Man, I hope thing will be ok. However, if they shut down from this than I hope someone good picks up Atlus.

Atlus' Parent Company Is Under Investigation for Shady Practices

For those who don't want to click on the damn thing:

Atlus is famous for role-playing games, like the Persona series. In Japan, its parent company is now in trouble with Japanese authorities for dodgy bookkeeping.

The name "Atlus" only exists on paper as a brand name in Japan. The company was dissolved and removed from the stock market a few years back, after it became a wholly owned subsidiary of a company called Index and was subsequently merged.

That company is being investigated for shady dealings. There's an investigation going on at Index's corporate offices as well as at the company president's home.

As reported by NHK (via 2ch), the Japanese authorities are investigating Index for fabricated and inflated business transactions, which is known as "round-tripping". This was used to beef up the company's corporate balance sheet.

"It's true that we are being investigated," an Index spokesperson told NHK. "During this investigation, we are unable to divulge any information at the request of the authorities. From here on out, we are cooperating fully and as soon as all the facts are evident, we will promptly make that known."

uh oh that aint good

Atlus doesn't exactly have a spotless record themselves. I've heard of several instances where they facilitated negotiation with demons.

They've posted on Twitter that this will not affect their currently planned releases, but who knows what this means for their future and for Atlus USA. People who were concerned when Atlus was acquired by Index were right; they're a shady company with dubious practices.

"Atlus" doesn't officially exist, I believe, but I think the best case scenario is that this ends with Atlus being acquired by another, better, parent company. Worst case scenario is the THQ one where their IP library and staff get sent every which way.

Nexon is also probably involved in the fraudulent round-tripping.

@fluxwavez: Come to think of it, this was probably why Atlus sold their MMO division to XSeed. Seemed strange that they even let a Shin Megami Tensei game go with it.

Black Frost is seeking asylum in Hong Kong, I hear.

@blacklagoon said:

Oh, that's right! I found it strange when it happened, but it makes sense in light of this.

I'm not at all surprised to hear that Index is more of a piece of shit company than I thought.

Ok Giant Bomb, lets buy the Persona series from them.

I heard that if you look in to the tv on a rainy night, right at midnight...

Yakuza!

Looks like Atlus has been leveling up their Devil S. Link.

Index had various run-in with the law before. They have tie to the Yakuza it seems. Not really surprising considering the biggest idol group here is also in those guy's pocket.

Oh god really? Well I hope the cops just track down the Yakuza and not pick on Index.

I heard that the fog will come after several days of rain and that I must prepare to take action... whatever that means

I feel like we should make a list of publishers and parent companies that aren't fucked up. Seriously it would be useful.

Info update from NeoGAF:

As the investigation continues, it seems that they've uncovered over 100 companies connected to this Index scandal. They are affiliate companies and business partners suspected of being part of the scheme to inflate the share price and accounts of Index via round tripping. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission believes that Index has been carrying out this fraudulent scheme continuously and on a large scale for some time now.

Trading of Index shares have been suspended by the Osaka Stock Exchange since yesterday.

This doesn't look good.

Yeah cause racketeering is totally fine.

You guys do know that Atlus Japan has done some shitty things as well. They're known as a pretty greedy company.

Update: The first Dragon's Crown demo event this Sunday in Tokyo has been delayed indefinitely "due to various circumstances". There is no actual reason given, and the site still claims that the remaining events (the next one is the following weekend) will take place as scheduled.

This could or could not be related to what's going down.

It a bit too close. Really hope thing don't go sour and it just hard to tell if Atlus can leave to another company if their so close to the infrastructure of Index.

Deep Silver, it's on you!

And it would really suck for Vanillaware, as this is the second publisher of Dragon's Crown to run into trouble. It was originally supposed to be published by Ignition.

So here's what'll happen. Index and Atlus go under, Kaneko wakes up in a flower field next to Cozy Okada who whispers in his ear "Kaz, it's time" and they both whip out huge stacks of cash and buy the rights to all Megami Tensei related properties and form their own new company. Then they BURN EVERYTHING and are never seen again