Sega Complete Acquisition of Atlus

It's been a tumultuous few years for Atlus. The veteran publisher have been around in some form or another since 1986, but a series of financial troubles for parent company Index Corporation saw them purchased by Sega in September 2013. They continued to operate as a subsidiary of Sega, with the games business then split off in 2014. Sega have now completed a full acquisition, with Atlus now a full-blown subsidiary.

"After nearly a year working under the Sega Games division, both SEGA of America and Atlus U.S.A. have thrived and released a combined total of 23 game products," said Naoto Hiraoka, CEO, Atlus U.S.A., in a release. "Between Atlus' ability to localize and release Japanese video game products efficiently and the strength of Sega of America's reputation as a leading publisher in the industry, the situation could not be more symbiotic for both companies."

What this means for consumers is that, whilst the Atlus brand will remain for the forseeable future, Sega will be releasing all of their games in North America and Europe. The changes are described by Sega America PR Manager John Hardin as being "largely back end" and he took to twitter to reassure fans that the closer relationship between the formerly seperate company and their new parent is a good thing for fans of some of the smaller Japanese titles.

Being able to localize the smaller SEGA titles from Japan quicker is a tangible benefit, yes. (Project DIVA X plug!) https://t.co/cqvGSGfS4d

— John Hardin (@JohnLHardin) 31 March 2016