Moments ago it was tweeted out by Deep Silver, the video game publishing division of German multinational corporation Koch Media, that they will be bringing Atlus USA and select SEGA titles to Europe. This will include Atlus titles Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. No further details are known as of now, but we are hoping a press release hits soon. This is both great news and bad news for European SEGA fans. It’s great that more games from SEGA and Atlus will be releasing to Europe, but it is bad news as it is a major sign that SEGA Europe – a publisher in their own right – are so disinterested in their own titles that they must rely on an external publisher to bring them over.
No word on what these select SEGA titles would include, but I would wager they’d be the more niche and/or Japanese titles like Hatsune Miku and 7th Dragon III: Code VFD. This is just my guess however, as we do not an any confirmation of what SEGA titles to expect as of yet.
Updates as the story unfolds after the break.
UPDATE: In another tweet, Deep Silver confirmed that 7th Dragon III: Code VFD is among the select SEGA titles they will release in Europe. See? I was right!
UPDATE 2: Here is the press release in full:
Deep Silver Enters European Publishing Agreement for Multiple ATLUS and SEGA Titles – Including Persona 5Munich, Germany, July 6 – Deep Silver, SEGA® of America, Inc., and Atlus U.S.A., Inc.are entering a collaboration to publish multiple ATLUS- and SEGA-brand titles on consoles and handheld devices across all European & PAL territories.The publishing deal will cover the wide array of future titles for both physical and digital versions across PAL territories, including the SEGA title 7th Dragon III Code: VFD, and the ATLUS titles Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, and the hotly anticipated Persona 5.“We are delighted to have signed this publishing partnership and look forward to using all our pan-European publishing network to maximize the potential of the ATLUS and SEGA games” said Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media/Deep Silver.“In entering this partnership with Deep Silver, I am truly delighted we will be able to release our titles in the European regions,” said Naoto Hiraoka, CEO, Atlus U.S.A., Inc., and senior vice president of publishing, Sega of America, Inc. “Not only does the deal span multiple titles, but Deep Silver has a strong presence in European and PAL retailers. They have a strong passion for being able to deliver physical games to our fans in those territories, which we hold in high regard.”More news to follow shortly on these exciting titles!
This deal doesn’t appear to involve SEGA Europe at all. SEGA of America and Atlus USA entered into the collaboration with Deep Silver, circumnavigating SEGA Europe entirely. Deep Silver will be releasing physical titles, good news for fans fearing digital only. It has not been confirmed, but my guess would be SEGA Europe would have first say on if they would want to publish a SEGA title in Europe before Deep Silver while all Atlus titles will be fair game for Deep Silver.
UPDATE 3: A new SEGA Blog post has clarified how exactly SEGA Europe fits in to all of this. You can read the full post here, but the bit pertaining to SEGA Europe can be read in the below quote:
Ad:The next question out of your mouth I’m sure is “but why? You have SEGA Europe, use them!” Yes, we do have a European branch, but they’re very much their own business, and as a business unit, SEGA Europe focuses on our Western IP titles – the titles developed by our Western studios such as Creative Assembly, Relic Entertainment, Sports Interactive and in partnership with studios such as PlaySport Games. With the majority of those titles being released on PC, we’ve seen an evolution of SEGA Europe into a more digitally-centric business over the last few years. For any packaged releases of SEGA Europe Western IPs they already partner with Deep Silver to bring those titles to market in Europe. It made sense to mirror that partnership with the SEGA of America-managed Japanese IP titles which currently have a heavier bias towards physical release. Sega Europe will still be publishing Yakuza 0.
God is real. That is all
I wish their work on Mighty Number 9 was more substantial than what it was.
Given that I have never played any game from Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive and now this Amplitude Studios there take over of Sega Europe is concerning.
I remember Creative Assmebly Australia aka Sega Studios Australia was a studio that wanted to be true to the companies roots and they were shuttered. Sad.