Atlus: discussion, speculation and whatnot

[Chaos2Frozen]

So can we have Persona 5 now :3 ?

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

So can we have Persona 5 now :3 ?

Absolutely, they can feel free to reveal it now and let us know it will be out by Christmas .

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by Solace

In addition to that, I doubt there is any developer in Japan who would say no to Nintendo money.

Yeah, I mean look @ all those 3rd party Japanese Wii U games....

[Benoit]

Originally Posted by SOGESNAKE

Y'know... this isn't the worst thing that could've happened. Like... odds are the worst we'll see is less tuff being localized.... like Growlanser, or smaller titles like Hexys Force (as much as I loved it) not being brought over.

Atlus was rather bad about localising Growlanser as it is, so I'm not sure much would change.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

(I personally wanted Konami to get them for the small chance that Suikoden gets a ressurection)

Suikoden is still alive, just not in the west. When it comes to Suikoden, Konami hates us. Western releases were always limited print runs, and the only time they did a decent one it was with the weak Suikoden IV.

They never wanted Suikoden to succeed in the west, if you ask me.

[Angelic Cross]

Eeeeh, kind of leery about this. I'll wait and see, but Sega's recent localization track record with niche titles makes me wary.

Originally Posted by Westlo

Yeah, I mean look @ all those 3rd party Japanese Wii U games....

What does this have to do with anything? SMTxFE was a game Nintendo basically paid Atlus to do because it grew out of the whole "Hey, how would a FE in the modern world be like?" So yeah, Solace does have a point. Why would Atlus turn down being paid by another company to make a game? They've already gotten a profit just by being paid to make it. Do you not know what a "moneyhat" is?

Oh wait, it's just you being you again.

[4Tran]

SMT x FE was announced before the Wii U came out and before everyone knew how poorly it did. For most developers, they're not going to accept a moneyhat unless the revenue increase will make up for weak software sales. With sales as bad as they are on the Wii U, I'd imagine that most developers wouldn't accept a Nintendo moneyhat unless Nintendo was willing to fully fund a game (Wonderful 101, Bayonetta).

Atlus isn't most developers though, and they have a very loyal fanbase that can sustain very niche titles. As long as enough of that group has picked up a Wii U, they should be fine with making modest games on the platform. However, I don't think anyone has any idea how many Wii U owners are Atlus fans, so it'd be safer for Atlus to wait for SMT x FE sales figures before making any more Wii U titles.

In the mean time, the safer development platforms are going to be 3DS, PS3 and Vita. In particular, Persona 5 is very likely going to be a PS3 title. PC and mobile devices are also likely candidates, although I suspect that these platforms won't be worked on by the main Atlus teams.

[Angelic Cross]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

SMT x FE was announced before the Wii U came out and before everyone knew how poorly it did.

Uh, what? SMT x FE was announced January 2013. We already had headlines of Wii U doing bad by then; that was around when Nintendo lowered their sales forecast due to bad sales.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Westlo

Yeah, I mean look @ all those 3rd party Japanese Wii U games....

Is Nintendo running around money hatting every developer? Clearly not. Nintendo has good relations with most developers, but it's still business. Nintendo isn't going to pay for every developer out there to make games for its system, and if the system isn't doing well not every developer will make games for it.

And no one is really buying home consoles in Japan anymore. It's a mobile/handheld market now. Heck, the 3DS had already surpassed the lifetime sales of the PS3 last year, and the 3DS has been under performing compared to the DS since launch. The third party situation for the PS4 will be better than the Wii U, but that's not saying much. Home consoles are almost entirely supported by western software companies now, which should be obvious given how Sony and Microsoft are approaching their launches and the massive decline in Japanese software across the board since the PS2. Trying to keep up with Western AAA budgets has not been a good thing for Japanese devs, or the industry as a whole.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Angelic Cross

Uh, what? SMT x FE was announced January 2013. We already had headlines of Wii U doing bad by then; that was around when Nintendo lowered their sales forecast due to bad sales.

Huh, I thought there were some murmurings from Atlus about it some time in 2012. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference though; it's normal for new game consoles to have a lull in sales after the first holiday. The lowered forecast went from 5.5 million units shipped by the end of March to 4 million, which was still a pretty decent figure. I don't think that anyone anticipated that Wii U sales would fall off a cliff the way it has.

[FlareKnight]

Hopefully we keep getting this kind of news of things being status quo when it comes to Atlus developing their games:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...inue-as-before

Honestly that's all I want to keep hearing really. Keep making the games, keep localizing those games, and just take advantage of Sega's "distribution network" .

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Hopefully we keep getting this kind of news of things being status quo when it comes to Atlus developing their games:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...inue-as-before

Honestly that's all I want to keep hearing really. Keep making the games, keep localizing those games, and just take advantage of Sega's "distribution network" .

I think they will have an easier time with PR if they dissolve the Index name and institute Atlus as a sole publisher.

And shed all the pachinko business, focus on making games. I want my P5.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

the safer development platforms are going to be 3DS, PS3 and Vita

Σ(;´Д｀)
http://abload.de/img/3ds_vita_mh34tmef2.png

[kuroishinigami]

Originally Posted by Benoit

Suikoden is still alive, just not in the west. When it comes to Suikoden, Konami hates us. Western releases were always limited print runs, and the only time they did a decent one it was with the weak Suikoden IV.

They never wanted Suikoden to succeed in the west, if you ask me.

Suikoden's dead, at least the main numbered one. We haven't got new numbered suikoden since suikoden V for god's sake, and last I heard, the team responsible for the previous main numbered suikoden has been dissolved and put into various other IP's team.

As for Atlus being bought by Sega Sammy, I would be happy as long as they don't concentrate the IP Atlus hold solely into pachinko base game

[shmaster]

Finally the good news come out. Sega Sammy is leaving Atlus in their own devices.
Now, if Atlus can secure their old publishing routes in the west, I'll cheer with tears.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Σ(;´Д｀)
http://abload.de/img/3ds_vita_mh34tmef2.png

It's a curious phenomenon, but outside of a few blockbuster titles (Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest) and Nintendo games, most 3DS games don't really sell all that well. Otaku games often find a better home on the Vita than on 3DS. As an extreme example, the Vita version of Conception II sold far better than the 3DS version.

Atlus titles aren't potential blockbusters, and their best selling game on either the 3DS or Vita has Persona 4 Golden. If Atlus made mainstream games, then the weaker install base of the Vita would be a constraint on sales, but they're not doing that any time soon.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

It's a curious phenomenon, but outside of a few blockbuster titles (Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest) and Nintendo games, most 3DS games don't really sell all that well. Otaku games often find a better home on the Vita than on 3DS. As an extreme example, the Vita version of Conception II sold far better than the 3DS version.

Atlus titles aren't potential blockbusters, and their best selling game on either the 3DS or Vita has Persona 4 Golden. If Atlus made mainstream games, then the weaker install base of the Vita would be a constraint on sales, but they're not doing that any time soon.

Don't worry, not including the "blockbuster titles" third party games sell well enough. Well, at least compared to the Vita.

Vita's top:
Persona 4 Golden: 233,523

3DS (Ignoring titles I have heard about):
Tousouchu: 498,459

BTW: Shin Megami Tensei IV: 240,473

[4Tran]

I didn't know that SMT IV managed to pass P4 Golden. That's neat. However, you've also sort of confirmed that the Vita is an eminently viable platfrom for Atlus games; which sort of was my point to begin with.

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Don't worry, not including the "blockbuster titles" third party games sell well enough. Well, at least compared to the Vita.

Vita's top:
Persona 4 Golden: 233,523

3DS (Ignoring titles I have heard about):
Tousouchu: 498,459

BTW: Shin Megami Tensei IV: 240,473

http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/7/3964...a-pleased-with

Do we really need to go into some sort of game-listing contest? With something like a ten times larger install base, it's obvious that the best selling 3DS games will perform better than Vita games. However, for niche titles this advantage doesn't count for much.

Heck, I'm not even entirely discounting the Wii U yet. For just about anyone else, the Wii U is a development death trap, but there's still a small chance it can work out for Atlus.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

Do we really need to go into some sort of game-listing contest? With something like a ten times larger install base, it's obvious that the best selling 3DS games will perform better than Vita games. However, for niche titles this advantage doesn't count for much.

Hey, just refuting your statement that third party games don't sell well on the 3DS.
And of course the statement that Atlus's best selling game on the 3DS/Vita is Persona 4 Golden.

Kekekeke, "Unisoft" urges. Now if Sony was that open instead of using their David Mannings.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

I didn't know that SMT IV managed to pass P4 Golden. That's neat. However, you've also sort of confirmed that the Vita is an eminently viable platfrom for Atlus games; which sort of was my point to begin with.

Do we really need to go into some sort of game-listing contest? With something like a ten times larger install base, it's obvious that the best selling 3DS games will perform better than Vita games. However, for niche titles this advantage doesn't count for much.

The same argument could be made in terms of franchises.

The SMT franchise is even more niche than Atlus games generally are. For their console predecessors, SMT Nocturne is still sitting at around just 200-300k while Persona 4 is at 800k+.

You could say that since Persona has a fanbase at least twice as large as the main SMT fanbase, P4G should outsell SMT4 by a large margin, but it didn't. You probably are right that the Vita is still a viable platform to develop on compared to the WiiU, but it's still far from having the same odds as the 3DS, for niche games or not.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

You could say that since Persona has a fanbase at least twice as large as the main SMT fanbase, P4G should outsell SMT4 by a large margin, but it didn't. You probably are right that the Vita is still a viable platform to develop on compared to the WiiU, but it's still far from having the same odds as the 3DS, for niche games or not.

But isn't it possible that those who had Persona 4 OG, might not be compelled to get the same game twice- even with the added features?