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Sega Sammy announced on July 4 that its subsidiary Atlus returned to profitability in the fiscal year ended March 2025 (as reported by GameBiz). Atlus posted a net profit of 854 million yen (roughly $5.9 million), which is a big turnaround from the previous year's deficit of 757 million yen (about $5.2 million).

In fact, Atlus had been reporting losses for years prior, but this had nothing to do with the company performing poorly or its games not selling. When Sega acquired Atlus and its bankrupt parent company Index Corporation back in 2013, it paid more than the fair market value (this usually has to do with the purchased company having high "intangible" value, such as brand reputation, in-house knowledge, a loyal fanbase etc.). As a result, the deal generated goodwill that Atlus has had to gradually write off over the years. This is what has been artificially lowering its reported profits in the past few years (despite the company performing well).

This process appears to have been completed, so we're finally seeing Atlus' actual performance now. Atlus attributes its strong performance in the past fiscal year to the release of core full-price games and licensing of its IPs. With the multiplatform release of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, the SMT series exceeded 2.11 million worldwide sales. Metaphor: ReFantazio also topped 2 million units sold despite being a brand-new IP.

In its groupwide financial reports, Sega Sammy has called Atlus "one of its most successful acquisition deals to date."

Persona developer Atlus is finally profitable again after writing off all leftover goodwill from Sega acquisition - AUTOMATON WEST

Goodwill from the 2013 Sega acquisition had been creating artificial losses on Atlus's financial reports for years.

automaton-media.com

 

[Kurotri]

My favourite developer. Keep it up!

 

[lh032]

one of the most greedy devs out there

 

[Branded]

I hate this developer.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Great devs but some of the greediest cunts on this planet. I can't understand how their practices are sistematically given a pass by the same crowd that complains about gachas in every other thread. Double think at its finest.

 

[Hudo]

I'd pay good money to get some Vanillaware games on PC.

 

[Skifi28]

That sounds really stupid. Essentially putting in debt a studio within your own company and making their numbers look bad because you'd have liked to have gotten it cheaper. It's like buying slaves.

 

[DaciaJC]

one of the most greedy devs out there

I hate this developer.

Great devs but some of the greediest cunts on this planet. I can't understand how their practices are sistematically given a pass by the same crowd that complains about gachas in every other thread. Double think at its finest.

Can someone explain what the deal is with Atlus? Never played their games before.

 

[SamuraiEdge]

Hell yeah, Atlus has kept me well fed for great JRPG experiences and related over the past few years. One of the best devs delivering great games that I love.

 

[Felessan]

Profit is.... very modest
Sign of the health of JRPG market

That sounds really stupid. Essentially putting in debt a studio within your own company and making their numbers look bad because you'd have liked to have gotten it cheaper. It's like buying slaves.

It's not putting a debt. It's allocating a value of purchase. It's accounting stuff.
Otherwise Sega should have realize goodwill premium as a loss immediately after purchase.

 

[diffusionx]

That sounds really stupid. Essentially putting in debt a studio within your own company and making their numbers look bad because you'd have liked to have gotten it cheaper. It's like buying slaves.

Im not an expert on thhis but I am pretty sure it is standard accounting. Intangible assets will be amortized over time.

 

[MudoSkills]

Can someone explain what the deal is with Atlus? Never played their games before.

Habit of releasing full price upgraded versions of their most successful games a few years down the line. Lots of people skipped Metaphor because they are assuming it'll get an expanded version at some point.

 

[Scrawnton]

Can someone explain what the deal is with Atlus? Never played their games before.

They released expanded editions of their games a couple years later that included expansion but require you to rebuy the game and pay full price.

They don't do DLC, they do full new releases for the same console for full price with the expansion built in.

 

[Rickyiez]

I don't understand the hate. Yes it's not a good practice expanding their game but it's not like they release a broken or unfinished game. Persona 5 is a complete product as it own even without Royal. The story is standalone , finished from start to end , and you even get 100+ hours of play time from the first playthru.

I'm pretty sure it's the same with other base game like P3 , P4 anf Metaphor.

How does they even being branded as the greediest dev I don't understand

 

[Labadal]

Great devs but some of the greediest cunts on this planet. I can't understand how their practices are sistematically given a pass by the same crowd that complains about gachas in every other thread. Double think at its finest.

I feel a bit guilty. I do buy first releases, but I never buy DLC, or rereleases like P5R, SMTVV, P3R, etc.