Sega allowing Atlus to use any dormant IP for games

While many think that Sega buying Japanese game studio Atlus may not have been the best thing for games, the publishing company is trying to convince them otherwise. According to Polygon, Sega Sammy’s Chief Operating Officer Naoya Tsurumi has said on Famitsu that Atlus is free to use any of the dormant Sega IPs that it might want.

While Atlus will continue managing its own IP, such as the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series, it can also pick up Sega’s older IP for revival. Sega aims to only help Atlus sell its games. By using Sega’s older IP, Atlus will be able to diversify its catalogue with a wider range of game genres. Some of the dormant IP in Sega’s portfolio are Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5 and Shenmue. Tsurumi has pointed out that the company will not be forced to make any of these games.

This game was the only reason I bought a Dreamcast

“There are plenty that haven’t been active,” he said. “However, the new company just recently got started, so there’s nothing on the table for now, but we’ll definitely be giving it more thought.”

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Sega’s acquisition of Atlus was announced back in September. Sega supposedly hopes to “achieve steady flows of revenue” with the acquisition, since many of Atlus’ games have been critically acclaimed and have done well commercially, albeit nowhere nearly as well as blockbuster titles such as Call of Duty.

Atlus recently unveiled that a new main line game in the Persona series is in the works which will have central themes of slavery and emancipation. It will be hitting the PlayStation 3 towards the end of 2014.