You may have already seen the news circling the interweb and unfortunately, as MCV broke the news, NIS America will cease to release Atlus titles within Europe.
Takuro Yamashita, Managing director of NIS America, has stated to MCV that they have terminated their alliance with Atlus in Europe and the US citing difficulties establish and equal-partnership with Atlus since being bought by Sega.
“Atlus became very picky about selecting the European publishing partner after it was bought by Sega. It always cherry picked its EU publishing partner based on who offered the highest minimum guarantee on a title by title basis. I noticed that it was very difficult for NIS America to establish an equal-partnership with Atlus.
“Atlus and its European games have contributed a lot to the expansion of NIS America in Europe. I would like to express my greatest appreciation to them for that.”
What does this mean for the future of Atlus titles in Europe and most importantly the eagerly awaited Persona 5? Since being bought by Sega understandably fans expect Sega to be the new publisher but as of yet there has been no confirmation on any one particular publisher. The best scenario for fans would be for Sega to take up the publishing reigns from NIS America but some worry that we may be headed back to a time of huge waiting periods and on a title by title basis.
It’s no secret that Atlus doesn’t view Europe as a viable territory, maybe they don’t know where we are, but let’s hope that Sega do the right thing and not throw us back into the dark ages.
Source: MCV UK