Atlus bidding has begun in earnest, and it looks like competition to get the beleaguered developer is fierce. Among the noteworthy bidders are Sega Sammy Corporation, and 20 companies have bid on Atlus overall.
The initial bid has seen the company appraised for as much as 20 billion yen, roughly $ 201 million. This is definitely higher than earlier estimates of 15 billion yen and bodes well for Index, whose bankruptcy debt is estimated at 24.5 billion yen. Index will be choosing eligibly buyers next week and should finalize sales by the end of the month. To this end, they have hired acquisitions specialist GCA Savvian to help with the eventual handover process.
Well, this is certainly a surprise, isn't it? After strong speculation that Nintendo was likely to acquire the company, and other speculation going around Capcom, Square Enix, Sony and Kadokawa Games. However, it actually stands to reason that Sega would be front and center to bid for the company.
Of course, Sega has most recently purchased Relic Games from defunct AAA THQ, but the company does have a history of Western acquisitions. This dates as far back as 2005 with Sports Interactive and The Creative Assembly. More recently, they also bought Three Rings Design in 2011.
Thankfully, Sega is also well positioned to keep Atlus in its current standing as a popular 3rd party developer. They do have good working relationships with all three console companies, and can possibly even help the developer bring their games to PC and mobile. All in all, most people should be satisfied if this came to pass.
Of course, Sega's the only name we got, and we have yet to confirm or deny if earlier bets also made bids for Atlus. For now, we'll just have to wait for further news.
Image is off the Sega offices in ÅŒta, Tokyo
Source: Dualshockers
