Sega Now Owns Atlus
Here’s one of those reports that comes out on April 1st yet is completely true. If you don’t believe it, the buyout was announced last year — it just didn’t go into effect until today, the start of the new fiscal year. Sega owns Atlus.
“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, the CEO of Atlus’s American branch. “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.”
Before you start fearing for the future of Persona, Sega says there’s no need to panic and that their level of meddling will be low to nonexistent. “[Atlus will] still act autonomously,” the company said, “and no games or products will be adversely affected by the publisher unification.” I hope so.
Atlus PR manager John Hardin said this was a blessing in disguise: in addition to financial stability, the acquisition allows Atlus to translate Sega’s smaller titles more efficiently and with less red tape. In addition, he stated, “The ATLUS logo/brand [isn’t] going away. The change is almost entirely back-end stuff.”