Atlus hits bankruptcy

[shadowDOESrock]

Index Digital Media Inc., parent company of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona publisher Atlus, is petitioning for "civil rehabilitation proceedings," a form of bankruptcy protection under Japanese law.

As part of its petition, as of May, the company has ¥24.5 billion ($249 million) in total liabilities.

Jurists.co.jp has a pretty solid explanation of the procedure from this point forward. The company will have a supervisor appointed and a plan will be drawn up for rehabilitation of the company. After that, there is a creditors meeting and approval. Then the company is supposed to follow the plan.

We've reached out to Atlus for a statement about if this will have any impact on the company's daily business or release schedule.

[Hakudamashi]

How is this even possible?

[shadowDOESrock]

why wouldnt it be

[Hakudamashi]

Because it's f*cking Atlus.

But I read it wrong. Index, the parent company is the one going bankrupt. So if some other big publisher*cough*sonyornintendodon'tletthispassyoufuckers*cough* were to buy Atlus, then all will be well.

[jkid101094]

YES
NINTENDO, DO IT
BUY ATLAS
GIVE ME PERSONA 4 GOLDEN ON WII U AND I WILL JHFYUFFCFYTF

[Hakudamashi]

YES
NINTENDO, DO IT
BUY ATLAS
GIVE ME PERSONA 4 GOLDEN ON WII U AND I WILL JHFYUFFCFYTF

Or, y'know, Persona 5...

[Elija2]

I don't think Nintendo will buy Atlus, but they are working on that Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei game so who knows what's gonna happen there. Hopefully it's a third party publisher so they're not confined to working on one platform.

[Hakudamashi]

I don't think Nintendo will buy Atlus, but they are working on that Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei game so who knows what's gonna happen there. Hopefully it's a third party publisher so they're not confined to working on one platform.

SEGA?

[jkid101094]

SEGA is in no position to buy anything.

[TheGameNinja]

Yeah, it's the parent company, not Atlus itself. Atlus has said that their games are still all coming out when they've said they will.

[Hakudamashi]

SEGA is in no position to buy anything.

As long as it's not EA

[shadowDOESrock]

SEGA is in no position to buy anything.

They would be able to buy Atlus.

[Elija2]

SEGA is in no position to buy anything.

They recently bought Relic Entertainment for $26.6 million after THQ went under.

[KPOPSTAR]

So will the Persona 3 Movie be cancelled?

[shadowDOESrock]

So, a sale of the subsidaries is considered - which includes Atlus.

Bloomberg Japan is reporting that 20 or so companies, including Sega, are interesting in bidding on the various subsidiaries of Atlus' parent company, Index Corporation, is rumored to be selling off.

According to sources close to the situation, candidates will be picked as early as next week, and the business will be transferred by the end of August.

The report on Bloomberg stated the bid has gone as high as ¥20 billion yen ($201 million), which is ¥5 billion more than what Index estimated.

Back in June, Index Corp was investigated for financial mismanagement, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June.