Atlus to revive retro Sega IP?

Sega is hoping its newest acquisition Atlus will want to try their hand at revitalising a few of the publisher’s dormant franchises.

The studio was acquired by Sega in September for an impressive $140m.

Speaking to Famitsu (translated by Siliconera), Sega Sammy’s chief operating officer Naoya Tsurumi said he was keen for the studio to experiment with back catalogue IP that may not have seen the light of day in a few years.

"While we have no intention of forcing this, we’d definitely love to have them utilise any of Sega’s dormant IPs," he said.

Examples given in the interview included Space Channel 5, Jet Set Radio and Sakura Wars, some of which have received HD re-releases and smartphone ports in recent years. Their characters have also appeared in titles such as Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.

However, since Sega adopted a new four-pillar structure – focusing its boxed product efforts on Sonic, Total War, Football Manager and Aliens – there has been no news on any other planned ports, remakes or sequels.

"There are plenty [of our old IP] that haven’t been active," Tsurumi added. "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."

More likely is that Atlus will continue work on its own IP, most notably the Shin Megami Tensei series. Tsurumi says that Atlus will be treated similarly to "the studio we’ve acquired from overseas" – almost certainly Company of Heroes creator Relic Entertainment – and Atlus’ experience with RPGs fills a gap in Sega’s portfolio.

"I believe that the addition of genres is a crucial factor," he said. "Especially with regard to the fact that Sega has never excelled in RPG titles. With consideration towards Atlus’ strengths, Japanese RPGs would be a prime example [of an added benefit]."