New Home For Atlus

Late June, Atlus parent company Index corporation filed for civil rehabilitation, a new form of bankruptcy protection in Japan, and has now begun taking bids for control of their most valuable asset, Atlus. Over 20 companies submitted bids with rumors reporting Sega in the lead with a bid of 20 billion yen ($20.1 million), exceeding previous estimates by 5 billion yen.

Atlus is known as both a strong game developer with series like Persona and Disgaea, as well as a publisher that often brings lesser known Japanese games to the west though its North American publishing division. Polygon.com reported that current operations continue despite the looming future restructuring and that Atlus published title Dragon’s Crown will be released on time next Tuesday on August 6^th and Shin Megami Tensei later this year.

Candidates could be chosen as early as next week with a final buyer to be determined by the end of the month. Many hope that the final purchaser will allow Atlus to have the continued freedom to go after and develop smaller properties while still catering to their devoted fanbase.

Index is hoping the auction will raise enough money to stave off stock delisting and pay back a large portion of their 25.4 billion yen debt.