any Atlus fan has been on pins and needles hoping for a favorable outcome, though the company was still releasing games like Shin Megami Tensei IV, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl (which releases in America on October 1st), and Dragon’s Crown.

But now we’ve learned that you really shouldn’t doubt Bloomberg’s early hunches: Sega Sammy Corporation confirmed that subsidiary Sega Dream Corporation will indeed be acquiring Index Corporation. (PDF) The news has a lot of Atlus’ fans puzzled about the fate of its IPs, whether they’ll leave Japan from now on, and what the future holds for Atlus USA.

The press release detailing the acquirement mentions that Sega Dream Corporation will be dissolving and restructuring Index , but that’s not as bad as it sounds. Index had to be restructured, as they were bankrupt. The only profitable sector of the company was Atlus, and it’s the aspect that Sega will value most. That part is likely not being restructured, but we’ll have to wait and see to know for sure.

In fact, waiting and seeing will be a huge factor here. There’s a plethora “maybe” and “probably” speculation going around, and while some have merit, others are questionable. It’s possible anyone who’s come up with a sugar and rainbows fantasy land scenario doesn’t care much about Atlus’ properties, and niche Japanese games as a whole. The hopeful scenario is that Sega keeps both districts of Atlus intact, and treats them like some of their other western acquisitions. It would be great if this meant Atlus USA would keep localizing the same amount of games along with picking up niche Sega games they passed on before (like The 7th Dragon titles, the Yakuza games, Phantasy Star games, etc.), but that doesn’t sound like a realistic possibility.

Some also this will mean increased PC support for Atlus’ titles, and while that could happen for some titles, that’s not likely for others. Almost all of Atlus’ games are Japan-centric; though Sega has ported some of theirs to PC (like the Sonic titles and Binary Domain), most of them haven’t left the consoles and handhelds they debuted on. Don’t expect to suddenly see a franchise like Etrian Odyssey on Steam.

But that’s not suggesting the only unrealistic scenarios are the rosy ones; there are some overly-pessimistic perspectives around too. It’s unlikely that Sega will kill off Atlus’ console and handheld districts overnight and relegate them to mobile phone and browser games forever, slowly killing their franchises in the process, putting them on the long, long list of dead or dormant Sega IPs. Sega does plan to have the company make mobile phone games, but thus far, it sounds like they’ll remain as they were. Not many English speakers are aware of Atlus’ existing mobile game division, which includes the likes of Persona 3 Social, Devil Survivor 2: The Extra World, and various ports of old mainline Shin Megami Tensei games. There were comparisons to when Konami acquired Hudson Soft, where the former acquired the latter and subsequently dismantled them, throwing all of their IPs in the figurative trash bin. But Sega has no history of doing that.

It won’t be all bad, but there are some worrying aspects. Sega hasn’t been very good at localizing games since the Japanese arm severely downsized the operations of their western districts early last year, after games like Binary Domain severely underperformed. This also apparently resulted in the cancellation of Bayonetta 2, which Nintendo eventually picked up. Since then, Sega has focused on the digital market on PC, mobile phones, and consoles through their digital services in the west. Only Sonic, Aliens, Total War, and Football Manager have survived on the retail front, along with the occasional niche (and possibly test) game like Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F. Titles like a bunch of Yakuza titles, some Shining games, and Valkyria Chronicles 3 have been left in Japan. They also did a fantastic job playing mind games with fans with the release of Anarchy Reigns in the west, and Phantasy Star Online 2 is still missing in action. And while Atlus USA’s track record for localizing niche games isn’t perfect (see Noora and the Time Studio on DS and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment on PSP), it’s a damn sight better.

So now we’ll have to cross our fingers and hope Sega of Japan’s corporate arm sees worth in Atlus USA. They might decide to merge them with Sega of America, or have them take the company over entirely, since they don’t do anything anyway.  Atlus USA also publishes a bunch of western games, with Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure and Daylight in the pipeline, which Sega might find attractive. Here’s hoping this transition is done without anyone losing their jobs.

People’s jobs matter a lot more than some video games, sure, but I won’t undermine the importance of that topic here. Hopefully this merger is good for everyone involved, and that both companies thrive from it. This is certainly a better alternative than companies like Square Enix, Capcom, and Konami getting Atlus, and Sega deserves some recent props (in Japan, at least) for giving Tri-Ace a job. But whether the perception surrounding this situation will take an optimistic turn remains to be seen. Titles like the Persona games (Atlus most valuable property) will be fine, but the fate of various Megaten spin-offs and Etrian Odyssey is in serious jeopardy.

P.S. Atlus USA also handles distribution for NIS America’s products, so that fate is a little hazy at the moment too. Keep your fingers crossed. Hard.