Sega has finalised its acquisition of video game developer and publisher Atlus, the company announced in a press release provided to Polygon yesterday.
All Atlus games will be published by Sega of America in North America going forward but the Atlus brand itself isn’t going anywhere.
Atlus USA and Sega of America will continue to “act autonomously,” the company said, “and no games or products will be adversely affected by the publisher unification.”
Sega has brought in the “expertise” of Atlus to help in the localisation of Japanese games such as Project Diva and Yakuza.
“After nearly a year working under the Sega Games division, both SEGA of America and Atlus U.S.A. have thrived and released a combined total of 23 game products,” Naoto Hiraoka, Atlus U.S.A.’s CEO, commented in a release. “Between Atlus’ ability to localize and release Japanese video game products efficiently and the strength of Sega of America’s reputation as a leading publisher in the industry, the situation could not be more symbiotic for both companies.”
“Being able to localize the smaller Sega titles from Japan quicker is a tangible benefit,” on Twitter, PR manager John Hardin, said. He added that the Atlus brand the logo aren’t going away and the change is “almost entirely back-end stuff.”
The ATLUS logo/brand aren't going away. The change is almost entirely back-end stuff.
— John Hardin – Compounds and Dead Sounds (@JohnLHardin) March 31, 2016
The press release also confirmed that Ivo Gerscovich will now take over as chief head brand officer for Sonic and senior vice president of Sega of America. Gersovich will oversee the future of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in games, retail products, TV shows, and a feature-length movie.
Sega purchased Atlus’ parent company Index in 2013 amid tight competition.
