Atlus President and CEO Naoto Hiraoka issued an apology to the company’s fans for worrying them throughout Atlus’ parent company’s legal troubles. His message was also one of hope after SEGA purchased Atlus, along with Index Holdings, for about $141 million this week.
His message:
Dear fans and customers,
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your support of ATLUS products.
As announced Tuesday through various news channels, we are going to continue with our business operations as part of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS effective November 1, 2013.
As you may already know, Index Corporation filed for Civil Rehabilitation Proceedings in Japan on June 27 and since then, has been searching for a solution which would allow us to continue our business of making great games.
ATLUS has consistently received support and praise from our Faithful and our respected customers, and made great progress in recent years. So the recent incident must have surprised and worried all of you dearly. For that, I would like to express my deepest apologies.
We have nurtured a great relationship with SEGA Inc. for a long time, especially concerning our consumer games business in Japan. I believe the collaboration between the two companies at this time will be mutually beneficial for the following reasons:
Sega understands our drive to achieve quality and to expand awareness of the ATLUS brand.
Our respective strengths in game development complement each other well.
We are extremely happy to be able to continue with our business, and be able to report this good news to our fans and customers. Again, we would like to express our gratitude to everyone who has supported us.
Currently, we at the Consumer Software Division in Japan are focusing on developing future titles, and are willing to take on new challenges to further achieve growth and success.
Please stay tuned for future updates.
Naoto Hiraoka
President and CEO
While it’s great to hear Hiraoka’s perspective on the sale, we still haven’t received official comment from SEGA of Japan. It will be interesting to see how SEGA integrates such a large company into its operations. As we noted in our timeline of SEGA’s acquisitions, the company spent more purchasing Index Holdings than it has any other. SEGA definitely has big plans for Atlus. We’re just waiting to see and hear what they are.
[Via Joystiq]