Atlus Bankruptcy: Nintendo migh Buy Shin Megami Tensei Developer; Persona 5 Wii U big possiblility

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saintdane05

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<quote=By iDigitalTimes Staff Reporter on July 19, 2013 7:20 PM>
Atlus bankruptcy news time. The famed RPG and quirky game maker is in a tight spot now, through no fault of its own. Its parent company has been implicated in certain shady dealings, best not discussed in polite company, and is on the verge of splitting up THQ style. Atlus, the most interesting part of the excitingly named Index Corporation, is up for sale. And guess what? Nintendo is going to buy it.

The Atlus bankruptcy came to a head late in June, when Index Corporation declared bankruptcy in light of accounting fraud. Index Corporation is a large holding company with a wide variety of holdings, from Atlus to movie and anime studios, telecommunication infrastructure, and a soccer "football" team. Like traditional American conglomerates, it has no particular core business. It dabbles in everything.


Atlus bankruptcy news time. The famed RPG and quirky game maker is in a tight spot now, through no fault of its own. Its parent company has been implicated in certain shady dealings, best not discussed in polite company, and is on the verge of splitting up THQ style. Atlus, the most interesting part of the excitingly named Index Corporation, is up for sale. And guess what? Nintendo is going to buy it.

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Evidence of Nintendo and Atlus's already close collaboration. Will they tie the knot? (Image: Nintendo of America)
Evidence of Nintendo and Atlus's already close collaboration. Will they tie the knot? (Image: Nintendo of America)
The Atlus bankruptcy came to a head late in June, when Index Corporation declared bankruptcy in light of accounting fraud. Index Corporation is a large holding company with a wide variety of holdings, from Atlus to movie and anime studios, telecommunication infrastructure, and a soccer "football" team. Like traditional American conglomerates, it has no particular core business. It dabbles in everything.



It also dabbles in accounting fraud, which led to the Atlus bankruptcy. The company's stock is being delisted on July 28, and bids for various and sundry subsidiaries will start basically next week. It's unclear exactly which subsidiaries are up for sale, but presumably all of them. Index is essentially being broken up. And that means Atlus is on the chopping block.

The single most likely bidder for Atlus in the Atlus bankruptcy case is Nintendo. As a matter of fact, I'd like to suggest that a Nintendo-led acquisition of Atlus may actually have been in the works for some time. That's because Nintendo has been working unusually closely with Atlus lately, treating them practically like an in-house studio. That may be because Atlus is about to become one.

Look at the evidence surrounding the Atlus bankruptcy. Atlus traditionally publishes games on every console and platform; for a long time, it had a heavy PlayStation focus thanks to the Persona games. But more recently it has worked very closely with Nintendo. That's not new; the Trauma Center series came from Atlus.

But newer projects suggest a closer partnership between Atlus and Nintendo in the wake of the Atlus bankruptcy. One of the most notable is Shin Megami Tensei IV, which is offering a major crossover promotion with Fire Emblem. Specifically, if you register both titles with Club Nintendo by August 31, you'll get a $30 eShop credit (North America only, sorry). Nintendo doesn't offer deals like that with third parties. Ever. You're not going to see a discount on Mario and Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games if you buy Sonic Lost World and Super Mario 3D World. It's unprecedented.

But that's not the biggest evidence that Ninty will bail out the Atlus bankruptcy. The biggest is their actual crossover title, Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, in active development for Wii U. This is only the second major crossover Nintendo has ever done, after the Mario & Sonic Olympics series. It's just not in their DNA. And they've talked lately about how closely Atlus has been working with Intelligent Systems, the Fire Emblem team.

So it only makes sense for Nintendo to make the most of the Atlus bankruptcy and buy Atlus outright, maybe at a bit of a discount. It would not only shore up an increasingly significant third party developer - especially in its home market - but it would also simply create more capacity for Nintendo's homegrown development, which is something they've discussed expanding. Their recent collaboration suggests that the cultures mesh well together.

What's more, the other major gaming companies aren't as interested in the Atlus bankruptcy. Sony is the biggest threat; if they decide they're interested, they can certainly outbid Nintendo. Square Enix would make a lot of sense, but wouldn't help them diversify - quite the opposite - and they don't really have the money. Capcom or Konami could pick it up, but there are no obvious synergies. And Microsoft and other Western developers just won't care.

Atlus is Nintendo's to lose. Let's hope they don't. In the meantime, don't worry - all of Atlus's operations will continue as normal.


PERSONA 5! WHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
 

Corven

Forever Gonzo
Sep 10, 2008
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I'd rather that they get picked up as a third party so they can develop for whatever platform they want.
 

Foolery

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Jun 5, 2013
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This all just speculation dude, not fact. The thread title is somewhat misleading. Though honestly it makes sense and would be a solid business move for Nintendo. Atlus has already been getting pretty comfortable with Intelligent Systems(Fire Emblem) and the rest of the company.
 

IllumInaTIma

Flesh is but a garment!
Feb 6, 2012
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How about changing your title? Nintendo MIGHT buy Atlus, not WILL buy it. It's misleading at the very least.
 

Eduku

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I'm quite ignorant on these sorts of things, but does that mean that Altus games would become Nintendo exclusive? Nintendo are quite protective of their properties.

Also, change the thread title, it's very misleading.
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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Oh, there has been a bigger hint than that...


But seriously, this is just speculation. I could easily make a case that Sony would buy them because up until now their biggest hitter in Persona has been exclusive to Playstation (Arena aside), and that they've developed/published an equal amount, if not more games on Sony consoles and handhelds.

It will be interesting to see where they eventually end up though.
 

dumbseizure

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If Persona 5 becomes a Nintendo exclusive, I will be quite disappointed.

All of the Persona games have been on a Sony console at one point or another.

And I sure as shit won't be buying a Nintendo console for a single game.

But yes, this is all speculation, so I am hoping they will develop Persona 5 for either Vita, PS3 or PS4, because it would be pretty damaging to change what brand of consoles the Persona games appear on now.

Edit:

Andy Shandy said:
Oh, there has been a bigger hint than that...

Not going to lie, I watched that xbox stream and didn't remember that bit, so when I saw that video, I lost my shit.

Congratulations, posting that video officially broke me, I can't stop laughing.
 

Tony2077

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i really hope its not wiiu exclusive or i will have to destroy atlus so here is hoping this is a baseless rumor
 

Eduku

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j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
Eduku said:
I'm quite ignorant on these sorts of things, but does that mean that Altus games would become Nintendo exclusive? Nintendo are quite protective of their properties.
In effect, yes. Atlus would become a second-party developer, akin to Naughty Dog for Sony, and as such all their games would be exclusive to Nintendo systems.
Ah, gotcha. Well, I don't own any consoles and also own a 3DS so it wouldn't really affect me, but if it did happen it would be a shame for the Playstation owners.
 

New World Fool

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While I do hope this is a rumor I also adore the Persona series so... I might give the WiiU a go. It'll only take two weeks of saving up. Hurm...
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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if we're going by pure financial situation, Nintendo is indeed the best pick due to their obscene amounts of money. A LOT of the other big Japanese publishers have issues in one way or another so they're in no position to be buying them. Nintendo on the other hand has BIG reserves and they do seem to be getting buddy-buddy with Atlus as of late and I doubt they'd let SMT x FE die. Of course, there is the possibility that no studio would buy Atlus and would just let them die so they could buy all their brands for cheap (as we've seen time and time again with sales like this). Buying a company does mean you get their assets...BUT it also means you become responsible for their employees as well as their financial liabilities and that's before getting into Atlus USA. And then you have the other projects Atlus has such at Dragon's Crown which is on Sony's systems.

Anyway, definitely a possibility. Nintendo has shown an interest in them, so we'll see how this goes. At the very least I just hope to see SMT x FE happen
 

Miss G.

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When I heard the rumor floating around a while ago about Persona 5 being a WiiU exclusive I thought it would've been like what happened with Bayonetta 2. If I could buy a Vita just to play Persona 4 Golden (and a PSP back in the day just to be ready for Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core) then I'll buy a WiiU just to play Persona 5 (and X among some other releases).
 

Dragonbums

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May 9, 2013
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If Nintendo has a game on the line then I'm fairly certain it will do all it can to purchase Atlus.
Unless of course IF Sony accquires Atlus, they have to let them finish the Fire Emblem cross over on the WiiU as some sort of terms of contract.

However the last thing Sony needs is Nintendo taking another property from them.
The lost of MH was a big hit for them.
 

Dreiko_v1legacy

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This is incredibly biased of an article. Why is Sony buying atlus a "threat" exactly? Every persona game has been on sony machines, even the remakes. Who exactly is being "threatened"? Only one I see being threatened is nintendo and why would you make this article about Nintendo when it should be about ATLUS! (and which company they have the best prospects of making awesome games with)


You might wanna only see SMT4 but there's also games like Persona 4 arena which did not come on a nintendo system DESPITE being on freaking xbox 360 lol.
 

Dragonbums

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Dreiko said:
This is incredibly biased of an article. Why is Sony buying atlus a "threat" exactly? Every persona game has been on sony machines, even the remakes. Who exactly is being "threatened"? Only one I see being threatened is nintendo and why would you make this article about Nintendo when it should be about ATLUS! (and which company they have the best prospects of making awesome games with)


You might wanna only see SMT4 but there's also games like Persona 4 arena which did not come on a nintendo system DESPITE being on freaking xbox 360 lol.
The only threat Sony buying Atlus will hold for Nintendo is them not being able to finish the Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei crossover game for the Wii U.
Which in that case Nintendo might just purchase it on that alone.
Also Atlus games have been on the Nintendo systems before.
Shin Megami did really well on the 3DS and is going to do even better with the whole deal they have with the $30.00
Rather it should be the opposite.
Sony is the one that needs to get on a ball with this.
However they risk going into a bidding war with Nintendo, who will definitely be able to outbid them if they really want Atlus that bad.
 

Korten12

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Aug 26, 2009
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I pray Nintendo doesn't buy them. Atlus has always been third party, and shouldn't be forced to make exclusives to Nintendo. I know people say it would be bad for Square Enix but at least the games would stay multiplatform.
 

wintercoat

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Korten12 said:
I pray Nintendo doesn't buy them. Atlus has always been third party, and shouldn't be forced to make exclusives to Nintendo. I know people say it would be bad for Square Enix but at least the games would stay multiplatform.
If Nintendo and Sony are considering buying Atlus, it'll come down to whichever of those two wants it the most. No other video game companies have the money to compete in a bidding war with those two. And if Ninty really wants it, they'll get it, being the richer of the two.