As we reported recently, Atlus' parent company Index is in financial difficulty, having "civil rehabilitation proceedings" in Japan to resolve problems with substantial debts. To date the operations of Atlus have been unaffected by these issues, yet the process with Index is now reportedly moving onto significant next steps.

It's been reported in Bloomsberg (translated by the user "Professor" at mmcafe.com) that Index corp is proceeding with plans to sell off its operations, with bids likely to start as early as next week with potential settlements totaling around 15 billion Yen (just under $150 million / £100 million). With bids starting so quickly it seems the company aims to tie up the process by early September, in order to avoid a loss of value due to a protracted rehabilitation period.

For its part, Atlus is proceeding with business as usual, and will likely continue to do so until it's either sold or — as seems unlikely — left as part of its struggling parent company. The continuation of upcoming releases and events is a positive, and we suspect that the range of IPs and its reputation for quality will help Atlus to secure bids.

Whether this process will cause any significant changes to Atlus' output and its regional offices is unknown, but it's not time to be overly concerned quite yet.