Sega Acquires Index Corp, Atlus

September 18, 2013

Sega Sammy Holdings, parent company of Sega, announced that it has acquired Index Corporation, the parent company of Persona 4 developer Atlus. Nikkei Japan reported earlier today that the deal was worth ¥14 billion ($A151 million).

Index filed for bankruptcy on June 27, with reported debts of ¥24.5 billion ($A258 million). The company was also the subject of an investigation by the Japanese Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission on suspicion of falsifying documents. Prior to this deal, Sega distributed Index’s games in Japan, while Sammy consigned development of pachinko boards to the company.

Sega Sammy released a statement (PDF link) saying that the acquisition will allow the company to “…gain access to prominent IPs in the home video game software, through which the Company can expect to achieve steady flows of revenue…expect further facilitation of revenue growth for the PC Online Game Business and Content Business for Smart Devices operated by SEGA and SEGA Networks Co., Ltd. by exploiting acquired prominent IPss and…maximize the value of acquired IPs by effectively deploying them in the Pachislot and Pachinko Machines segment, Amusement Machine Sales and Amusement Center Operations segments”

Back in July, Atlus told a number of outlets, including Polygon, that the company’s “day to day is unaffected and [its] games are still shipping”