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Naoto Hiraoka, the head of consumer software for the Atlus game brand, issued a statement on Wednesday to assure fans that business will continue as before. Sega Sammy Holdings confirmed earlier in the day that Sega will form a wholly owned subsidiary to take over the operations of Index Corporation by November 1. Index owns and manages Atlus, a former independent company and the current brand of games such as Etrian Odyssey, Shin Megami Tensei, and Persona.

Hiraoka acknowledged that the Atlus brand will become part of the Sega Sammy Group (specifically, the new subsidiary Sega Dream), but added that the entire consumer game unit will remain focused on developing titles for future release. He said that his brand has maintained a good relationship with Sega from before, and added that he thinks the current potential for business synergy is very high. He specifically highlighted Sega's strong distribution network as beneficial going forward.

He apologized for causing fans to worry, asked for their continued support, and asked them to look forward to further developments from Atlus.

Since last year, Hiraoka has also been the president and CEO of Atlus U.S.A., Inc. in North America.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-09-18/atlus-games-hiraoka/business-to-continue-as-before

Here's the full statement from Hiraoka.

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 1, 2013.

As you may already know, Index Corporation filed for Civil Rehabilitation Proceedings in Japan on June 27 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

 

[V_Ben]

To summarise; everything will carry on as normal, except now we have a european distribution arm!

 

[starwarsfan541]

Good news I guess?

 

[Slowdive]

That's reassuring. I hope so.

 

[Aeana]

Good to hear from Hiraoka specifically.

 

[Takao]

They always say this, even if it isn't the truth.

 

[toastyToast]

To summarise; everything will carry on as normal, except now we have a european distribution arm!

Hopefully it's that simple.

WHERE IS SMT IV???

 

[sphagnum]

Good news.

 

[Soulflarz]

Oh god thank you

 

[Soriku]

Hiraoka acknowledged that the Atlus brand will become part of the Sega Sammy Group (specifically, the new subsidiary Sega Dream), but added that the entire consumer game unit will remain focused on developing titles for future release.

For iOS right?!?! lololol.

Good news I guess.

 

[Harpuea]

Isn't that what they all say and then a year later the company is dead due to talent exodus . . .?

I can only hope for the best and prepare for the worse. T-T

 

[t26]

So they will have the D3/Namco approach with 2 different publishers?

 

[Coxy]

This is the Atlus USA CEO right? so they'll still be handling localisation for now?

 

[Busaiku]

They always say this, even if it isn't the truth.

It's still the end of days.

 

[FrostuTheNinja]

I really hope so. I don't really know if it was covered in the last thread but is it possible that we could now see Yakuza 5 and such in the West, courtesy of Atlus? If I remember correctly, Atlus released some Sega GBA games in the states.

 

[BronsonLee]

This is the Atlus USA CEO right? so they'll still be handling localisation for now?

This is the everything Atlus CEO. He took over last year iirc.

Also INCOMING DOOM AND GLOOM FROM IDIOTS

 

[Aquamarine]

Well of course he's going to say that...his purpose is to satiate fans, not to get them worried about potential changes.

 

[Sophia]

This is the Atlus USA CEO right? so they'll still be handling localisation for now?

This is the head of the Atlus game brand in general. "Atlus", has technically just been a brand for a long time, and he's the guy responsible for overseeing how it's perceived by the public.

If he says business is continuing as usual, then business is continuing as usual and you should stop fretting over the acquisition.

 

[Amir0x]

Alright Hiraoka, I will remain optimistic then until I see reason to feel otherwise about this acquisition...

 

[EMT0]

If this is Atlus USA' CEO.....I'm okay now. I think I can deal with this.

 

[Caronte]

Could this mean that they will not close Atlus USA?

 

[Lunar15]

As with before, we'll just have to wait and see.

Feelin good though.

 

[Primal_Writer_Rite]

*breathes a cautious sigh of relief*

I bought way too many Atlus games this year for them to not be around in the near future. Here is to a healthy and better company in the near future and beyond.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Yeah, this is what I was hoping since the announcement. I wonder if SEGA will let them handle some of their Japan-only games in the future.

 

[ohlawd]

eff that we'll see what happens in a year or something.

Not gonna place my hope on this guy.

 

[Clov]

This is much more reassuring; Atlus USA should continue on as usual now.

 

[erpg]

Atlus USA localization, Sega distribution to North America and Europe. That's my hope.

 

[Fox Mulder]

we'll have to see.

Like they'd really say Sega is going to run them into the ground like they have their own company since the hardware days.

 

[Tenki]

What else could he say?

 

[dkoy]

Since this is PR speak I'm still a little cynical. Reassuring nontheless.

 

[Squire]

Boom.

Good.

 

[StarCreator]

I think it's sad he had to go out and literally state the only sensible outcome of all this. Nice to have it in writing from the boss himself anyway.

 

[Yes Boss!]

I have not looked at the big massive thread.

But, does this mean that the "Atlus" brand will continue? Sega would be foolish to throw that away. They should at least co-brand. Sega-Atlus, etc.

 

[kurahador]

Maybe this means Sega will make Atlus division handles their IPs localization.

Spoiler

I hope...

 

[StarCreator]

I have not looked at the big massive thread.

But, does this mean that the "Atlus" brand will continue? Sega would be foolish to throw that away. They should at least co-brand. Sega-Atlus, etc.

Sega wasn't going to spend 140 million to buy them just to throw Atlus's brand away. Anyone who seriously thought that was going to happen is nuts.

The language sounds like they'll maintain separate operations for now. Maybe leverage some of Sega's distribution sauce overseas, as the OP suggests (Sega was already Atlus's Japanese distributor before all this went down, so no change at home).

 

[jj984jj]

If this is Atlus USA' CEO.....I'm okay now. I think I can deal with this.

He manages the Atlus brand on both sides of the ocean, Shinichi Suzuki used to run Atlus USA but went to XSEED.

If there are any changes to Atlus we won't see most, if any, of them in the short term.

 

[chrominance]

I have not looked at the big massive thread.

But, does this mean that the "Atlus" brand will continue? Sega would be foolish to throw that away. They should at least co-brand. Sega-Atlus, etc.

Segata-lus Sanshiro.

 

[toastyToast]

I have not looked at the big massive thread.

But, does this mean that the "Atlus" brand will continue? Sega would be foolish to throw that away. They should at least co-brand. Sega-Atlus, etc.

Hopefully not. They haven't done that with their recent PC acquisitions but those companies aren't Japanese. There will definitely be a SEGA splash screen from now on though

 

[charlequin]

What else could he say?

"We're going to be reorganizing and finding synergies with our new parent so we can work together to develop the best games possible!"

Some of the response to this quote is pretty ridiculous. Yes, company heads are always going to come out with PR-speak in these scenarios, but what they say still tells you a lot about the situation. If this was a pump-and-dump scenario (which, again, would've been unlikely given that Index was in a position to choose its own buyer) you'd see PR coming out of the parent company talking about the value of the brands. If this was an immediate forced-integration scenario, you'd see them talking up the value of combining their teams together.

Talking about how great it is that the operation will stay separate doesn't guarantee any particular outcome in the long term, but it does mean that right now the thing that Sega wants its shareholders to hear is that it's treating Atlus as an independent money-making operation rather than an IP closet to raid.

 

[jwhit28]

Does anyone outside of Sega Sammy have shares of Sega Dream?

 

[sixteen-bit]

That's reassuring.

 

[charlequin]

Does anyone outside of Sega Sammy have shares of Sega Dream?

Sega Dream is a fully-owned subsidiary of Sega, which is itself a fully-owned subsidiary of Sega Sammy.

Essentially, they're putting Atlus under the overall management of the Consumer Games segment of their company (that is, "Sega") but keeping it separate from any of the other individual components of Sega, much like they did with Relic and other developers they've purchased in the past.

 

[Glass Rebel]

I have not looked at the big massive thread.

But, does this mean that the "Atlus" brand will continue? Sega would be foolish to throw that away. They should at least co-brand. Sega-Atlus, etc.

SEGA isn't dumb. Their recent moves have been very calculated. I can imagine them putting some of their properties under the Atlus brand even. Phantasy Star, Shining and Yakuza (in the West) come to mind.

 

[GuardianE]

What is Sega Dream?

I really want to believe this.

 

[BlackJace]

That's good, I was never really that worried about the acquisition anyway.

 

[cajunator]

This is shocking. I expected Sonics head to be on Persona characters. Im disappointed.

 

[zerokoolpsx]

That is good to hear.

 

[EMT0]

Sega Dream is a fully-owned subsidiary of Sega, which is itself a fully-owned subsidiary of Sega Sammy.

Essentially, they're putting Atlus under the overall management of the Consumer Games segment of their company (that is, "Sega") but keeping it separate from any of the other individual components of Sega, much like they did with Relic and other developers they've purchased in the past.

If that is the exact case then all is right with the world. May Sega do what they do.

 

[Blueblur1]

That makes me feel a little bit better. I'm still concerned though.

 

[Gamerloid]

I wasn't worried for a second. Back to business! Still waiting for more info on Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem.