Topic: Atlus Parent Company Filing for Bankruptcy

[NWR_insanolord]

I honestly don't think Microsoft cares about Japan at this point. Steve Ballmer may be an idiot (he is) but he seems to get that the only reason MS could have any serious interest in the country is if they simply wanted to prove that a Western company could have real success there. In terms of money, they'd have to spend nearly as much on exclusive games as they'd end up making off it.

[Evan_B]

I doubt Sony will bite on this one- the company has enough financial woes as it is, bidding against others just seems like a risky move.

That being said, I think that Nintendo needs, NEEDS a strong JRPG presence on their consoles to compete with the other two on any level and regain some semblance of the "core", even if Atlus has always been a bit niche. The 3DS has seen success in supporting Atlus titles (in fact, I believe the system got SMTIV because of its hardware limitations, perhaps an attempt to evoke the series' last mainline installment from what, ten years ago?, and the SMTxFE crossover is another key sign- I'm sure that deal was made with this eventual act in mind.

[Shaymin]

There's a possibility that GungHo, who makes enough money in a month off Puzzle and Dragons to buy Atlus, could make a bid... though I wonder if that would take out Atlus USA in the process.

[Sarail]

I've said this on for those of you NWR friends who follow me on there, but for those that don't...

Nintendo NEED to buy Atlus. With every fibre of their being, they should be approaching a buyout of that company. As others have stated, Nintendo need a stronger "core" presence, and having Atlus on-board would definitely fill any niche-type games the core gamer crowd so heavily demands.

Do it, Nintendo. I dare you.

[Kytim89]

I do not see Nintendo biting for 250 million for Atlus. However, considering that the Atlus portion of the company is profitable I could see Nintendo buying them for a smaller fee and let the mother use that cut to pay off some of its debts. How much do you think Nintendo would pay for Atlus?

[Adrock]

Acquiring Atlus would only really help Nintendo in Japan which is the territory they care most about. However, Nintendo does well in Japan with their own IPs so this would only really pad their performance there rather than make any sweeping changes. Nintendo would be picking up Atlus so their competitors couldn't which isn't something Nintendo does and probably isn't worth trouble.

Nintendo doesn't need to buy another company to fill holes in their lineup. They can do that themselves. Nintendo can hire the people and fund the development of new IPs in genres they don't currently have a foot in. They can use their own teams. They really just don't want to. Nintendo could have just made Retro Studios develop a new IP and the team down in Texas would have to. I believe Retro Studios chose to make a new Donkey Kong instead and Nintendo obliged. Retro Studios has gained a reputation where anything they touch turns to gold as far as Nintendo fans are concerned so I get the impression Nintendo just lets them do what they want since they're confident whatever Retro Studios makes will sell reasonably well.

Think of all the talented designers who have left their companies. Nintendo could have stepped in and made an offer. "Tell us what you need." Maybe that happened and the offer was refused. You'd think at one point someone would take it though. With that in mind, I don't think it's ever happened. I wish Nintendo was more proactive. It's just not something they seem interested in doing themselves, even through an acquisition.

[Jasae Bushae]

Im a tad confused why people think this would fill a niche for Nintendo. ^^; Looking at it from the Nintendo side of things, they have Fire Emblem and Advance wars. Paper Mario and Golden Sun. Since we are not talking about convincing a 3rd party to work exclusivly on a console and instead are toying with the idea of Nintendo buying up a 2nd party to make games exclusivly on their console, we need to consider whether Nintendo wants to invest its own money in something they are already making a fair amount of return on. Heck, from comments made in Nintendo and given the approach's they take with their current 2nd parties, they might be known for being hands off and not giving pressure but they seem more for tried and true yet working with new ideas which is slightly different from Atlus's approach.

One thing  I don't really understand that I am hoping someone can clarify regarding, is what would happen to Atlus's second parties and the smaller developers who rely on Atlus as an exclusive publisher.  While Atlus USA's fate is up in the air, I don't have any idea how those smaller surrounding properties would fare regardless of who purchases them. Like Vanillaware who did Odin Sphere and Dragon Crown.

[NWR_Neal]

If they made a Radiant Historia sequel, I think they'd save the company and/or world. Just my two cents.

[Jasae Bushae]

Oh and one thing I just thought of.
It isn't like Nintendo doesn't already have a number of franchises in these genres. They are sitting on Earthbound, not doing anything with it just yet. They have new franchises like Pushmo and Harmoknight to play with. They have numerous franchises new and filling niche's and old franchises gathering dust and just waiting for Nintendo to find the time and money to get around to working on them.

Would Nintendo really want to buy up Atlus just for the franchises it would add? Because it seems like they have quite alot already.

[Adrock]

Nintendo is sitting on Earthbound because Shigesato Itoi doesn't want to make any more Mother games.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

If Atlus is profitable, it might just get spun off--its stock sold to various investors or a holding company.