Now that Sega owns Index, they've begun putting their ducks in a row. Come April 1st, Atlus will be split off from Index. Atlus will also receive all of Index's intellectual properties (i.e.: They will retain ownership of Shin Megami Tensei and all other properties they owned themselves before they were purchased by Index years ago.) Additionally, Index Digital Media, the official name of the North American subsidiary, will become Atlus USA again. As for Index itself, it's being reorganized for some sort of content delivery task and will no longer be related to Atlus productions in any way, other than the fact that both are part of Sega Sammy.

I dunno why, but Atlus being owned by Sega just sounds so weird to me. This whole chain of events in general was really weird.

Now Atlus USA can start officially localizing Yakuza 5......Right?

Ah forget it.....It's a lost cause....

It doesn't mean too much presently, but Atlus is definitely a better brand than Index and it'll be nice to have Atlus officially referred to as such as of April 1.

Who knows what will happen in the future, but this certainly sounds like a positive change for Atlus, since Index wasn't doing any good for them.

I don't have a clue what any of this means. Not a goddamned clue. But it sounds shiny and excellent and good for Atlus, so... drinks all around?

@sparky_buzzsaw: As far as I can tell, it basically means Atlus gets to keep all their stuff while Index is getting swept off into the corner.

It's a little odd to me for it to be happening on April 1st, but hey, sounds like a good move from Sega.

Which is also a little odd for me to say.

I'm still surprised Sega still owns Sammy at this point, that was a partnership like in 2004 and even then Guilty Gear fans were paranoid..... and now nothing happened.

@truthtellah: probably the beginning of a fiscal quarter

Don't give up, brother! You have to believe!

Sometimes change is a good thing. I hope this is one of those times.

I want to believe!

So Atlus is essentially their own company now? Without any connection to Sega?

I think it means that the people still working for Index don't lead Atlus anymore, now it is directly under Sega.

Now: Sega -> Atlus

Previously: Sega -> Index -> Atlus

Yep, mainly. "Atlus" didn't actually officially exist for a while now, even though that's the name they were using for branding anyways. Not, the "Atlus" name has actually been revived.

Hashino made a statement about it on p-ch that was translated here:

Hey all.

It's been a long time coming, but we're finally able to stage our comeback as a company at last. (Sobs.)

It goes without saying, but I know we've made you, the fans, worry a lot these past several years. We lost that which we thought we could once take for granted when Atlus ceased to be a proper company. Atlus continued to live on as a brand, but we had to do a lot of soul searching during those years, especially with respect to what made our games enjoyable on their own terms and and what it means to us personally to bring those games to life.

I might be a bit overdramatic when I say this, but I think much like people, the games that leave a lasting impression upon us are the ones that that charm us and challenge us alike, ones that require more than mere passiveness on our part to enjoy and set out to change the status quo with good intentions. While it's important for players to enjoy themselves when playing video games, I want ours to linger on in their members for other reasons beyond that. Those are the things I've kept at the forefront of my mind as I keep pursuing this life as a creator that I've gone down.

And that's not going to change moving forward.

We want to keep making the games that'll make you all happy as fans and while we're working hard to bring them to you, I hope you'll continue to voice your passionate support for us as you always have.

-Katsura Hashino

Fun fact: this is apparently not the first time I've used this image on Giant Bomb. Scary, right?

@video_game_king said:

@nightriff said:

Now: Sega -> Atlus

Previously: Sega -> Index -> Atlus

Fun fact: this is apparently not the first time I've used this image on Giant Bomb. Scary, right?

I want to know why you've used this before

@nightriff:

Apparently, it wasn't me.

@video_game_king: Funny now that Alex used it. I'm really interested in what the Shadow Sonic would be like. Or Shadow Big the Cat!

Crazy that Sega has been buying up these awesome Devs. First the awesome Total War guys, then the always amazing Relic Team, and now Atlus. I just hope these devs can bring Sega up instead of Sega bringing them down.

They've been very smart on the PC market by signing up Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive (YES NONE OF YOU GIVE A SHIT ABOUT FOOTBALL MANAGER BUT IT'S ONE OF THE BEST SELLING PC GAMES EVERY YEAR!!!!) and Atlus. If I was ignorant to the consoles I'd say Sega were in incredible shape... then you look at the consoles and you're like... oh :/

@nightriff: Are you implying that Shadow the Hedgehog is not Shadow Sonic?

@scrawnto: @nightriff:

This is Persona 3, so no Shadow People. At least not in the Persona 4 sense.

@scrawnto: Who? I have only every played Sonic on the Game Gear, I know, I'm a bad person

@video_game_king: Have we decided on an Arcana for everyone? I see Sonic as Chariot, I don't know why

I'm really curious to see what becomes of Relic now that they are at Sega. They have been a Warhammer game making machine for many a years at this point. Do they keep making those or is sega putting them on a new project? It would have to be something new. I can't think of anything Sega has the rights on for them to be doing.

I like those manager style games in theory, but I'm just not a fan of any of the sports they make those for. Give me Blood Bowl Manager or a Wrestling manager game where you must build a federation from the ground up and manage a stable of wrestlers and all the crazy that comes along with it then sign me up.