For a little over three years now, Aeria Games have held the license for and been hosting the servers for Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine, an online game based on the SMT series and takes place between the events of SMT I and SMT II (Neither of which ever saw release outside of Japan… *pout*). However a little after the servers third anniversary it has been announced that as of the 7th April 2012 at 11AM PST, the servers will leave the control of Aeria Games and shift to the home of everything else Shin Megami Tensei – ATLUS (USA) Online. Below is the official statement in regards to the transfers for existing players:
We are writing this post to announce that as of April 7th , 2012 @ 11 AM PST, the Shin Megami Tensei game will transfer to a new caretaker, the original Megatener…ATLUS! All players that have been active between February 1st (2012) and April 7th will have everything associated with their account transferred to Atlus’ US servers. This is anticipated to go live April 16th. This includes all items, demons, characters, friends (who are willing) in their entirety. Everything you have done on your characters (including purchases) before the transition from Aeria servers will go with you. To further reassure you, all users who purchase in the month of March will have their purchases rebated to them in Aeria Points. That being said PLEASE! WORRY NOT! This is an opportunity not only for new adventures in the Shin Megami Tensei universe, but for new friends as well. We will be sending out an email to all Megaten players detailing this information in early March. If you have friends that have left that you want to come back, let them know! They will need to play within the timeframe to have their information transferred.
We will be providing more specific information throughout the next month to make this as easy of a transition as possible. If some of you are saddened by this news – don’t be! You will always have a place at Aeria (and we still have a whole month together). Our community of players is unlike any other the MMO world, and the rich history and memories you have created will last as long as you let them. Thank you all very much, it has been our honor.
ATLUS have also announced a number of loyalty bonuses to those who stay on during and after the transition – the following having been taken from their official forums by the purpose-built account “Migration Event”:
Greetings A.O. Fans,
Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine is coming home! For all of you faithful fans, we’ve got a few events lined up for you.
To reward existing players for their loyalty, both in the past dedication and also for players who continue to play SMT: Imagine through and beyond the transition, ATLUS ONLINE has a series of special loyalty events lined up:
- Migration Event (3/1—Launch): Existing SMT users who keep playing during and after the ATLUS ONLINE launch will automatically be entered for a chance to win special in-game prizes.
- New Users Event (3/1—Launch): New users who register during the launch period with ATLUS ONLINE will be entered to win special in-game and physical prizes. Keep checking the site for more details!
Currently there is no word on exactly how the process of transferring accounts will take place, however do expect news regarding this early in the month. But if you want to have your account guaranteed to be transferred, I strongly suggest logging into it over the course of the next few weeks.
Personally while Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine was never the most popular online game, the team at Aeria Games invested quite a lot of time in doing weekly events, dungeon runs with new and higher levelled characters, levelling events and other free and paid events – I hope ATLUS Online continues this tradition and puts the same if not more effort into this title! I also wouldn’t mind a complete revamp of the client updater thinking about it… it has always felt slow and clunky and could use an overhaul during the switch between servers (Wishful thinking I know).
I was kinda freaked when I first heard about it… Mainly because I had JUST started powerhousing this MMO (the only MMO I’ve ever gotten into…)… But I hadn’t logged in since January, due to the fact I needed to focus on school…
Then I saw that the servers closed on the seventh of April… while I was about to log in on the ninth…
The good news here is that they extended to shut down until AFTER the ninth… So, I logged in, and I’ll be playing on the new Atlus servers…
I’ve been a fan of the SMT series for a couple years, and I wasn’t fond of a separate company besides Atlus handling its product e_e
IMAGINE HAS COME HOME… I guess….
Anywho, *rambling* clunky updater indeed…
Everything was pretty clunky, though. That’s the main reason I steered clear of it for a year (while it sat on my computer) until, in a bored rage, picked it back up again.
Ends up not being that bad of a game with a pretty cool story (glad to finally see what happens between SMT1 and 2… Although, does it take place ACTUALLY between 1 and 2 or does it take place right after the nuclear holocaust during SMT 1…).
Welp, see ya later… Now I’m going to go powerhouse SMT1 again.