Persona Games in Trouble as Parent Corporation is Insolvent.

[Mister Six]

Much as the title says, things are looking bad for Atlus as it's parent company, Index Corporation has gone insolvent.

Source [http://www.siliconera.com/2013/04/15/atluss-parent-company-index-holdings-is-in-debt/]

The Article

Index Corporation posted a significant loss for the second quarter. While they reached 5.65 billion yen ($58 million) in sales with games like Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4: Golden, Index posted a total loss of 2.263 billion yen ($27 million) for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending on August 31, 2013.



This loss left Index Corporation with 1.435 billion yen ($14.75 million) of debt for the end of the period. Index have not provided specifics surrounding the cause of their losses.



To fix this insolvency issue, Index will perform cost cutting measures such as reducing management personnel and reviewing the number of staff on hand. By doing this and increasing the amount of free cash flow, Index states they can pay back the debt.



For the remaining fiscal year, Index Corporation has Shin Megami Tensei IV, Dragon?s Crown, and New Etrian Odyssey: Millennium Maiden scheduled for release in Japan. When it comes to social games Persona 4: The Card Battle is doing well and so is Gantz. To Heart: Heartful Party and Devil Survivor 2: The Extra World were launched in March and April, respectively.

 

[Launcelot111]

Misleading title is misleading. Index Corporation has a number of subsidiary businesses, of which Atlus is one. If Atlus games are doing well, then there is no reason to believe that the cost cutting measures will be within Atlus, and subsequently there is no reason to believe future Atlus games or SMT games in particular will not be produced. Furthermore, many companies operate while holding some level of long term debt as long as cash flows are decent, and there's no reason here to assume Index is operating otherwise. In short, we don't know a ton, so don't post inflamatory titles.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Yeah, title is a little bit misleading. "Persona games in trouble as parent..." I was sure that was about some soccer mom complaining that Persona 3 promotes suicides.

Also, what is exactly the relationship between Atlus and Index? Isn't Atlus the publisher on its own?

 

[shrekfan246]

Yeah, title is a little bit misleading. "Persona games in trouble as parent..." I was sure that was about some soccer mom complaining that Persona 3 promotes suicides.

Also, what is exactly the relationship between Atlus and Index? Isn't Atlus the publisher on its own?

"Parent Corporation" is a connected term.

Index is to Atlus as Namco Bandai is to... well, Namco Bandai Games.

In simpler terms, publishers aren't always the "highest authority" in a corporate ladder, even if they're not technically being watched over by whatever company owns them.

OT: Hopefully nothing bad smacks Atlus around because of this, they're a little bumbly when it comes to localizing things (especially if you're in the EU apparently) but they're still loads more in-touch with their fan-base than Square Enix.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Yeah, title is a little bit misleading. "Persona games in trouble as parent..." I was sure that was about some soccer mom complaining that Persona 3 promotes suicides.

Also, what is exactly the relationship between Atlus and Index? Isn't Atlus the publisher on its own?

"Parent Corporation" is a connected term.

Index is to Atlus as Namco Bandai is to... well, Namco Bandai Games.

In simpler terms, publishers aren't always the "highest authority" in a corporate ladder, even if they're not technically being watched over by whatever company owns them.

OT: Hopefully nothing bad smacks Atlus around because of this, they're a little bumbly when it comes to localizing things (especially if you're in the EU apparently) but they're still loads more in-touch with their fan-base than Square Enix.

That clears some things out.

Yeah, let's hope Atlus will be okay. I love them not just because of Persona series, but also because they are brave enough to publish stuff that no one else will.

 

[Another]

As far as I know, Atlus hasn't posted any losses on games. Sounds to me like the parent company isn't doing to hot, but the game segment is fine. No reason to think they will abandon something making money. Insolvency isn't the end.

Seriously, this is like saying that if WB were to be in dire straights it would scrap the Arkham games, despite them turning a profit.

 

[Shodan1980]

On a sidebar, its incredibly heartening to see a corporation in trouble not going straight to the shop floor for layoffs. I don't think I've ever seen a corporation even offer to go for layoffs in the upper levels when times are tight. Common sense? Who knew?

 

[Maximum Bert]

OT: Hopefully nothing bad smacks Atlus around because of this, they're a little bumbly when it comes to localizing things (especially if you're in the EU apparently) but they're still loads more in-touch with their fan-base than Square Enix.

Lol thats understating it a bit couldnt care less about EU would be more like it cant speak for the rest of the world but if you are in EU Square Enix treat you better than Atlus even going as far as region locking a friggin PS3 game and then blanking Europe for 9 months seriously that is pathetic.

I like a lot of Atlus games but their treatment of the EU is pathetic not in touch with their fan base here at all.