Sega bought Atlus?

[FFNut]

Just saw a small thing on Twitter that said Sega bought out Atlus and will be the ones publishing there games such as Persona series. Thoughts?

[Fynn]

April Fool


But something similar did happen in the past when Atlus USA went bankrupt and had to be helped by... I think Sega, actually. But in any case, Atlus is still the developer, it's the publishing in the West that's more problematic.

[maybee]

April Fool

Yeah was thinking this; it's most likely a good har har April Fools joke.

[FFNut]

Ya I just saw a quick thing on Twitter and thought I'd ask out here.

[Skyblade]

April Fool


But something similar did happen in the past when Atlus USA went bankrupt and had to be helped by... I think Sega, actually. But in any case, Atlus is still the developer, it's the publishing in the West that's more problematic.

That's not quite correct.

Index Holdings, the parent company that owned ATLUS, went bankrupt and had to sell its properties, including ATLUS, and ATLUS USA.

Its properties were bought up by SEGA-Sammy Holdings, the parent company that also owns SEGA, and SEGA-Sammy took over the running of Index's operations.

ATLUS and ATLUS USA are now both owned by the parent company that owns SEGA, but are technically discrete entities. SEGA expressed interest in working with ATLUS and ATLUS USA, due to their ability to produce and market niche Japanese titles to a larger worldwide audience, something that SEGA has failed to do.

ATLUS USA is still handling worldwide publication of ATLUS's games, and ATLUS is still producing its own titles as its own company. Ownership has changed hands, and ATLUS USA will likely help SEGA to publish more games in the West in the future, but that is the extent of the collaboration.

This isn't an April Fool's Joke, and it isn't recent news. We had a thread about it when it happened, in 2013.