The lights are on
Last week, Bloomberg Japan reported that Atlus parent Index Corporation had received approximately 20 bids for the RPG-focused publisher. It was previously unclear whether Index would be including Atlus in the bidding procedure being conducted under the company's rehabilitation process.
As detailed in our previous coverage, rehabilitation is an expedited form of bankruptcy. We also know that key Index officials have stepped down in light of the ongoing fraud investigation. Index is accused of "round tripping," which artificially inflates sales numbers while offering no financial benefit to the guilty company.
One of the bidders is reportedly Sega, which is coming off a very strong quarter, bucking a trend amongst Japanese publishers. We reached out to Atlus for comment last week to confirm this report (to ensure that our translation is accurate) and have not yet received a statement.
The Bloomberg report indicates that the bidding pool will be narrowed this week.
[Source: Bloomberg]
Our TakeIt had been my hope that Atlus' success would have made it something Index wanted to keep intact. It seems that all divisions are on the table, and Index could very well be offering up the RPG powerhouse to a new parent.
There's no word yet on which other companies are bidding, but one would think that if Nintendo or Sony were in the pool, their names would have floated to the top. Wherever Atlus ends up, we hope a new owner will let the publisher continue doing exactly what it has been: delivering quality RPGs around the world.
Be an independent developer...
Sega is just gonna make the games unbelievably hard. Like Jet Set Radio and all their other games. So Sony please buy!
SONY make a move for the love of god!
Don't know if I trust Sega.
Wow. Loosing their money making company, why? I hope a good, big-budget company gets the company.
I just hope this doesn't affect Fire Emblem X SMT
Ugh, not Sega. I don't want a company known for not localizing games, to take over a studio known for localizing games.
i think people are missing the point behind why atlus shows love for ds and 3ds. its also the reason atlus isnt releasing games that are cross platform. COST.
developing for ds/3ds is some of the lowest development costs in the industry next to mobile phones, this allows the company to take more risks in development, doing things that are outside the box and are not proven to move game copies.
in response to alot of you who think making an exclusive game is taking a risk, because your game insnt reaching a wide enough audience. your half right but the JRPG audience is ALREADY on the 3ds.
the risk it would be to sink millions into a triple A title that could be ported across all platforms greatly out weighs the risk of putting a few exclusive titles on a platform that has proven time and time again that it has a strong JRPG fanbase.
As long as Square-Enix does not aquire it there is some hope. They have been god awful with RPG's as of late.
I think if a first party were to acquire Atlus, it'd be Nintendo or Sony easily. However, I'd rather see a third party acquire Atlus such as Sega or even Square Enix.
I think in order for this to work, it has to be a Japanese Company, since Atlus is one of the last bastions of "accessible" Japanese games. Meaning that they are just weird enough for the Western audience without being too alienating. Though if a Western or European company did purchase it, I'd hope they'd have the sense of mind to let Atlus do what it has been doing best. Atlus didn't fail its parent company, it was the other way around.
I don't mind if the takeover is made by a Japanese or western company, as long as they leave Atlus creative power alone. Hope any potential buyer to take note of Rare's history in order to avoid such creative fallout.
As long as Atlus's creative power over their projects remains intact, I'll be fine with whatever company picks them up. I hope they can be that fortunate.
I'm really hoping Sony or Nintendo buy Atlus, but I know the chances of that are basically nil.