Atlus will soon be a Sega brand, reports Japan's Nikkei.

The Japanese news source reports that there have been substantial steps forward for Index Corporation (Atlus' parent company) to transfer management control over to Sega Sammy Holdings (Sega's parent company).


This comes as Sega will formally purchase Index for 14 billion yen (US$141 million), and Index's game business is being reorganized under Sega.

Last August, there were reports that Sega was among twenty companies bidding for Index, which was going through financial proceedings. This summer, Atlus said its brand would carry on and was "unaffected" by the financial troubles.


According to Bloomberg (via Destructoid), around twenty companies are interested in acquiring Index Read more

Update: Sega Sammy Holdings has issued a statement regarding the Nikkei story via Inside, stating, "Today, according to a media outlet, there is a report that our company is taking over Index's operations. However, this is not an announcement our company made."

Update 2: Sega has now confirmed the purchase. Please be gentle with the Persona series.

再生手続き中のインデックス、セガサミーに経営譲渡 [Nikkei]