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I really wouldn't care if they bought Natsume, but I don't want Nintendo ever touching Atlus. Atlus has such a unique style and makes games so unlike what Nintendo makes that I fear Nintendo would drain all the energy and creativity out of them.
Yeah because Nintendo totally drained all the creative energy out of Monolith Soft after they bought them as well.
I'm pretty sure Brood doesn't genuinely believe that. He just doesn't want Nintendo buying Atlus because then he wouldn't be able to play Atlus games on his PS3 and Vita anymore because they would be Nintendo exclusives from that point on.
Monolith Soft is pretty much the only example you could pull. I don't care
where I can play Atlus games. I have Devil Survivor Overclocked on my 3DS; quite a few Atlus PSP RPGs on my Vita; and Persona 3 FES on my PS3 (and I used to own Catherine as well). You may have forgotten that
I OWN ALL THE CONSOLES AND BOTH MODERN HANDHELDS. I don't have a stake in the exclusivity.
However, I firmly believe that Atlus makes the games that they do because they are independent. They make risky ventures that may or may not pay off, but
because of the kind of company they are they know how to make them successes with niche audiences. Nintendo, on the other hand, is a massive company that (with very few exceptions) thrives off exploiting the Safe, largely new iterations of ancient franchises. These two philosophies are not compatible with each other. You'd
NEVER see Nintendo release a game like Catherine, and I doubt they'd be too thrilled tarnishing their family-friendly image with occult series like Persona or Shin Megami Tensei (yes, I know they're technically the same franchise, but at this point they're practically different brands. And let's see what they do with Fatal Frame, which is much less extreme than MegaTen). And even if they
did, I doubt NoA would release them here (see Zengeki no Reginleiv and Pandora's Tower).
I like Atlus where they are and doing what they do: making games that few others companies in the world would make for whatever platforms they want, with whatever subject matter they want and for whatever audience they please. Nintendo is a micro-managing company that sends in the likes of Miyamoto to reshape/destroy projects they don't like to fit their needs. Sometimes we get a Metroid Prime out of that, and sometimes we get Star Fox Adventures. I think I'll take Atlus as it is, thanks.
Addendum: Now, if Nintendo wanted to pay Atlus for Wii U / 3DS
exclusivity over X number of titles, I'd be fine with that. Nintendo gets exclusive hardcore titles and Atlus gets lots of money to make interesting games. It's a Win-Win for everyone, and Atlus gets to maintain control over their games. I just don't want to see Nintendo
owning Atlus and having control over what games they get to make.