Sega and Atlus are together. The companies are in this for the long haul. It all started when Sega Sammy bought Atlus’ parent company, Index Corporation, when it went bankrupt in 2013. In the years since, Atlus has gradually gotten closer and closer to Sega, and now the conglomeration is complete. Sega has completely acquired Atlus, and this means it is now the publisher of Atlus games.
Which may be more than concerning for people, and for good reason. Let’s look at Atlus’ history as of late, shall we? Takara acquired the company in 2003, about 17 years after the company was founded. Index then decided to up and buy Atlus, merging the two while keeping the Atlus brand name. But then, Index went bankrupt, leading to the Sega purchase in 2013. Those kind of activities and shakeups in a ten year span aren’t encouraging.
And honestly, Sega’s track record isn’t the most secure either. Its sales figures constantly keep shifting. We know the problems it had with the Saturn and Dreamcast. We’re also well aware of what keeps happening with Sonic the Hedgehog and his recent underperforming and disappointing games as of late. They’ve had nothing for people to really look forward to, beyond Alien: Isolation .
But, we shouldn’t let that scare us. Yes, there’s that saying people who don’t learn from their pasts will keep repeating their mistakes. Here, we have a situation where it seems like Sega is learning. Atlus never did anything wrong in this situation. The company was pretty much a pawn, at the whims of its owners. Meanwhile, Sega’s seen that the directions it’s taking with games hasn’t been the best. It saw what happened with Sonic the Hedgehog and Aliens: Colonial Marines .
Look at what’s happened in the last year. We ended up getting Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX , Stella Glow and Yakuza 5 . 7th Dragon III Code: VFD , Sega 3D Classics Collection , Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X , Valkyria Chronicles: Remaster and Yakuza 0 have been confirmed for US launches this year. It’s catering to the niche crowd that made Atlus so beloved.
Which is why everything is going to be okay. Atlus is still going to do what it does best here. That’s working on the localizations of games we love. Sega’s clearly realized that Atlus’ decision to grab niche games is a good one, and so the company is continuing to publish them. We’ll have plenty of great things to play, and we’ll all be happy.