SEGA to purchase Index Corporation

SEGA Sammy will be purchasing Index Corporation, according to a report from Nikkei (Nihon Keizai Shimbun).

[jujubee88]

HOOOlllly shhhhhhhhhhhh

edit: This could be good for VITA owners. Phantasy Star Nova is a VITA exclusive and Persona is just as big and IP, so at least it looks like a port of Persona 5 might be coming to VITA.

:-)

[Abash]

Exciting stuff, I wonder what SEGA will do with Atlus other than obviously a new Persona game

[blitz0623]

I'm worried about localizations now

[jujubee88]

This is the last week to tweet @giocorsi and Sony's third party production team on twitter about games you'd like to see on playstation platforms.

If SEGA/ATLUS gets a lot of requests, than the guys at Sony would know you're all serious about wanting to see future content of theirs come west.

https://twitter.com/giocors...

[CarlosX360]

@blitz0623 - Atlus does localizations pretty well on it's own, I think this is why SEGA wants to buy them.

[Kevin ButIer]

I don't mind if SEGA buys Atlus... but I got to admit that I never though that SEGA had the financial punch to actually buy something as big as Atlus...lol

[itBourne]

People really think Sega buying Atlus is a good thing? What has Sega done recently? Sega themselves are falling apart, I think the Atlus buy is to help them save themselves. Similar to how Square bought Eidos, and Eidos has kind of been carrying them.

[-Mika-]

Sega rarely translate their games so this is not good. I was really hoping that TecmoKoei would buy them.

[Lionalliance]

yeahhhh no

[Feocart]

I just hope they're able to localize their franchises accordingly. It would be a shame if something like Persona 5 remain Japan-only.

[Myze]

It would be a shame, but if there is only one franchise SEGA decides to localize from Atlus, it would be Persona.

I may be alone in this, but the only thing I hope for is that Persona stays as a console-first series. I haven't really dealt with handhelds in a long time, and I love the Persona series. A crossover release of Vita/PS4 would be great. I don't think anyone will care if the game doesn't look like a PS4 game in terms of graphics.

[Godmars290]

I'd reverse or at least check any good vibes you might have over this. Sega's been very reluctant/cheap to bring titles over to the US.

Then again they might be doing this in order to do translations, which again might not be a good thing. Put too much work in Atlus' lap and restrict their productions.

[N4GDgAPc]

Well hopefully they give them Yakuza Kenzan, Yakuza Black Panter 1 & 2, Yakuza 5, and Yakuza ishin to translate^^

[CarlosX360]

Atlus does localization already, so it's not going to be like "here, do localization" and then get a resounding groan across the office...

[MoveTheGlow]

Hoping that they let Atlus do its thing as if they just had outside investors and reaped some of the profits. It's not in Sega's best interest to micromanage a company who has done so well in the past, basically holding up their sketchy old corporate overlords as they bungled other industries.

They haven't sunk Creative Assembly yet, right? Let's hope for the best. Also, there's no guarantee that Sega won't just put their trust in the management of Atlus' localization services, give them more personnel, and let them do the contracting and hiring themselves, therefore giving Sega a way better way to localize games. Again, hoping.

[KonsoruMasuta]

This is also looking good for Nintendo gamers too.

Due to SEGA's good relationship with Ninty, I see more of Atlus games on 3DS.

Although I have my counts about this move, I have to admit that there are some positives.

[3-4-5]

OMG ATLUS + SEGA is going to potentially be amazing.

[0pie]

Humm before getting our hope too high, can we just wait until anything is announced?

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

It's terrible news for everyone because Sega never localizes shit now other than their shitty sonic games.

[CarlosX360]

This acquisition may expedite that process of localization.

[Midori]

Conversely, Sega has been taking some risks with games like Hatsune Miku Project DIVA f (released globally, I might add) and Rhythm Thief, no?

[Dagobert]

Bad news for people not living in Japan because now it'll never be localized.

[Donnieboi]

Not good news

[Xer0_SiN]

i love sega! i was a sega loyalist befoe turning into a ps fan. but thos aquisition got me a bit worried. sega releases some awesome game, but on the same token, some of the awesoe games never make it to our shores :(.

[DOMination-]

Get out, its people like you who nearly ended sega in the first place!

[showtimefolks]

good, sega bought some games of THQ too, sega is doing better

glad none of american companies got em like ea,activision or worst MS.

I rather them stay 3rd party

[tiffac008]

Well the good news is, Atlus will remain in 3rd party hands. The bad news is Sega has a track record of either killing their popular franchises or not localizing them. So I am both happy and worried about this outcome.

[StockpileTom]

I completely agree. This has me very worried though. SEGA has sent some very good games out to die with little or no marketing including Valkyria Chronicles.

Poor sales in the west due to lack of marketing and the exploding handheld market in JP influenced them to move the series to PSP with the 3rd game not being localized.

SEGA makes some truly baffling decisions sometimes by interpreting data wrongly and by not having the confidence to go all in and back the games they do publish.

[tiffac008]

Exactly, whats even worse is that VCIII actually sold a little better than VCII in Japan but we never got any localization.

They sent us Yakuza: The End (Dead Souls) which wasn't exactly what a lot of us was looking for and they are not planning the localization of Yakuza 5, which a lot of us is anticipating.

I cannot even remember how many Shinning games that got stuck in Japan.

Now they have Atlus and the Shin Megami Tensai series which traditionally is not a big game seller outside of the now popular Persona series.

They are probably going to tell Atlus to make mobile games now too. The horror, the horror...

Edit: I am not worried about Persona 5 because that's a popular series. Sega may turn that into a multiplat. So it should be localized. I am however worried about the rest of the Shin Megami Tensai games.

Edit(2): (Looks at majiebeast comments below about Sega wanting to have Atlus start making mobile games) NOOOOOOO!!! The end has come DX

[dasbeer88]

To this present day, I'm still waiting for Valkyria Chronicles 3 to arrive to the U.S. To me, VC3 is more anticipating compared to Halo 4 and GTA V.

[SilentNegotiator]

When I read the title, I puked everywhere because they're now in the arms of Sega. Then I cheered because they're still third party. Then I threw up again because it's still Sega.

[majiebeast]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

Bleep off Sega you are terrible why dont you die already!

So done with Sega they havent done anything right this entire gen they killed of Valkyrie Chronicles,Bayonetta,Alpha Protocol and so much more. Valkyrie Chronicles could have been a big franchise instead they made 2,3 on a dead handheld outside of Japan.

Mark my words no more Atlus games in the west and the destruction of Atlus IP's by the incredibly incompetent Sega.

[StockpileTom]

Reply #2.1 above also applies to your comment as well. I really don't feel very optimistic about this.

[wishingW3L]

do you remember about all those awesome Atlus franchises? If you want to continue playing them then start learning Japanese because that will be the only way. ;(

[admiralvic]

While Sega doesn't have the best track record of bringing EVERYTHING over, they still have a fairly decent one of releasing things over here. Also if Anarchy Reigns can get released, then we will no doubt see SMT / Persona still.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

^Wrong.

Anarchy Reigns LOOKS like a game that was meant to appeal to the West, which it was, which is why it was brought over. Games like SMT, not a chance in hell. They are for a very niche audience. It sucks, but I'm taking this as really bad news.

[Concertoine]

Lets hope its not as bad as it looks. At least none of the big 3 bought them, we can enjoy atlus game on all platforms.

[CGI-Quality]

Not all Atlus games will come to all platforms. Disgaea, for instance, will remain exclusive to PlayStation consoles, I bet.

[majiebeast]

Thats nippon ichi mate we are talking about the Persona series,Catherine,Shin Megami Tensei and Ettrian Oddesey and Dragons crown(which would have never been localized if Sega already owned Atlus).

[Concertoine]

Well thats expected, really. But atlus has made tons of games on nintendo and microsoft platforms and those audiences can continue to enjoy atlus games. Thats my point. If sony bought them, theyd be left out. If nintendo bought them, same situation.

[Lovable]

Way to fail CGI. LOL

[CGI-Quality]

@ Lovable: How exactly did I fail? Because of a mistake? OK. If your immaturity exceeds you, which is apparent, then by all means go with it. But your history tells me I should expect no less.

"LOL"

[ShadowHarp]

Disgaea is on the nintendo Ds, and wrong company

[CGI-Quality]

@ Shadow: Err...You're late...

[TheDivine]

Actually dragons crown isn't Atlus either bro. They only published it.

This is horrible in my opinion but at least its third party. I know ps fans like Persona and Nin fans like SMT, Devil Survivor, Trauma Team, and Etrian Odyssey. I personally hoped Nin would've bought them since most their games they make are on their systems anyways. They did great with Monolith and Intelligent Systems. Atlus would've rounded out the jrpg goodness. Hopefully we still get DS2 Code Breakers and a new DS3. I'd love a new Strange Journey or SMT5 for 3ds also. P5 for vita/ps3 or even the wiiu would be killer also.

As long as they bring the games over and don't kill off the sub franchises I'm cool.

[majiebeast]

It looks bad according to Neogaf's translation of the Nikkei article they want to put Atlus on mobile phone ios games duty.

[StockpileTom]

....that would be even worse than I expected, a true nightmare.

[ABeastNamedTariq]

:'( No....

[Kalebninja]

more resonance of fate?

[Remdih]

Oh no... Let´s say goodbye to localized games :((( As somebody posted before - they killed way too many good games. My beloved Yakuza... Where are you? Have to admit I enjoyed many games from SEGA - Binary Domain, Vanquish, Bayonetta, Alpha Protocol, Valkyria Chronicles, Resonance of Fate... It pains me that they are now focused just on Sonic and the Football Manager... :((( Poor Atlus they really were trying to localize a lot...

[TrevZ_514]

This makes me want to cry

[KonsoruMasuta]

The fact that SEGA doesn't localize games in the west doesn't really affect me so I don't really care about it that much.

My problem with this is Sega is know for killing franchises, supporting the wrong ones, giving poor release dates, and not advertising games enough.

[Inception]

Yup, that's the thing i worried the most. Look at Valkyria Chronicles. Sega doesn't localize the 3rd game or even port it for PS3 and now they made it as social game crap. So i'm worried that SMT / Persona will have the same fate like Valkyria Chronicles :(

[Pancit_Canton]

I'm surprised SEGA still have money to buy developers around. They have a lot of IP that flops and didn't sell as much. Say good bye to localization. Maybe they will randomly pick IP that needs localization in 2-3 years.

[ApolloTheBoss]

NOOOOO!!!! Please tell me this a dream!

[Kalebninja]

now imagine sega merges with nintendo o_o

[yewles1]

CRAP!!! Goodbye PlayStation exclusive Atlus games coming to the west, it'll only be the other platforms or multi.

[TongkatAli]

Couldn't Atlus help them localize games ?

[rambi80]

yep, but this is the internet...so only worse-case scenarios allowed

[CarlosX360]

I thought exactly the same thing. This acquisition would expedite the localization process in the other countries for SEGA.

[rambi80]

its not just the localization that they need help with...Sega sucks at marketing as well.

Sega is so unpredictable that there is no way to guess how this will turn out...i must admit that predicting a disaster is quite safe though

[Man-E-Faces]

Unless Sega let's Atlus operate as they do today with localizing niche Japan games from other small studios, then this could really mean the neutering of Atlus and what they do. Sega can't/won't even fund a text translation for vc3, yakuza, etc. then what makes you think they will fund and then translate niche games like Catherine for the west, worst buyer imo.

[r21]

Yay, multiplatform company but boo that its Sega.

[Majin-vegeta]

F*CKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!! !

http://nooooooooooooooo.com...

[TongkatAli]

ROFL!

[Inception]

Lol XD

[dark-hollow]

Well, F**K!

[JackVagina]

say goodbye to localizations...

[GhostofHorizon]

Hopefully SEGA just let's Atlus do it's thing, otherwise it's a sad sad day...

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

This is like the worst news ever. We're never gonna get a good JRPG ever again now

[worldwidegaming]

Lmao! Got 3rd party and now its a buzzkill.
Better pick up rosetta stone.

[ApolloTheBoss]

You know what that's a good idea. Been meaning to try that at some point. Nows the time.

[worldwidegaming]

Its one of the best programs out.
Yes its expensive but at the end of the day
you learned a new language! Imagine 80hrs on Rosetta stone rather than 80hrs on a random game.
(I would still game but...)

[SoulSercher620]

LMAO

[wingman32x]

Wow.. I'm honestly a little surprised. I know Sega was mentioned as a bidder, but Gungho and Kodakawa were considered to be the most likely for the longest time.

While I don't know much about Sega's localization efforts, what I'm hearing isn't too good. Hopefully things change on that front.

Personally, I'm relieved that a 3rd party picked them up. This way, both Nintendo and Sony fans can continue to enjoy their respective series. Now let's just hope that Sega cooperates.

[RiPPn]

I think I would prefer they had become a first party to a console company rather than this travesty. Very sad day.

[AceBlazer13]

Hope they don't make the persona series some watered down mobile game pos,or make me learn Japanese to play them.

[ApolloTheBoss]

When taking the Xbox One into account, one thing's for sure. Too much Negative Feedback can move mountains. Maybe if we wish it enough Sega won't bother Atlus and let them localize their games.

[ABeastNamedTariq]

Welp.. Guess I need to learn Japanese.

Everything is going multiplat now, methinks. Bye Persona... We'll see I guess, lol.

But still, I'm disappointed. Friggin Sega, man!

I hope they let Atlus operate like they did before.

[Dagobert]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOO!

[paleselan]

So, now Nintendo just needs to buy Sega :P

[Misaka_x_Touma]

Good at least it ain't Sony

[Inception]

I prefer Sony than Sega. At least Sony still localize all of their game even though it doesn't reach their sales target. But Sega? They're the pain in the ass!

[Misaka_x_Touma]

This is Atlus games not Sega.

[Inception]

And SEGA already purchased Atlus, included their IP's. So SEGA can do whatever they want with Atlus games because they are the owner. Get it?

[Kluv]

SEGA!!!! I am very happy for you to have acquired Index, but not you've screwed up. Now I know that your company has money to throw around so WHERE ARE MY VALKYRIA CHRONICLES CONSOLE SEQUELS?!!!! :'''''' ;''(

[SSJBen]

Don't really see this as good news, considering how big of an asshole SEGA has been in the recent months.

[Blade1587]

Guys sega didn't buy Atlus. their parent company sega Sammy is the one who bought it which means that atlus will still be publishing their games. The biggest difference is that now they have gained 130 million dollars to do it

[chrispseuphoria]

Well, this is depressing.

[qzp]

sega has money ?