Atlus Parent To Sell Off Operations

Karloff

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Oct 19, 2009
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Atlus Parent To Sell Off Operations



The bidding may start next week.

Index Holdings, the company that owns Atlus, maker of Persona, Catherine and Shin Megami Tensei, is to sell off its operations as part of its bankruptcy proceedings [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125447-Persona-Developers-Parent-Company-Files-For-Bankruptcy]. The asset transfer may reach as much as ¥15 billion (about $150 million); the Index debt has been estimated at $244 million. Bidding could start as early as next week, and the idea is to get everything over and done with by September, before the assets start to significantly devalue, as panic starts to set in. Index will be delisted from the JASDAC on July 28th.

"The development and sales of the Atlus brand as well as the consumer business will continue," claims Atlus in a statement. Planned game releases will go ahead as scheduled, and the hope is that the ongoing issues with Index won't impact Atlus significantly. That said, it's difficult to imagine a scenario where Atlus isn't impacted at all by the Index implosion; we just don't know how, or how much. A great deal will depend on who ends up owning Atlus at the end of all this.

It is alleged that the Index bankruptcy comes as a result of fraud, in which sales number were overstated to fool investors. That investigation is still ongoing.

Source: Destructoid [http://www.mmcafe.com/cgi-bin/forums/bbs/messages/13410.shtml#64604]


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Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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So whoever, if anyone, were to buy Atlus, they'd get all of it I assume, since it's the company higher up the chain that is going bankrupt?

Must be tempting to pick up one of the highest-rated Japanese devs/publishers.
 

Dr.Awkward

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I have a feeling that XSEED is going to try something, either by using their own money/ getting a loan or through crowdfunding. I mean, they're the main force in publishing excellent but obscure JRPGs to Western markets, and they're possibly the best fit of all the publishers who could buy them.
 

Quiotu

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Dr.Awkward said:
I have a feeling that XSEED is going to try something, either by using their own money/ getting a loan or through crowdfunding. I mean, they're the main force in publishing excellent but obscure JRPGs to Western markets, and they're possibly the best fit of all the publishers who could buy them.
A good idea, but honestly... if you want a true pair-up that JRPG fans would absolutely gush over? Imagine if NIS bought Atlus? Imagine a Persona/Disgaea crossover?
 

Weaver

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Apr 28, 2008
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Quiotu said:
Dr.Awkward said:
I have a feeling that XSEED is going to try something, either by using their own money/ getting a loan or through crowdfunding. I mean, they're the main force in publishing excellent but obscure JRPGs to Western markets, and they're possibly the best fit of all the publishers who could buy them.
A good idea, but honestly... if you want a true pair-up that JRPG fans would absolutely gush over? Imagine if NIS bought Atlus? Imagine a Persona/Disgaea crossover?
NIS would be a great fit IMO. Though, they don't really have a lot of cash to throw around.
 

Kenjitsuka

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Sep 10, 2009
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"The asset transfer may reach as much as ¥15 billion (about $150 million); the Index debt has been estimated at $244 million. "

I was going to ask HOW they could get that much debt, but then I read about possible fraud.
Is it seriously possible to get that much debt without fraud???
 

Mr.Mattress

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Jul 17, 2009
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Nintendo needs to be the ones that buy Atlus. I feel that any other company will screw Atlus up. Yes, all of Atlus's stuff will become Nintendo Exclusive, which would suck for a lot of people, but they're the only ones who would leave Atlus alone.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Oh god please let Atlus be safe. Please let Atlus be safe and get through this unscathed...
 

Prime_Hunter_H01

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From the other articles leading up to this, I think this is a higher level than some thing like the THQ or any other publisher sale. Since Atlus is a publisher and fairly large, it is them as a whole being sold not a dissolving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Corporation

You should not be too worried about Atlus unless something else comes up.
 

GAunderrated

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Jul 9, 2012
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Capcom, SE, and Sega just leave Atlus alone. I hope XSEED wins the bid for Atlus. Two of my favorite developers combining would be great.
 

Roxas1359

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Aug 8, 2009
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Desert Punk said:
VMK said:
Not EA or Capcom. PLEAAASE not EA or Capcom... Or Ubisoft.
Could be worse, Sqeenix could buy them!
They're still doing the restructuring I think so I don't believe they'd want to spend the money.

OT: All I know is that whoever buys it better not screw with anything. Heck I hope more for what Irridium here is saying:
Irridium said:
Oh god please let Atlus be safe. Please let Atlus be safe and get through this unscathed...
Hell if NIS were to take the hit and buy it then I'd be the happiest person ever. *hugging Disgaea*
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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We'll see how this goes down; in all honesty I can't see ANYBODY major buying Atlus due to being on the threshold of the new gen, so a LOT of pubs are sinking money into those. All the big names in Japan have issues (CAPCOM just laid off people from its US branch, SEGA's had money trouble for awhile, Konami has no freaking clue how to make games internally, Square Enix is a GIANT clusterfuck right now, and Sony had to sell off TWO headquarters in order to make the black). I suppose Namco-Bandai is a possibility, but even then I can't see it. Marvelous Entertainment might be able to, but we'll see. Nintendo could definitely do so due to their absurd reserves, but that's also questionable. The thing about buying a company is that you have to also take on their debts as WELL as their assets as well as be responsible for the employees you now have in one way or another. And that's BEFORE getting into the international branches. This is definitely going to be an ass-clencher
 

shintakie10

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Sep 3, 2008
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l3o2828 said:
Best case scenario Valve buys them
Worst case scenario anyone else buys them.
You want Valve, almost entirely a PC oriented publisher (and given they only really self publish and they barely do that anyway its hard to consider them even that) to buy a publisher that almost exclusively works on JRPG's?

What could that possibly hope to accomplish?

I echo the NIS hope though. I get they don't have the money to throw at it, especially what will probably amount to a very large amount of money, but one can dream.

As for Nintendo, eh. Probably not. Atlus doesn't exactly have any extremely risque titles, but a lot of its stuff doesn't exactly fit the mold of what generally would be considered Nintendo stuff. Granted they did pick up Bayonetta 2...so that could work out as a fallback.