Index Holdings, the company that owns Japanese game developer and publisher Atlus, dissolved the JRPG maker as an independent entity on Monday, bringing its game division under the direct control of the parent company. Whether Atlus' publishing or foreign arms will survive the transition remains to be seen. At the very least, the Atlus brand will continue, according to a short press release by the firm's public relations department.
The move came as part of an ongoing attempt by Index to narrow its business focus to a handful of core, profitable areas, and Index has apparently been making key business decision for Atlus for some time. The mobile phone-based Persona 3 social game announced earlier this month, for example, was started under orders from Index.
The holding company has made no mention of what properties or exact divisions will survive the transition. However, the director of Atlus' recently announced PS3/Xbox 360 game Catherine, Katsura Hashino, released a statement on the game's official website that didn't directly address the issue, but implied that his team, along with an unspecified number of others were not affected by the change.
They're totally going to sell the name Atlus to a Korean MMO developer
Atlus' game development will be fine. It's just corporate restructuring.
Atlus' game development will be fine. It's just corporate restructuring.
weeaboo suicide pact meets at the shibuya station at 0800
Trying to think of the last Atlus game that was good... help me out here
weeaboo suicide pact meets at the shibuya station at 0800
This news doesn't really strike me as the doom and gloom type, is all. I'd say wait until they either start laying off staff or key people start to leave the company before worrying about this...
weeaboo suicide pact meets at the shibuya station at 0800
I'm with Tiesto. The day Megaten dies is the day I stop gaming.
It was on GAF, methinks.weeaboo suicide pact meets at the shibuya station at 0800
I'm with Tiesto. The day Megaten dies is the day I stop gaming.
Tiesto has not posted in this thread.
Makes me pretty sad. The majority of the DS games I really enjoy are under their umbrella. I can't imagine them being very profitable in the States.
and Trauma Team was like three months ago.Trying to think of the last Atlus game that was good... help me out here
wtf, Devil Survivor was last year!spoiler (click to show/hide)Strange Journey was this year![close]
I always wondered how they stayed profitable. Them and Spike. How does spike keep finding money to localize and publish big games which cannot, do not, will not sell in Japan?
I always wondered how they stayed profitable. Them and Spike. How does spike keep finding money to localize and publish big games which cannot, do not, will not sell in Japan?
disappointed by the lack of fatlus comics itt
disappointed by the lack of fatlus comics itt
http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r318/vizOA/fatlus/
have fun
disappointed by the lack of fatlus comics itt
http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r318/vizOA/fatlus/
have fun
I always wondered how they stayed profitable. Them and Spike. How does spike keep finding money to localize and publish big games which cannot, do not, will not sell in Japan?
?
Atlus games sell pretty well. They do like 100-300k in Japan, which is basically the B sales tier below the few games that sell 500k-1m+ They do better in sales than any other jrpg publisher besides SquareEnix, Namco and Nintendo.
The financial stuff they are talking about that caused this is their arcade/pachinko division sales (I didn't even know they made any?) being down. Their game sales are all up from last gen and budgets have actually decreased with the move from PS2 -> DS/PSP.
Word is this isn't changing anything and Atlus games will still be called Atlus. Index Holdings was already the majority shareholder for years.
I always wondered how they stayed profitable. Them and Spike. How does spike keep finding money to localize and publish big games which cannot, do not, will not sell in Japan?
Atlus is a pretty major niche publisher in the U.S. They don't usually set the sales charts on fire (Demon's Souls was a fluke) but they cheaply localize games that regularly and consistently sell 50-80k and sometimes break out to a few hundred k.
Spike's cash cow is Dragon Ball. I'm guessing all of the western games they publish in Japan don't get a full localization. Probably just a text translation, like Yakuza 2 and 3 in the US. I guess that has been profitable for them? ???
Although I wish they would funnel all of their money into an HD Fire Pro Wrestling with GGPO netcode and a new King of Colosseum so they can go out in a blaze of glory.
Spike's cash cow is Dragon Ball. I'm guessing all of the western games they publish in Japan don't get a full localization. Probably just a text translation, like Yakuza 2 and 3 in the US. I guess that has been profitable for them? ???
Although I wish they would funnel all of their money into an HD Fire Pro Wrestling with GGPO netcode and a new King of Colosseum so they can go out in a blaze of glory.