MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The CEO of Japanese developer and publisher Atlus has said it is business as usual for the company following its recent acquisition by Sega.
Earlier this week Sega won an auction for Atlus parent company Index Corporation for a reported $141 million.
Through the purchase, Sega now owns IPs such as the Megami Tensei series and the Persona and Etrian Odyssey franchises.
In response to the acquisition, Atlus CEO Naoto Hiraoka said he felt the collaboration would be mutually beneficial for the two companies, and commented on Sega’s drive to expand awareness of the Atlus brand and how their strengths in game development would prove complimentary to each other.
Sega’s move to buy Index and Atlus follows its acquisition of Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment earlier this year for £26.6 million.
You can read the full statement from Atlus CEO Hiraoka on Sega’s purchase below.
Dear fans and customers,
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your support of Atlus products.As announced Tuesday through various news channels, we are going to continue with our business operations as part of Sega Sammy Holdings effective November 1st, 2013.As you may already know, Index Corporation filed for Civil Rehabilitation Proceedings in Japan on June 27th and since then, has been searching for a solution which would allow us to continue our business of making great games.Atlus has consistently received support and praise from our faithful and our respected customers, and made great progress in recent years. So the recent incident must have surprised and worried all of you dearly. For that, I would like to express my deepest apologies.We have nurtured a great relationship with Sega Inc. for a long time, especially concerning our consumer games business in Japan. I believe the collaboration between the two companies at this time will be mutually beneficial for the following reasons:Sega understands our drive to achieve quality and to expand awareness of the Atlus brand.Our respective strengths in game development complement each other well.
We are extremely happy to be able to continue with our business, and be able to report this good news to our fans and customers. Again, we would like to express our gratitude to everyone who has supported us.
Currently, we at the Consumer Software Division in Japan are focusing on developing future titles, and are willing to take on new challenges to further achieve growth and success.
Please stay tuned for future updates.
Naoto Hiraoka
President and CEO
