Sega buys Atlus

As long as Sega doesn't just up and cancel it. As a distributor, Sega has a worse track record than most. And I'm including Ubisoft and EA in that list.

I mean, come on. Name me one good Sega game since Y2K?

-Fred

But Sega don't have a reason to cancel it as most of the project has been funded by us. In fact, that's a good point. Not to go to war with Chris, Aaron and Adrian, but if Atlas do cancel the project and the game somehow gets completely deadlocked, do we get our money back? I mean, it's OUR project because the majority of financing stemmed from our contributions. We're all valid stakeholders in the release of the product.

However, I honestly don't see Sega canceling it. Once again, they have no reason to do that. The game has been financed, developed, produced and ready to go. Really, Sega have every reason to continue the project because as publishers all they're doing is the marketing and distribution side of it and they make a profit off any copy sold.

There is no written contract between Kickstarter users and the Kickstarter project managers. The only two things that can halt Sega cancelling the project, is either that they see Tesla Effect as a game mostly created anyway, and thus low-risk; or, and I sincerely hope this - That Chris Jones has an iron-clad contract with Atlus, giving Big Finish final say in all matters regarding the project.

Because I can see Sega cancelling the project just to save money for any marketing they think they might have to do.

But then, I'm a cynic that way.

-Fred

I 100% support the community backlash in this if there is any. Sega at this point in time is not a good publisher to be getting involved in. Its a messy situation and one I do not wish to be apart of. I didn't sign on to make Sega rich.. I signed on to make Big Finish successful so that my good friends here like Cubase could have jobs. This just seems like another Mcirosoft or Intel situation waiting to happen.

I want to assure Big Finish that I'll try to do what I can to ensure their game is bug free when I get the chance to test for them, but this just make me extra weary of the situation and I feel we should've been consulted on which publisher was right for the project. I thought ATLUS was a poor choice given their financial situation anyway.

Here we go again I guess *sigh*. Publishers are scumbags.

EDIT: Also I'm aware of the Irony that my forum avatar is Sonic dressed as a Detective. The situation with Sega is that they're poorly managed. They were the publisher behind Aliens Colonial Marines.. Trust me on this.. its a bad PR move for Big Finish and they need to get out of there ASAP because it will hurt them.

I made a post about this in the backers section.

The worse that could happen is that Sega/Atlus do not fulfill the current contract, it will not affect the completion of the game or release.

It would curtail exposure, wider distribution and localization in other countries, less release platforms, and it may partly result in lower sales.

Don't Panic.

Best regards,
KvE

This will have no effect whatsoever on the release of Tesla Effect. Sega's not publishing Tesla Effect, Atlus is. Yes, Sega Sammy's board of directors could tell Atlus what to do - but it's too late to interfere with Tesla Effect now. The contract has been signed and the ink is dry. Not to mention how just flat-out DUMB it would be - Atlus has been very successful over the last several years, and it would not be wise to mess with that.

Aaron

Never underestimate the stupidity of publishers. Until I hear something from a reliable source, I'll not rule anything out.

I guess that's what's called being "cautiously pessimistic"

-Fred

<Edit: Weird double post from nowhere>

-Fred

KMFDMvsEnya wrote:The worse that could happen is that Sega/Atlus do not fulfill the current contract, it will not affect the completion of the game or release.

It would curtail exposure, wider distribution and localization in other countries, less released platforms, and it may part result in lower sales.

Don't Panic.

Best regards,
KvE

This is the most important point in all of this. Unless this deal was poorly thought out and gives Atlus more than just distribution rights (I don't see how that is possible) the worst case scenario is BFG self publishes. It's not as if BFG is dependant on Atlus's money to finish this thing, and they don't own the rights to Tex. They can't cancel anything other than the distribution deal.

With BFGs connections to GOG, if they need to self publish, they can probably get it there, which will be decent exposure.

That's why I brought up my concerns, that some people may have seen as doom and gloom, a few posts back, because acquisitions like this can happen. Though I wonder if Sega pulls the plug if that would only affect distribution and game extras instead of the entire deal. However, I don't think people will make the same mistake twice.

I actually asked, I believe was, Kevin at the Salt Lake CC on the nature of the Atlus partnership and whether it could result in a similar fallout as what occurred with Microsoft.

He reassured me that this would not be the case, Atlus is serving solely as a publisher/distributor they did not buyout BFG nor have any hold on their various IPs.

He outlined some of the benefits of the partnership such as assistance to getting directly onto Steam rather than through Greenlight. Greater distribution into foreign markets along with translations. Increased exposure and create a long time presence in the market with several levers.

The core game has been funded and will be released, regardless of the Sega buyout of Atlus.

Best regards,
KvE

I see it more being like the arrangement they had with Intel. Intel were responsible for the reason Overseer came out rushed and bug riddled. Sega has a habit of doing similar things. I don't want to see their management style incorporated into this game because I can certainly see the same thing happening- though I'll try my best to prevent it when given the opportunity.

This is different than the Intel deal. With Intel, they absolutely had to have the game ready to be packaged with the hardware. I doubt if any hard date has been set with Tesla Effect, and it's clearly well on its way to completion in any case. Also, technically once Intel cancelled the deal with Access, they could have theoretically continued development for as long as necessary without pressure from Intel. If the bugs were the result of the Intel deal, then it probably had less to do with time and more to do with money. Seeing as Tesla Effect was privately funded through Kickstarter, money is less of an issue here.

I think there is a lot of worry over nothing here.

Matthew Buckstein wrote:I think there is a lot of worry over nothing here.

Well my experience in the industry tells me there is because I've yet to see such a deal go smoothly. I want Big Finish to give an offical statement on the possibility of Sega being the publisher and I'd like for them to let backers now the extent of the contract they signed.. since you know.. its our money too in this.

More than anything I'm frustrated with the lack of transparency at this stage in the project. We should be on the verge of Beta. If I can see the game for myself I'll have a better idea of where we stand in terms of QA, I do not want to see a repeat of Overseer's Bugs because it was dreadful and unacceptable. I want to see Big Finish flourish as a developer.