Rumor: Ignition Entertainment Giving Up On SNKP? Atlus USA To Take Over?

Rather than post in two separate threads, I decided to create my own.

Now, as some of you are well aware, Metal Slug XX for the PSP is coming out at the end of February. While it was originally announced that Ignition Entertainment would be handling distribution, it seems that task has now fallen into the hands of Atlus USA. In a (possibly) related development, Ignition has (supposedly) canceled distributing Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny for XB360.

With all of those developments, one has to wonder if Ignition Entertainment is abandoning ship on distributing SNKP's titles in America and Europe. Given the complete disaster that was KOF XII, who can blame them for cutting and running? (I can, but that's because I'm bitter that they never brought KOF '02: UM stateside, especially since it would've made a nice peace offering after KOF XII utterly bombed; I have little hope that the XBLA port will be anywhere near as adequate as the PS2 version.)

Furthermore, is this the beginning of Atlus USA's run at SNKP's franchises (and could this be a sign that Atlus Japan might end up purchasing SNKP)?

I like this post. You covered all the bases quite nicely, I think.

I like ATLUS USA, they have been doing a really great job at publishing great JPN games. I don't know much about Ignition, so I don't have much to say.

Atlus USA has their collective heart in the right place, but their localizations leave something to be desired.

I feel bad for Ignition. They picked two of the worst SNK games to release in KOF XII and Edge Of Destiny.

Could this be the start of the Atlus-SNK era?

If Atlus Japan buys SNK, it's probably only a good thing.

Ignition is still releasing EoD in America according to the forum admin and Ignition employee Mad Max over at the official Ignition forums...he told me via PM.

The XX situation is a telling sign though since it's pretty much the first original, non-canceled SNKP game since Ignition snapped them all up.

Wait, are you suggesting that Ignition broke from SNK-P or that SNK-P decided to drop Ignition? (the third option being a mutual decision, though that doesn't happen often in business)

KanYozakura said:

Ignition is still releasing EoD in America according to the forum admin and Ignition employee Mad Max over at the official Ignition forums...he told me via PM.

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Is Ignition purposely trying to drive itself out of business?

Lyte Edge said:

Is Ignition purposely trying to drive itself out of business?

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I think it's probably a contractual obligation or something legal like that. I dunno.

Deuce said:

Atlus USA has their collective heart in the right place, but their localizations leave something to be desired.

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I'll be honest- the most recent game from Atlus USA that I played was Arcana Heart (and before that... Guilty Gear, back in mid-2002). The translation for that game seemed pretty solid to me (kudos to Atlus USA for taking a risk on a lesser-known game). It may be too soon to say this, but if they end up with the master license to all of SNKP's properties, there's a chance we may see a physical copy of KOF '02 UM stateside... maybe.

KanYozakura said:

Ignition is still releasing EoD in America according to the forum admin and Ignition employee Mad Max over at the official Ignition forums...he told me via PM.

The XX situation is a telling sign though since it's pretty much the first original, non-canceled SNKP game since Ignition snapped them all up.

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So, I guess that haven't given up the ship yet. However, the fact that this was relayed to you via PM and not publicly announced on Ignition's forums, coupled with the fact that there's no street date on the U.S. version (let alone the Japanese version), makes this all sound highly suspect. In short, I'll believe it when I see it. (I also predict that it will bomb mightily, thereby putting the final nail in the SNKP-Ignition relationship coffin. Atlus USA always seemed like a better fit to me, especially with all the free merchandise they give away for even some of their lesser-known games.)

Bobak said:

Wait, are you suggesting that Ignition broke from SNK-P or that SNK-P decided to drop Ignition? (the third option being a mutual decision, though that doesn't happen often in business)

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It's far too early to tell, but around this time a year and a half ago, rumors were circulating that SNKP USA was closing up shop and that now ex-President Ben Herman was about to retire, thereby handing the reins over to Ignition Entertainment. Since there's no way to know who dropped who and who picked up who when, we may never know.

KanYozakura said:

I think it's probably a contractual obligation or something legal like that. I dunno.

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Bear in mind that a beta for the English EoD port was up and running as far back as mid-2008 (during the dying days of the Herman era), thus a stateside release was pretty much a given (barring a last-minute cancelation, which could still happen).

In my opinion, Ignition did as good a job as they could've done with all the games they were given, but when you're dealt a bad hand, you have to play it out as best you can. (The fact that they could've had an ace in the hole by delaying the release of KOF '98 UM and bundling it with KOF '02 UM still bothers me.)

Deuce said:

Atlus USA has their collective heart in the right place, but their localizations leave something to be desired.

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If you were referring to US PS1-era Atlus USA, which was responsible for the shoddy original localization of Persona 1, then I'd understand. As far as anything concerning the Atlus of today (such as any of the games under the SMT umbrella on the PS2), those localizations are far better than anything SNKP has ever managed in the past.

Still, XI's localization was an improvement over MI2's.

insaneben said:

In my opinion, Ignition did as good a job as they could've done with all the games they were given, but when you're dealt a bad hand, you have to play it out as best you can. (The fact that they could've had an ace in the hole by delaying the release of KOF '98 UM and bundling it with KOF '02 UM still bothers me.)

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This.

Ignition can't be blamed for the games being bad. They didn't make them, and the onus is on SNK-P to make good games. Ignition should be helping to advertise the product, but even the marketing of these games is on SNK-P's shoulders. Ignition is just a middle man ini all of this.

Taiso said:

Could this be the start of the Atlus-SNK era?

If Atlus Japan buys SNK, it's probably only a good thing.

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Agreed.

insaneben said:

Rather than post in two separate threads, I decided to create my own.

Now, as some of you are well aware, Metal Slug XX for the PSP is coming out at the end of February. While it was originally announced that Ignition Entertainment would be handling distribution, it seems that task has now fallen into the hands of Atlus USA. In a (possibly) related development, Ignition has (supposedly) canceled distributing Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny for XB360.

With all of those developments, one has to wonder if Ignition Entertainment is abandoning ship on distributing SNKP's titles in America and Europe. Given the complete disaster that was KOF XII, who can blame them for cutting and running? (I can, but that's because I'm bitter that they never brought KOF '02: UM stateside, especially since it would've made a nice peace offering after KOF XII utterly bombed; I have little hope that the XBLA port will be anywhere near as adequate as the PS2 version.)

Furthermore, is this the beginning of Atlus USA's run at SNKP's franchises (and could this be a sign that Atlus Japan might end up purchasing SNKP)?

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We should be so lucky.

Deuce said:

Atlus USA has their collective heart in the right place, but their localizations leave something to be desired.

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Maybe so. HOWEVER, they seem FAR more inclined to take a chance on games than most other companies. How many of the SNK releases that Japan gets do we see over here? I bet we'd only miss out on half as many if Atlus owned SNKP, or was publishing their games here.

Taiso said:

This.

Ignition can't be blamed for the games being bad. They didn't make them, and the onus is on SNK-P to make good games. Ignition should be helping to advertise the product, but even the marketing of these games is on SNK-P's shoulders. Ignition is just a middle man ini all of this.

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True, however if they're decidedly bailing on games, as it seems they may have with SamSho, then screw 'em.

I kinda wouldn't want this to happen,
seeing as I kind of like atlus and them hitching their wagon to
SNKPLAYMORE of today would be like towing a sinking ship.

rarehero said:

I kinda wouldn't want this to happen,
seeing as I kind of like atlus and them hitching their wagon to
SNKPLAYMORE of today would be like towing a sinking ship.

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Perhaps.
I mean, Atlus has a lot of properties they're juggling right now. Perhaps the biggest fear would be that if SNKP was absorbed into Atlus Japan's fold, it would fade into obscurity, much like when Funimation rescued a ton of Geneon's titles. (Anime fans will know what I'm talking about. Remember when they rescued the rights to "Kamichu", "Paradise Kiss" and "When They Cry"? Yeah.... didn't think so.)

On the other hand, aside from KOF Sky Stage and a few XBLA titles, SNKP doesn't have much coming down the pipes between now and (possibly) next year. Let's put it this way: when your classic title re-makes (like KOF '98 UM and KOF '02 UM) outsell your newest releases (like KOF XII), odds are you're doing something seriously wrong.

This is just my personal opinion, but unless SNKP finds a way out of the mess it got itself in, KOF Sky Stage could very well be the last original title we see out of SNKP (unless they start releasing footage of KOF XIII later this year, but by then, it may already be too late). If they were bought out by a larger, more competent company (like Atlus), they'd at least have a few more skilled programmers to augment their already-overworked (underworked?) and under-talented staff (provided whomever owns SNKP doesn't pull an "Aruze" on them).

Regardless, there's no way of knowing what their current financial state is, and until SNKP starts making huge strides with newer incarnations of their IPs (not counting Metal Slug XX and Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny, both of which will most likely bomb), we may not hear anything out of them for a while (if not ever).

Is it confirmed that they're working on KOF XIII?

Taiso said:

Is it confirmed that they're working on KOF XIII?

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http://forums.ignitionusa.net/showthread.php?t=1919

It's not really an official announcement, though.

It's basically the company 'dropping hints' and we're left to basically intuit that it's being worked on.

Or to 'suppose' it's being worked on.

Until SNK-P makes an official statement, I'm filing this under the 'speculation' category.

How big is SNKP workforce wise? (if anybody knows). Do they have alot of higher management turnover?

It seems like whoever is in charge doesn't have a vision. SNK has such a batch of awesome IP they can pull from and pull into the current times and make relevant. everything seems like a waste. All these ports and compilations. They are not even presented right to the public, so everyone could get kinda excited for new stuff, and build some anticipation for something.

I want to switch game companies to SNK now!

Outkast99 said:

How big is SNKP workforce wise? (if anybody knows). Do they have alot of higher management turnover?

It seems like whoever is in charge doesn't have a vision. SNK has such a batch of awesome IP they can pull from and pull into the current times and make relevant. everything seems like a waste. All these ports and compilations. They are not even presented right to the public, so everyone could get kinda excited for new stuff, and build some anticipation for something.

I want to switch game companies to SNK now!

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As far as I know, SNKP is (and always has been) a small company with a small workforce (hence the reason why many of their games take a long time to be developed and released- i.e. KOF XII). I'm not sure about higher management turnover, but as far as I know, most of the people who were in charge of the original SNK are currently running SNKP (minus most of the talented programmers, artists and musicians that got them famous in the first place; they've moved on to other companies, like Capcom and DIMPS).

SNK Playmore is notorious for being slow to adapt to new technology. (Had KOF: Maximum Impact or KOF XII been released seven or eight years ago, there probably wouldn't be as much criticism surrounding the company as there is now.) They do have a lot of solid IPs- the problem is they've become so dependent on KOF or Metal Slug that every game released since 2001 has one of those names in the title (minus SVC Chaos, Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum, and Card Fighters DS, although all three of those games feature at least one of those characters from said series).

However, there are rare instances when they do revive a lesser-known IP (like they did with 2005's Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princesse) or try a new franchise (like the awfully-perverted Doki Doki Majo Shinpan, which, sadly but true, to date, has been SNKP's best-selling game). The big problem is that familiarity breeds profit (or so SNKP thinks, and judging from how well KOF '98 UM and KOF '02 UM have done in arcades and sold for the PS2, they might be right). Hence the reason why they haven't developed a new MOTW/Last Blade/World Heroes/etc. (never mind the fact that it would prove costly and time-consuming to create and could face critical backlash, a la KOF XII).

The sad thing is that not even all the marketing in the world could help make most of their shoddily-produced titles into huge sellers (again, using KOF XII as an example). Right now, nearly all of SNKP's titles don't even register a blip on the mainstream American gaming public (and when you consider the fact that KOF: Maximum Impact and KOF XII have been two of SNKP's biggest sellers stateside, that's not a good sign). Hence the reason why SNKP has been more focused on the Japanese and Asian market (they're so loyal, they'd buy a strip mahjong game with male KOF characters in it). It also seems lately that most of their new content has been on cell phone games (like dating sims and puzzle games featuring SNK characters, ranging from tame to risque).

It's a dark day when your huge next-gen title bombs and gets outsold by an upstart company who produces a shinier and slightly-polished variation of their only major hit (that would be Arc System Works and Blazblue/Guilty Gear). Needless to say, despite having a massive library of decent games, SNKP just doesn't know how to adapt to new technology. Think about it- why does KOF '98 UM for X-Box Live Arcade have such awful netcode? Why are most of their classic titles heading to the Nintendo Wii? Why hasn't a single one of their PS2 ports appeared on PSN as of yet? Why has it taken them this long to release KOF '02 UM for XBLA (due out in the summer of 2010, and possibly with the same pathetic netcode)? Having the same-old leadership when things keep going astray is not a good thing. Perhaps new ownership or a change in upper-management might do the trick, but unless something happens soon, SNKP is going disappear into obscurity much like Psikyo did when they were bought out by X-Nauts back in 2003 (there hasn't been a single game from them since 2005). Would that be a good thing? Perhaps, but I fear if such a scenario did occur, too many good games would be lost amidst a pile of legal BS.

Atlus picking up SNKP would be the lesser of two evils. Like other people have said, I would rather have SNK games by a respectful company than no company around at all. I feel that if something is not done soon, then I fear our beloved fan supported company will drift into the past.

Why are some people talking about this as if Atlus would own SNKP or have any control over SNKP IPs? This is only about distribution.

SouthtownKid said:

Why are some people talking about this as if Atlus would own SNKP or have any control over SNKP IPs? This is only about distribution.

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Glad I wasn't the only one that noticed that.

Ignition was cool and fair, and worked hard at getting SNKP to rescue KOF XII. Without ignition, there wouldn't have been any patches, even though they were largely failures. If they are leaving SNKP hanging, its SNKP's fault for not having good regulation or even a minor testing of its markets or the quality of its products.

They tried, it didn't work, cut your losses and back better resources.

A lot of people hate this company, but I genuinely love the job they did with KOF 98UM.

Atlus may be good news, they have a stronger USA foundation, and probably better bank to repair stuff, and SNKP will probably end up having to kiss up a bit by thinking ahead of their marketing procedures. Its also a problem because Atlus seems like the type of company to shit-can others if they produce bad marketed junk for redistribution.