It's been speculated for a little bit but finally some news has broken as to the future of Atlus. Neoseeker is reporting that parent company Index Holdings is planning to merge Atlus (which is 100% owned) and mobile game maker Index Corporations (95% owned) together to strengthen the brand. They have gone on to confirm that games currently announced by Atlus will continue to operate just as they normally would and be released under the Atlus label. As for the future beyond that nothing is specified.
 
Over the last few years Atlus has been able to amass a significant following of dedicated fans (myself one of them) and the unique games that they release are unlike many seen elsewhere. From darker settings and themes of the upcoming Catherine to the morality testing and sometimes thought to be sacrilegious Shin Megami Tensei games, Atlus has carved out a niche for itself in the gaming community that is tough to fill. 
 
So what does the future hold for Atlus? Will we now be seeing Persona and SMT games coming out for Mobile as well as consoles and handhelds? Will the company no longer be called Atlus all together? Most importantly, will the unique quality of the product that a small company like Atlus was able to produce and publish remain or will it become more corporate and profit focussed leading to less and less risktaking that Atlus has been known and loved for? 
 
I think the smartest thing they can do is dissolve the Index Corporation name into Atlus and release their mobile games under that label as opposed to creating an entirely new name. It'll carry more clout and weight worldwide while assuaging fans of the fear of major overhauls within the company. If the name does change I personally will be pretty upset and saddened by the end of Atlus, but if the games can continue to be of the unique style that only Atlus has doner and the quality of major games like the Persona, SMT, and numerous DS series continues at it's current level or better than I cannot complain. Best thing that could happen, Atlus is allowed to remain an independent branch of Index Holdings and if anything will have more freedom to take risks and due to an increase in monetary backing. Either way I'll be interested in seeing the end results when the merge is official on October 1st.

Maybe once they make a decent game, I'll start caring.

well there's already been persona games for mobiles; they released one based on aegis a while ago. I really doubt anything will change.

Atlus won't be a registered corporation on the Japanese stock exchange anymore, but the Atlus brand will continue. All games developed by them will still be released under the Atlus brand.

" Maybe once they make a decent game, I'll start caring. "

Practically nothing will change.  Maybe superficial stuff like the logo and other crap, but the development teams should remain the same and the games will be released as "Atlus games" still. 
 
And they had already released two Persona games on phones, just like Laketown mentioned, the most recent one being Persona 3 Social.

Atlus publishes a ton of games that they don't actually develop, so I'd be interested to see what happens to those titles. 
 
I don't really care though, nothing from Atlus has ever interested me. 
 
That is some Japanese-ass Japanese shit.

I'm getting that same feeling I got right before Square-Soft merged with Enix.....

" I'm getting that same feeling I got right before Square-Soft merged with Enix..... "

" Atlus publishes a ton of games that they don't actually develop, so I'd be interested to see what happens to those titles.  I don't really care though, nothing from Atlus has ever interested me.  That is some Japanese-ass Japanese shit. "

" Maybe once they make a decent game, I'll start caring. "

Well, this probably won't do much to Atlus USA, since they are a wholly independent company from the Atlus that makes the games. They get right of first refusal on localizing Atlus Japan's titles, IIRC, but that's all. That said, I doubt it'll instantly lead to Atlus' ruin.

THEY HAVE A GOOD THING GOING AND IF THEY FUCK THIS SHIT UP IM GOING TO THROW A BRICK AT SOMEONE 

THAT WILL PROBABLY RUIN THEIR DAY

I don't suspect that a cell phone game company to have any large effect on the people at Atlus.

I am eagerly awaiting the Persona Facebook game announcement :)

" Maybe once they make a decent game, I'll start caring. "

They were already owned by Index, or at least had a majority of their company bought up. This won't change their day to day dealings/development.

" I don't suspect that a cell phone game company to have any large effect on the people at Atlus. "

Well they'll continue publishing the j-pop date sim bullshit you guys love. Bumpy Trot? Probably not so much. Gust games? Not so much (no loss here).

" Well they'll continue publishing the j-pop date sim bullshit you guys love. Bumpy Trot? Probably not so much. Gust games? Not so much (no loss here). "

" @papercut said:

" I don't suspect that a cell phone game company to have any large effect on the people at Atlus. "

I'm not really worried about the cell phone game acquisition so much as them being owned by a larger corporation solely now. Just hope it doesn't become profit profit profit and take away the freedom they have had to experiment with some unique titles "

It's all good in the hood.
 
Ironically, the things people hate Square Enix for are exactly what they wanted Square to do in the 90s.  Because video game enthusiasts are fickle, unpleasable jerks whose only real enthusiasm is for complaining.

" @MysteriousBob said:

" Maybe once they make a decent game, I'll start caring. "

Maybe once you actually play an Atlus game you can pass judgment? "

" @onarum said:

" @MysteriousBob said:

" Maybe once they make a decent game, I'll start caring. "

Maybe once you actually play an Atlus game you can pass judgment? "

for some reason i feel i can pass that judgement without playing any of their games so i agree with bobby there "