Atlus shut down.

[Flarecobra]

http://www.1up.com/news/atlus-disolved-parent-company

The makers of the Persona series and the Shin Megami Tensei games have been dissolved by it's parent company Index, apperentally in an attempt to slim itself down...

Has anyone else heard about this? I'm trying to track down a second source, hopefully one that has some more information. When I read the article, I was a little confused by this line in perticular: "At the very least, the Atlus brand will continue, according to a short press release by the firm's public relations department."

Does this mean that it'll be like some kind of ghost company or something, just there in name only?

[Loyal]

I assume by "Brand" it means the titles associated with Atlus. Like how after Westwood was shut down, EA still had and eventually produced additional titles for the Command and Conquer IP.

[bluestarultor]

That's... pretty shocking. Atlus is a successful studio.

Then again, they just absorbed it. As in it's no longer an autonomous entity. The studio is still there, just no longer as a subsidiary.

[Regulus Tera]

Atlus to become a franchise.

Atlus: Etrian Odyssey IV
Atlus: Trauma Team 2: Rosalia's Revenge
Atlus: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5: Portable


Seriously though, I doubt they will let the brand die. Atlus isn't "shutting" down, it was just absorbed by Index Holdings. From NeoGAF:

Basically what this means is that Atlus as a registered company will cease to exist, and it will be known in future as Index Holdings. It is currently unknown if they will keep the Atlus brand for use on games developed by the company, but technically nothing should change in terms of day-to-day business. The reasons given for the merger are to strengthen the overall management of the companies and to strengthen the value of the companies involved (by centralizing them into a single entity.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Personally, I blame the used games mrket.

[Arcanum]

Personally, I blame the used games mrket.

Well you know what they say. (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=38622)

And I hope this doesn't mean we won't get localized versions of games like Demon's Souls and 3d Dot Game Heroes (or whatever hand Atlus had in those titles, which are the only games I played that Atlus had a hand in)

[Nique]

...

I wonder if I should go out and buy some of those old Atlus titles I've been waiting to put in my collection...

[Regulus Tera]

Atlus games tend to be pretty undershipped so I don't know why you haven't done so before.

[Nique]

'Price v. Desire to play'.

Like, the one Atlus game we own is 'Magna Carta' and I can't stand it. But, I mean, I know they are valueable so...

[Kim]

Blaaaaargh. Blaargh. Blrgh. Overreactive stuff is overreactive. As far as I can tell, this will in no way affect the way Atlus makes games or affect any titles that are currently being produced. This company has had majority shareholding for a bit now, with no apparent affects. All this really means is that Atlus stock won't be its own seperate thing on the stock market.

Like, the one Atlus game we own is 'Magna Carta' and I can't stand it. But, I mean, I know they are valueable so...

I know we told you before, but do not confuse games Atlus localizes with games that they make. Atlus will localize any damn thing that other companies won't localized, but the games they make are very good, provided they're PS2 era or later. I'm a huge Atlus fan. I am not a Magna Carta fan. You want an experience with Atlus games, then check out pretty much any of their SMT games, once again with the rule that they be PS2 era or later*.

*This does not include the PSP port of Persona 1.

[Nique]

I've heard Dokapon Kingdom is good.

[greed]

*reads thread title, feels sick with fear and despair*

*reads others and NonCon's post*

God damnit Flare.


Also Nique any of the SMT games are good as are pretty much anything by a developer that Atlus publishes over in the west, called From Software. Though they're pretty love it or hate it apparently, I just seem to love everything of their's I've played.

[phil_]

I've heard Dokapon Kingdom is good.

I know we told you before, but do not confuse games Atlus localizes with games that they make.Dokapon Kingdom was made by Sting. Good game, though, if you can stand its eccentricities. Like I've said before, it's a big time investment and you need human players. Who knows if reigned in Atlus will be localizing another one, but then, who knows if there will be another one?

[bluestarultor]

Atlus likely isn't even going to be reigned in. They're just going to be Atlus as "Atlus Studio" or something. I don't think the parent company is going to mess with their workings. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. They just did this as a financial simplification.