Pretty much anyone who follows gaming news in the slightest has probably heard the news, but if not, then it's best to just say this fast and get it over with. Sega Sammy has purchased Index Corporation for 14 Billion Yen, which, as we know, means that Sega Sammy now owns Atlus. Since Atlus was one of the myriad of subsidiaries of Index Corporation, who went bankrupt when it was discovered that they were cooking the books because they felt like they just weren't making enough money. Because Persona doesn't sell gangbusters or anything over there. My point is that Atlus probably made Index a ton of fucking money and they're kind of idiots for....not just being happy with that, getting their entire corporation into insolvency to the point where they're bought by fucking Sega Sammy of all things.
Sega Sammy, as you might know, is the proper name for the entirety of the Sega enterprise and does not specifically refer to the entity that we know as Sega. Also known as "Those assholes who won't localize any of their fucking games". Sammy actually bought out Sega years ago, since they had the cash to do so, what with their crazy pachinko empire and such, hence the merger name Sega Sammy. That explanation was made, of course, to reinforce the fact that it is Sega Sammy, the parent company, and not actually Sega proper, the subsidiary, that purchased Index Corporation This is an important tidbit! Because it allows you to think that Sega, the subsidiary, who is full of assholes that make amazing games and refuse to sell them to 95% of the world, does not have control over Index Corporation or, more importantly, Atlus.
So of course, this is where I crush all your hopes and dreams by stating that "Sega Dream Corporation" was created as a subsidiary of Sega to handle Index Corporation and all its holdings. Because clearly, you want the company that you had to financially bail out, and has never really recovered to handle your newest asset that you purchased because they were also facing money troubles, albeit on sort of the other end of the spectrum. Clearly, this is a brilliant business move that I just don't see the intelligence of. What I -do- see, myself, is basically two ways that this scenario can play out.
Scenario the first: in which we exist in a just world filled with sugar landscapes and rainbow-farting unicorns. Sega (either directly or through SDC which is basically just semantics) looks over Index's holdings and goes "You know, aside from the whole massive fraud, you guys were doing pretty great, so we're not going to change a whole lot. Aside from the....massive fraud thing, clearly." Then they take a look at Atlus and by extension Atlus USA and get a light bulb over their collective heads. They decide to hand off any combination of Valkyria Chronicles 3, Yakuza Kenzan (this will never happen, btw), Yakuza 1&2 HD Collection and Yakuza 5 (if Sony's new Third Party group isn't taking this one as they might be taking over Restoration) to Atlus USA for North American localization and publishing. They also announce and advertise these projects in an attempt to actually see them sell. Everyone is surprised and delighted. Everything is amazing, life is wonderful.
Scenario the second: in which we exist in a world prone to abject shittiness filled with disappointment and bad decisions. Sega decides to gut the bulk of Index Corporation as nicely as they can to maximize the profits they can pull in from it for the very, very short amount of time wherein such a thing is viable, leaving Atlus Japan more or less untouched because delicious Persona money. Restructuring hits Atlus USA to make it a shell building that doesn't really get to do a whole lot because Sega just don't give a fuck about Localizations. Not only are Sega's franchises still never coming to American shores, but now we have to legitimately worry about Atlus titles (aside from Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem) coming out in America for absolutely no fucking good reason. Everyone is surprised and horrified. Everything is terrible.
There is obviously a middle-ground between the two scenarios, which is -likely- what's going to happen at the end of this, but I am not optimistic for the chances of Scenario the first. It probably wouldn't be so worrisome if it was something branched off of Sega Sammy proper overseeing Index's husk, since they'd be far more apt to let everything run as it was, again, minus the massive fraud. It's very decidedly a thing to watch and see develop, however, which means it's going to be a tense while til it's apparent which way the pendulum is swinging. Here's hoping for more Atlus USA love, however.
there is a specific reason why I have a tag for "Goddamnit Sega"
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