Naoya Tsurumi talks business as usual with Atlus and giving access to dormant IPs
When Sega purchased Index Holdings along with Atlus back in September, many fans of the niche company were worried about the future of their beloved library of titles. Fast forward to today, it all looks like it’s business as usual. Not only were the folks at Atlus pleased to work with the legendary publisher, they’ve since gone on to announce the long-awaited follow-up to Persona 4. And now, the higher ups at Sega Sammy have the niche developer in mind for looking at their long list of dormant brands.
In an interview with Famitsu, translated by Siliconera, Sega Sammy’s director of operations, Naoya Tsurumi, talked about the transitional period and how the developers at Atlus can take advantage of dormant Sega brands. “As a new company, we will venture together, with Index working as an independent company. The plan is to have Atlus and Sega continue shining as brands, while aiming to increase their degree of independence.”
“Everything will remain the same. The people of Index will continue working thoroughly, and Sega have no plans to undertake any of their work. However, we’re at a point where Sega is offering Index to freely make use of any resources they may have, that Index does not. Index will be keeping many of their fine qualities, such as Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei IP, and many others.
While we have no intention of forcing this, we’d definitely love to have them utilize any of Sega’s dormant IPs.”
The developers at Atlus are known for their quirky, yet dark and clever games — and it certainly proposes an interesting opportunity for them. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m definitely down for a Jet Set Radio revival. And since crossovers are all the rage nowadays, I’d be perfectly fine with a Jet Set Radio X Persona title. They’ve got the rights to them, it’s all about saying yes.
What do you think? What classic Sega brands should the developers at Atlus take advantage of?
Atlus Are Free To Use Dormant Sega IP Says Company President [Siliconera]