Atlus, the company behind the Persona and Megami Tensei series, is to be dissolved due to its ongoing financial problems.
Atlus, a 100% owned subsidiary of Index Holdings, will henceforth be dissolved and its assets transferred to Index Holdings.
However, it has also been announced that future game releases by the consolidated company will continue to use the “Atlus” brand where appropriate – its history as a distinct entity is at an end though.
Index Holdings itself is better known for the usual execrable mobile phone and “social” games, and it is also the parent company of anime studio Madhouse. Although the merger is supposed to provide Atlus access to these “fortes,” it seems unlikely fans of major Atlus titles will find anything to look forward to in these competencies.
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i hope any future company which hold the franchise will give their best to the titles. Shin megami tensei is a good game.
This is the first article on this site to ever make my stomach feel bad. It almost felt like I was just told that a close relative just died... :(
Same here, as soon as i read the article title off to the right i was saying to myself slowly: "what the $#%^. . ."
Damn man... this just sucks.
Unfortunately, game making has a thin profit margin these days...
Atlus can use Madhouse, but vice versa as well. I'd love to see the games animated. It would provide a nice synergy effect for new games as well.
I can't help but say...To Atlus no Index...
*sighs sadly*
All kidding aside, this made me feel very sad knowing the people who made games I love like Sky Gunners and the Persona/Shin Megami Tensei Series have this tragic fate...
But I hope they will continue with the same awesomeness they put in their future games despite this...
unless your blizzard. (Captain Obvious signing off.)
04:12 yeah and pirating games really helps the company
I can't help but say...To Atlus no Index...
*sighs sadly*
All kidding aside, this made me feel very sad knowing the people who made games I love like Sky Gunners and the Persona/Shin Megami Tensei Series have this tragic fate...
But I hope they will continue with the same awesomeness they put in their future games despite this...
I'm guessing you're referring mostly to PC platform games? So true....
The contents of this article affirm that it is not a problem exclusive for a single platform...
That's so true...but it does amaze me how much $¥ a successful game does bring in...just that they cost so much to make. And for every one that is successful there are probably 2 or 3 costly failures.
From Atlus to Index Group?
Can't get a harder downgrade from catchy game company name to one of the least catchiest.
yeah, hope some large videogame developer/publisher would buy Atlus out like what Square Enix did to Eidos.
Yeah, and then we are back to some really crappy generic localizations. At least Atlus DID realize that the only ones that played their games were otakus and respected that.
If someone would buy Atlus, I hope it is Konami, and I don't trust it too much either, to be honest...
Sega buys Nippon Ichi, Atlus, Gust and Idea Factory.
????
PROFIT... or not really...
Dear God no!
If Sega did buy Atlus, Nippon Ichi and the rest, then they'd be in deeper shit. While the developers DO make great games, many of Sega's decisions regarding IPs and company managing have abyssmal in quality.
they deserve it after puuting out crap like persona 3. lol. NO TOWNZS!!!
...Somebody please tell me this is a fucking joke.
Man...I was really excited about Catherine and Persona 5 in the works...I'm hoping the game is still produced as scheduled, and only the name behind the funding changes...
It's interesting that producers of some of the best games find themselves in the most dire of financial straits...or even collapse. Atlus may not have had a list of AAA-selling games, but their production is far more than comparable to other developers...
I begin to wonder if this is less "Atlus will dissappear" than "Atlus will be absorbed by greater powers that be", as it has been happening to alot of developers lately. First it was the extremely high cost of production for this generation that was pushing developers together, perhaps now it's the economy?
X&V,
K.D.S.
interesting cause i'm on there mailing list and they haven't said jack
If they didn't make making a game so pricy they wouldn't have been hit this bad. Damnit I hope SMT will be ok.
NO! Crap! Atlus created, translated, and ported my favorite games!
Atlus USA just translated your favorite games and published it in the US, Altus created and ported your favorite games.
With all of those craptacular strategy RPGs they've pumped out in the last 5 years, it's no wonder they went belly up.
WAT THE FUCKIN FUCK IS THIS?!
ATLUS CAN'T DIE!!!
IT'S MY SEC FAV AFTER SQUARENIX T3T
OH MAN, CAN'T BELIEVE THIS......*heart attack*
So...what does this mean for Catherine?
And what about Persona 5?
Damn it, the best things are always the first to go...
No shit!
ultimately it doesn't affect anything. more corporate shuffling really. games will still be made.
Fuck
Maybe my generations of games are dying...
Hironobu Sakaguchi don't do Final Fantasy anymore, and now Atlus go like this.
If i wasnt a man i would cry...
That's because he formed Mistwalker and their two traditional JRPG games were sales flops. The Last Story looks pretty good, thou it's on the underpowered Wii.
It's being merged, nothing bad is happening to atlus, you won't lose your waifu games.
Sensationalistcomplex indeed.
PROFOUND SADNESS
This kinda sucks, but merger!=death.
Atlus is definitely the best publisher in the US IMO. Let's just hope they keep pumping out great titles from Japan, because there's almost 0 other US companies doing it.
Gotta love the Sankaku spin on this story. I mean really.
It's not spin, Atlus as we currently know it is no more. Like the article said Atlus will be absorbed into the parent company and will continue to make games.
Directly from a site admin of atlus USA forums, "This is what Red and I are saying, over and over. Atlus is not becoming a mobile games company. The original story doesn't even say that. This is purely a corporate maneuvering so that Index, which is a mobile games company, has easier access to Atlus IPs. That's all."
They're fucked.
They have incompetent management in the parent company.
I hope I wasn't the only person who noticed that the diagram made no sense what-so-ever, other than the ATLUS name being crossed out.
I (unfortunately) have sat through PowerPoint presentations like this before.
I was the one who crossed it out.
They actually own an even more bizarre array of companies than included there - including a TV studio, a movie studio, a publishing company, an advertising agency and, strangest of all, Grenoble Foot 38, a French football team. You name, they want to buy it.
Apparently their CEO faced shareholder criticism over all these questionable acquisitions - he has since promised no major acquisitions for the time being.
Thanks to the Pirates
You don't even try to inform yourself better before posting stuff like that, huh?
Atlus had severe financial problems because of mismanagement at the top. Meaning, it's the old farts in the suits that drove the bandwagon into the mud.
Piracy destroying companies is just the most common and overused excuses of the last few centuries.
That's why i'm propagating to sack the managers when they fail so hard. If something goes wrong, you can bet that the "elite" was doing its best to ruin everything for the few normal, talented employees. This basic rule applies to every single institution on thjs planet.
Sack the managers and CEOs!
Note: "last few centuries" is correct. This goes back at least to the 1700s.
You guys don't read comments do you?
First I was shocked, but when I read that they are still going to make games my hope came back xD
first comment:"ATLUS! NOOOO!!!"
second comment:"they're still going to release Catherine :D"
third comment:"ALTUS! NOOOO!!!"
...I mean.. wtf? aren't you happy?
WHAT
Just check this link from the Atlus US Forum: http://www.atlus.com/forum/showpost.php?s=02721d73802cb60d56552aa1b2240dc5&p=215041&postcount=10 [http://www.atlus.com/forum/showpost.php?s=02721d73802cb60d56552aa1b2240dc5&p=215041&postcount=10]
"Don't worry, guys. This is just some corporate organizational maneuvering and won't affect anything we do."
thats the same like when the german invaded polland
Why does always the companies that make good games have problems? :(
Oh no =( What will happen to Shin Megami Tensei? Call me cynical but I don't think we'll be seeing any good SMT games in the future aside from what's already in the works.
hopefully this won't affect their releases here in the west.
we want more games like trauma series, shin megami, persona and such :)
oh man there goes demons souls 2...........
bad bad news =( i hope they will keep Persona franchise after merging
Nooo!! Feels like Gonzo all over again.
Well, at least they're not merging with Activision.
RIP. You will be missed.
So what the fuck does this mean then!?? Are they just firing everyone and still using the atlus name? is this the end of the SMT series!? FUKC FUCK FUCK!
AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ooh faced
It's a shame once again Sankaku has only succeeded in taking advantage of it's readers. This merge has little to no impact on Atlus itself, Index Holdings, has had a near 100% stake in the company for awhile. What is actually being said here is Atlus is no longer going to have it's own listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Atlus itself is going to continue being what it is, the only difference is higher management, Index Holdings,(the company that owns Atlus) is restructuring itself, and thus Atlus will no longer have it's own place on the TSE along with Index Holding.
To put this in prospective in case it's still not clear, there is a company called Yum! Brands, Inc. that owns KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Wing Street and others. If Yum! Brands, Inc let's say have a 100% stake in Burger King (wouldn't happen for for the sake of an example), and was going to absorb them, they wouldn't suddenly shut down all the Burger Kings, nor would they all turn into Pizza Huts, all it means is Burger King has a new owner, and will likely handle what money it ultimately makes. Why would they change anything if Burger King is successful, they wouldn't there's no reason to, the reason why they wanted a 100% stake and to absorb it, is because it's successful.
In other words Index Holding isn't going to change a thing at all for Atlus, maybe some higher level financial decisions, that even as majority stockholders they would have had a very large role in already, but that's pretty much it. So save getting worked up about it because very little is actually happening here, despite what the article above would lead people to believe.
What part of "dissolve the company" don't you understand? Atlus was already delisted and had its outstanding stock swapped for Index stock some time ago.
What you seem to be missing is that a holding company would never normally dissolve a subsidiary unless it felt drastic changes were required. It is not normal corporate behaviour to start dissolving acquisitions in entirely unrelated industries, particularly for a very M&A orientated company like Index (see their other acquisitions and how many of those they have dissolved).
Index seems not to be a badly managed company, but just what they plan for the remains of Atlus, who can say?
Heh.
Try to check your facts first before making the usual mass-enervating post
From Inzhagi, administrator at the official Atlus Forum
"This is what Red and I are saying, over and over. Atlus is not becoming a mobile games company. The original story doesn't even say that. This is purely a corporate maneuvering so that Index, which is a mobile games company, has easier access to Atlus IPs. That's all."
http://www.atlus.com/forum/showthread.php?p=215041
In your defense, every other 'game journalist' posted this piece of news as 'Atlus going under'.
We truly live in sad times...
That should tell you that nobody buys what Atlus (or at least the US pawns who aren't involved in anything important) are telling us.
Certainly what they are saying there is a lie - they were likely folded because they were losing money.
anyone else think it looks like her arm is twisted in the pic? lol
It's just a merger, it's not like they have said they're going to stop making games.
http://www.atlus.com/forum/showthread.php?p=215004#post215004
You guys panic too easy.
The earth has seen a shine of Hope.. :3
From what the admins on the Atlus USA forums saying, this wont have no affect on the their releases.
:::::::
Quote by Inzaghi (site & forum admin for Atlus USA)
"This is what Red and I are saying, over and over. Atlus is not becoming a mobile games company. The original story doesn't even say that. This is purely a corporate maneuvering so that Index, which is a mobile games company, has easier access to Atlus IPs. That's all."
:::::::
As long as it doesn't affect Cathrine, I'm not going to worry about this. I'll just wait and see what happens.
I'd hardly call it "corporate maneuvering" - Atlus was badly run and had to be put a stop to before it lost any more money, there's the long and the short of it.
They can try to spin it as a realignment for IP/synergistic purposes, but with Index mostly being a mobile content company it isn't very convincing for them to be saying the situation with the gaming business will be much improved merely by being brought into the main company.
They stated something very matter-of-fact and you're the one spinning it now. Atlus US never said the situation with the gaming business will be improved. They said it won't affect anything they do.
We can then infer that the only thing it'll affect is their new parent company. They will have access to their IPs for mobile games.
Hopefully we won't have another SNK like death, only without the rebirth.
NOOOOOOOOOO~
WHAT NO
Maybe they should have asked to make a super sale on steam? Oh wait...
Still it's really sad. Let's hope they will spawn another copmpany to handle the Megaten franchise(both Persona, Catherine and Megatens)
..they are still there.
And sweet jesus, if Atlus did go down, people's reaction would be almost as heartbreaking as Satoshi Kon's death.
A part of me just died when i finished reading this =(
Wow something just broke inside of me... Why did it have to be Atlus, one of the very few companies that dare to experiment with new styles of gameplay... Hope it works out somehow, this company is too great to fall like this...
in memoriam, ATLUS
-----
first satoshi kon died and now atlus will be dissolved... >__<
Noooo hell noo
i dont understand why good companies like these seem to be the ones that always get fucked over. i loved Atlus D=
They brought great games from the East, have decent/good voice actings (and I'm saying this albeit being a dub-hater).. The only few horrible botches that I've seen about them was removing the cutscene voice in Arcana Heart. Now that they're gone, it seems like the world is coming to the end.. :<
They're still there, just not by name...officially anyways.
Technically those decisions were Atlus USA's doing.
Lets hope they release the game.
They will. It's just a merger after all.
Not like they'd kill off the entire operation they've been working on.
And they'd better release it *cracks knuckles*
God damn it. Everything is going to mobile.
How would Catherine go on then? Also... What about Persona 5?
That blows.
Not Smt but the fact that Atlus is gone.
I just hope they finish Catherina... also, how unexpected this comes soon after the new game announcement!
It sure is a weird time for such news...
I doubt they're stopping to work on the games. It would be really dumb after investing so much time and money.
Not to mention rumors of P5 in da works.
As long as they still make it and give me my dose of mindfuck, works for me.
Didn't they already confirm P5 about a month ago? I can bet my left foot that they did. Not for a system, but i'm pretty sure at the least they still have Catherine, and P5 to dish out over what P3Sheot is.
Atlus is still here.It's not like what squaresoft did with enix.
They are just being absorbed by their parent company.
Atlus seems to be the stronger party here.
Atlus... What? No! Nooooooooooooooooo!! N O O O!
I've always owned so many Atlus games, so many great things that they helped bring over. I hope that the titles will still be published under an additional company but... man. It still stings.
damn does this mean no catherine nor persona?
''However, it has also been announced that future game releases by the consolidated company will continue to use the “Atlus” brand where appropriate – its history as a distinct entity is at an end though.''
in other words, company is dead, but the brand still exists, all planned games will still be released
so... just as keikaku?
No More Demon's souls :(
Atlus published Demon Souls... It was published by Sony in Japan...
Demon's souls was made by From Software.
Sony published it in Japan and they regretted that theey didn't bring it to america themselves.
If there's a Demon's souls 2, it will come, in a way or another.
I know...but like....Sony themselves refused to bring it to America in the first place, and Atlus steps in and does it instead. Not only with Demons souls, but they brought over some great classics like Odin sphere and a number of other great jrpgs for every console.
I just hope they'll be able to bring over more of them in the future....While there are other publishers that will bring over big name titles in the future, Atlus introduced a good number of games in america
You'd think they'd be doing well since they brought over Demons souls to America......
It just doesn't make sense.....These financial problems were predicted more than a year ago....and now all of a sudden it kills them.....They brought over some awesome games!
Does this mean no more Persona?
"However, it has also been announced that future game releases by the consolidated company will continue to use the “Atlus” brand where appropriate – its history as a distinct entity is at an end though."
Please read the article in its entirety.
Yes, it means no more persona and no more shin megami tensei.
I can see some christians being happy with it.
:< And some Christians(like me) won't be happy about it. I liked Persona 4.
Same here.. Where else I can play the seven Archangels as my partners to beat the hell out of Shadows and demons :<