We’ve learned that Sega is finishing up their acquisition of Index Holdings, and by proxy, Atlus.
One of the most noticeable things fans will find about this now is that Atlus USA (and in Europe, too) games will be published by Sega.
The Atlus brand will still remain as is, and Atlus will still act as an independent developer, more or less.
Sega has provided a statement regarding the final stages of the acquisition:
“SEGA of America will now be the sole company responsible for publishing duties in North America. Each entity will continue to preserve their individual brand identities for upcoming video game and product releases. The new SEGA of America offices are located in Los Angeles and Irvine, California.
This change is to simplify business accounts, and affects the companies in name only – both Atlus U.S.A. and SEGA of America will still act autonomously, and no games or products will be adversely affected by the publisher unification.Since Atlus U.S.A.—renowned for the award-winning Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Etrian Odyssey franchises—integrated with SEGA of America, the ATLUS expertise has allowed SEGA to localize and publish popular Japanese titles in the west, including the Yakuza series, Project DIVA series, and more.”
Sega has also named Ivo Gerscovich as the new head of the Sonic brand, as well as its related divisions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. Gerscovich will act as both the Sonic chief brand officer and senior vice president of Sega of America.
Anderino
March 31, 2016 at 6:21 pmIs Gerscovich the head of the Sonic twitter account? I wanna see what happens with that guy in charge.
Heavily Augmented
March 31, 2016 at 6:21 pmPC ports pls Sega…
Obbliglol
March 31, 2016 at 6:22 pmIt’s finally happening. A dedicated European publisher for Atlus.
Immahnoob
March 31, 2016 at 6:22 pmWhat does this mean?
Good news or bad news?
nonchalantxsteve
March 31, 2016 at 6:22 pmI didn’t know Altus did the Yakuza series
deadeye
March 31, 2016 at 6:23 pmCould be neither, even.
Could just be we see “Sega” on their games as publisher and that’s it.
NeoSkyte
March 31, 2016 at 6:23 pmWait what? Then what happened to Aaron Webber (Sonic the Hedgehog twitter guy) the previous head of the Sonic brand.
NeoSkyte
March 31, 2016 at 6:25 pmGood news for Europeans since now they can get Atlus games through Sega. Also after reading this it seems Atlus USA was the ones that convinced Sega to localize their Japan only games.
Elliott Moon
March 31, 2016 at 6:25 pmhard to tell at this time but as I live in europe this might be good for me
Bananalint
March 31, 2016 at 6:26 pmProbably means we have a MUCH greater chance at Atlus games coming to PC.
Touma Kazusa
March 31, 2016 at 6:27 pmAs long as SEGA understands their nothing without Atlus and don’t mess up with them I have no problem, hell it might even mean Europe wont get screwed as much.
SommenRider
March 31, 2016 at 6:28 pmdual-audio persona 5 please
daggot △
March 31, 2016 at 6:28 pmI don’t know although It’s a natural progression considering that he was the chief brand officer of sonic and got promoted to the senior vice pres of Sega of america along with this position.
daggot △
March 31, 2016 at 6:30 pmNo, I don’t believe so. He looks different. The sonic twitter guy stops the bantz for nobody. He was cracking on Jim Sterling mid sega stream for hating sonic colors.
NeoSkyte
March 31, 2016 at 6:31 pmThat’s good. Still got a good laugh when he trolled the Sonic fanbase at SXSW. I would hate to see him go.
Nagato
March 31, 2016 at 6:39 pm“the ATLUS expertise has allowed SEGA to localize and publish popular Japanese titles in the west, including the Yakuza series, Project DIVA series, and more.”
So no PC versions ever, and console versions only hitting Europe years later for Sega’s own titles as well now?
ahhhaahhh
March 31, 2016 at 6:42 pmsege Please doesn’t release any Atlus games on pc
Alexis Nascimento-Lajoie
March 31, 2016 at 6:44 pmThey don’t. The comment suggested that since acquiring Atlus it’s been made a lot easier for SEGA to localize some of their own games, in this case the Yakuza series.
Richard Miller
March 31, 2016 at 6:47 pmSo I guess Persona 5 is coming to PC now?
ChaotiChris
March 31, 2016 at 6:51 pmWhy not?
Immahnoob
March 31, 2016 at 6:51 pmhttp://i.imgur.com/GeiCMad.png
The resident shilling faggot upvotes himself.
Immahnoob
March 31, 2016 at 6:55 pmOh well, if that’s what this means, I’m all up for it.
Nagato
March 31, 2016 at 6:55 pmRichard finally confirmed to be an actual old man too, sadly going senile as well.
scemar
March 31, 2016 at 7:01 pmI can only speak for myself but my wishlist for Sega is :
1-No censorship
2-Dual audio and subs option
3-PC ports
Thanatos2k
March 31, 2016 at 7:01 pmBut is it the same people doing localization? If not you’ve massively fucked up, Sega, since Atlus is one of the best.
Guin
March 31, 2016 at 7:02 pmThat’s nice…release PSO2 already for burgers and europoors.
tccboss
March 31, 2016 at 7:06 pmDoes that mean that we get dual audio on games now?
Dewey Defeats Truman
March 31, 2016 at 7:10 pmDoubt it. I mean they might port a few but when they realize everyone just pirates them or refuses to buy them until their dirt cheap in sales months (if not years) later they’ll stop.
The PC market is absolutely fucked when it comes to games and while I’ll never defend shoddy ports like Arkham Knight I’m not remotely surprised when they happen.
Heavily Augmented
March 31, 2016 at 7:16 pmWhat about those 600,000 copies of Valkyrie Chronicles that got sold on Steam and basically revived the franchise…
sanic
March 31, 2016 at 7:20 pmWell if this cuts costs lets see them games.
Alex Firestorm
March 31, 2016 at 7:21 pmWere are talking about a Atlus here you literally join lucifer on a quest to bring chaos and murder god or god’s avatar or kill lucifer or say fuck you i am an atheist i go neutral all the way. You need like to censor more than half the game to not offend anyone.
Malcolm_Ecks
March 31, 2016 at 7:28 pmkek, nice try. Sega’s been doing PC ports for a lot of their products. The only reason we don’t see new Sonic games on the PC is because Nintendo bought exclusivity for the Wii U.
Malcolm_Ecks
March 31, 2016 at 7:31 pmPeople should know that this is SEGA Sammy, which owns Sega. Sega Sammy has been excellent for localization. I’m stoked.
Immahnoob
March 31, 2016 at 7:31 pm“The PC market is absolutely fucked when it comes to games”
What the fuck is wrong with you?
xmrsunshine
March 31, 2016 at 7:33 pmwoah did I just get busted back to 2010 or what the fuck is going on with this comment? It’s been a long ass fucking time since I’ve seen the “PC games are dying” argument and it’s unbelievable that someone would unironically still use it.
Chocolate ISISCream
March 31, 2016 at 7:34 pmDidn’t Sega buy index though? This isn’t very surprising I guess.
benzene
March 31, 2016 at 7:35 pmI’d pay pretty penny for P4G on pc with original audio. This after getting the platinum trophy on vita.
Chocolate ISISCream
March 31, 2016 at 7:37 pmFucking exposed!
Etherblaze
March 31, 2016 at 8:01 pmHopefully their localization quality remains the same/improves. I remember Atlus still doing a teensy bit of censorship (Diana’s nipples, SMTIV), but Yakuza 5 from SEGA was almost pristine as far as I could tell.
Didney Worl
March 31, 2016 at 8:08 pmWhat kind of egotistical asshole would upvote himself?
TruePariah
March 31, 2016 at 8:11 pmSo does this mean there will be no more ATLUS tax?
NeoSkyte
March 31, 2016 at 8:21 pmSega usually only sticks to Japanese dubs only unless it’s Sonic as you can tell with their recent releases. Even 7th Dragon III is going to be Japanese only. I do miss the time when had both languages available.
Domhnall
March 31, 2016 at 8:21 pmYou’d need to censor half of the game in order not to offend CHRISTIANS, you mean.
Thing is, no one cares if Christians get offended. Not even other Christians.
Uncle Ocelot
March 31, 2016 at 8:24 pmThis better mean good things for the UK/EU.
Immahnoob
March 31, 2016 at 8:29 pmWould you rather have a shitty western VA or a Japanese VA of unknown quality?
NeoSkyte
March 31, 2016 at 8:36 pmI dunno man have you heard the english dub of Resonance of Fate it’s pretty good. Nolan North did a great job voicing Vashyron.
Evropi
March 31, 2016 at 8:42 pmYeah, there’s lots of good English VAs out there. The English VA for every Metal Gear Solid game (as an example) is easily better than the Japanese for me, though that’s a bit of an odd case as Kojima is very Western-influenced.
I wonder why RPG VAs usually suffer. But I agree, English option is nice and can definitely be done right (Lost Odyssey is a memorable one).
AnarKreig
March 31, 2016 at 8:49 pm[Lost in translation]
Jack
March 31, 2016 at 9:05 pmSEGA has been pretty good with Publishing, Yakuza and Binary domain being my main ones, so i have no trouble with this, I look forward to more games
thatguyEZ
March 31, 2016 at 9:15 pmNot sure why we wouldn’t want them on PC. While I wouldn’t play them on the platform, it would mean more units sold which would(hopefully) mean more effort/money going into sequels and thus better games.
scemar
March 31, 2016 at 9:22 pmWhat about Sega saying PC games are one of their among their strongest market lately, their efforts to port most of the new sonic games once their exclusivity ran out, their praise for Valkyria Chronicle’s sales on PC, plus new games of them being PC compatible.
If they were just riding hype and hoping things worked out sure, you’d have a point, but we’re past that point.
They tried the PC, they got good results, so getting more from them stands to reason unless something huge and horrible happens to PC gaming and suddenly everyone uninstalls steam and goes back to the pirate bay.
Mr0303
March 31, 2016 at 9:48 pmCool. I hope Europe will now get Atlus titles simultaneously with NA.
Nin
March 31, 2016 at 10:03 pmPretty much. Our worldview is mocked on a daily basis. You could argue Jews could be offended, but most of them are atheist anyways. Still waiting for the day I can fuse Jesus and Muhammad together for maximum heresy.
Now, if boobs are involved, then other groups people care about start getting offended. Like feminists, unfortunately.
TheManWithPants
March 31, 2016 at 10:29 pmAnd even then, Sonic Lost World, a former Wii U exclusive game, came to PC in November.
Zombie_Barioth
March 31, 2016 at 10:45 pmBased on the last bit about Atlus helping them publish SEGA’s games I doubt they’re dumb enough to mess with that, they seem to get that they know whats up when it comes to localization and handling niche games.
djluke_1993
March 31, 2016 at 11:01 pmI honestly could go either way with a dub or a sub. Though I do like to be given the choice about voices to pick even though I do always get told I’m the problem with gaming.
Eintopf Mitschinken
March 31, 2016 at 11:37 pmThen tweet it to them!!!
erobotan
April 1, 2016 at 12:16 amList of PC port :
1. Catherine
2. All persona and megami tensei games include crossover
3. Dragon Crown
4. All Trauma center series
5. All Growlanser series
6. All Etrian series
7. Odin Sphere
8. Conception series
9. Radiant historia
10. Luminous Arc
11. Yggdra Union
Do It in 2016.
萌えゲー
April 1, 2016 at 12:19 amYes, please end Altus’s dub-only reign over Persona.
landlock
April 1, 2016 at 1:03 amThere are very few video game dubs that are truly awful like Arc Rise Fantasia.
No_Good_Names_Ever
April 1, 2016 at 1:14 am“UK”
If not, you still have NISA!
No_Good_Names_Ever
April 1, 2016 at 1:16 amMakes you wonder what Reddit would say about this.
Shinobu
April 1, 2016 at 1:17 amI pray to the localization gods that all will be well upon release.
No_Good_Names_Ever
April 1, 2016 at 1:17 amThe only real question people would ask now is will Atlus franchises join in if Sega makes another Allstars Racing.
Choppinfoot
April 1, 2016 at 3:16 amAtlus? The folks that don’t do dual audio? Don’t mind me, just passing through~
Nuku Nuku Natsume Mishima
April 1, 2016 at 4:07 amI hope thats meant dual voices in atlus games and no more shit english voices only
Llama Adventure
April 1, 2016 at 4:38 amUnfortunately, I doubt we’ll be seeing any Persona games making it onto Steam. With every single Persona game being a Sony-exclusive I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony has some kind of exclusivity deal with Atlus over one of their biggest cash cow franchises.
Llama Adventure
April 1, 2016 at 4:45 amSadly, I dunno if Vanillaware’s publishing duties will be transferred to Sega now, but that would be pretty rad.
Meittimies
April 1, 2016 at 4:54 amSo we can except a ContentID- rampage on all SMT-videos on youtube in near future. RIP perfect Nocturne Satan-fights.
Radiovid
April 1, 2016 at 5:11 amSadly, if Sega isn’t bringing all of their own Japanese niche games (Yakuza comes to mind) to PC, I can’t see most, if not all, of those going to it either, at least not anytime soon.
Tyrone Jackson
April 1, 2016 at 6:33 amIsn’t the reason for no Yakuza that it’s tied to $ony?
Tyrone Jackson
April 1, 2016 at 6:34 amI’d buy any and all of those first four on day 1.
makubexnas
April 1, 2016 at 8:09 amPC beggar race is strong in here.
DizzyGear
April 1, 2016 at 8:38 amHope its not an April fools because I loathe Atlus as a publisher.
Malcolm_Ecks
April 1, 2016 at 8:39 amWe seem to be getting what we want way more often than console players though.
DizzyGear
April 1, 2016 at 8:40 amConception is from Spike Chunsoft and they recently ported Danganronpa 1 and 2 to PC so that’s a real possibility.
Malcolm_Ecks
April 1, 2016 at 8:40 amSega stopped doing that shit a while back. That’s a Nintendo practice now.
Captain Vidya
April 1, 2016 at 9:31 amSo since SEGA apparently has money and Atlus supposedly doesn’t get the JP dub overseas because of licensing costs…
Dual audio when?
Johnathon
April 1, 2016 at 9:50 amWhy, only Christian thing that appears are the Arch angels and Metatron with Mastama in 2 of the more recent and they’re always depicted as higher power like how the bible depicts them with blinding glow and everything.
if any religion would be offended it would be hindu’s considering the percentage of the roster of demons are mostly of hindu origin.
Also the only times the series has gotten shit was in SMT 2 where the be all final boss in every path of the game is the YHVH which grown some controversy over why is a jewish religious icon (SMT2 was meant to come to the west but this itself got the game canned) and to lesser extent some hindu guy was offended with the newest SMT where he was not happy with the depiction.
Johnathon
April 1, 2016 at 9:52 amYHVH, Visnu, Allah and the lord on the same team.
Maximum heresy on this train, no breaks
makubexnas
April 1, 2016 at 9:58 amgood luck waiting for PC port.
Dgnfly
April 1, 2016 at 10:12 amyou need to add 1 more thats physical copy considering its the only way you actually own the game.
Silhouette
April 1, 2016 at 10:21 amBasically, the West won’t see any more decent Atlus games, if SEGA’s reputation for publishing in the west proves constant.
…I still don’t trust SEGA.
Captain Vidya
April 1, 2016 at 11:41 amNo, Aaron Webber runs the Sonic twitter account. He was a community manager for a while, but I have no idea what his position is now.
2501
April 1, 2016 at 12:43 pmThe day Atlus releases their games on PC is the day Gabe Newell goes on a diet.
2501
April 1, 2016 at 12:50 pmAre you stuck in 2007? The PC market is booming, even with the over-saturation of titles. it’s the only platform at the moment that is the most profitable, piracy is practically gone thanks to places like GoG and Steam. There is a prominent audience for JRPGs on PC and l guarantee Atlus will benefit from it.
2501
April 1, 2016 at 12:57 pmThis is an april fools…. right?
Richard Miller
April 1, 2016 at 1:08 pmWhy?
Richard Miller
April 1, 2016 at 1:14 pmStill trying to troll I see.
Bananalint
April 1, 2016 at 3:12 pmHaven’t you heard? It’s Sega now.
Johnathon
April 1, 2016 at 8:18 pmHow when Satan isn’t even in Nocturne except for a magatama was called Satan.
Fnordy
April 2, 2016 at 12:20 am>include crossover
No possible, pretty sure nintendo own part of the IP for that “”””””crossover””””””
Lambadelta
April 2, 2016 at 12:43 amso, back in August Atlus USA said that they won’t bring this to PC cause they are an small team. now we have Sega handling it instead.
i still won’t be surprised if they don’t ever release Persona 5 on PC because even back in August the given excuse made 0 sense to me and it felt like as if Atlus USA hates money.
Lambadelta
April 2, 2016 at 1:22 amfunny thing is that usually begging involves getting money or something for free, not paying for it. PC gamers are asking to pay for this game on their platform. i like how this “meme” is giving this act a negative spin so maybe PC gamers stop showing their interest in other titles beside their own.
even the piracy excuse doesn’t even work anymore cause Denuvo.
Minuteworld92
April 8, 2016 at 11:17 pmPLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Minuteworld92
April 8, 2016 at 11:27 pmyou say that as if it’s a bad thing to wait.
Minuteworld92
April 15, 2016 at 2:01 pmanyone willing to sign my petition?
https://www.change.org/p/sega-please-consider-porting-the-game-persona-5-and-possibly-other-franchises-to-pc
Just Tim
January 26, 2017 at 11:04 pmSpike Chunsoft owns Conception.
Marvelous owns Luminous Arc.
I’m pretty sure Atlus is St!ng’s publisher in both Japan and USA.
Better late than never.