Hey, remember last night, when Jim told us about Sony regretting not publishing Demon's Souls themselves? Well, they can cry some more, because Atlus has been reporting rather grand gains of late.
Over the first half of this fiscal year, Atlus drew in about 378 million yen - or $4.3 million dollars - in operating profit. That's up a whopping 236% from last year.
Of course, $4.3 mil is pocket change compared to the kind of money big dogs like the Activisions and Sony Computer Entertainment(s) of the world deal in, but still, that's two hundred thirty-six percent. And most of that came from Atlus USA, raked in over the last quarter alone.
Big movers in that period included the PSP remake of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (which Dale reviewed here), 101-in-1 Party Megamix (which totally flew under my radar), and of course Demon's Souls, the Cruel Little Dungeon-Crawler That Could. I'd bet that it had a significant part in that profit party, since it's one of the relatively few full-price, current-generation releases the company has published so far.
See? This is what happens when you give a damn about your customers and know your audience. And with a bunch of other titles like 3D Dot Game Heroes, Persona 3 Portable, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (reviewed here), and Trauma Team in the pipeline, the rest of the year looks promising, as well.
Congrats, guys. You earned this one.
Demon's Souls does well, Atlus swimming in profit [Siliconera]
Contest:
7:00 AM on 03.16.2010
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Atlus is a shining light in a sea of mainstream bullshit publishers right now.
They take the capitalist philosophy of "make what will sell the most" and fuck it out the window.
So glad it's paying off for them.
Congrats.
Without Atlus, I probably couldn't have played Muramasa, Odin Sphere, Persona 3 and 4, Demon's Souls, The trauma center series, and going retro, Maken X on my Dreamcast, Kartia and Ogre Battle in the PSone, and Crusader of Centy (yay for and amazing Zelda clone!) on the Genesis... I doubt any other company would have risked to localize/develop such strange games for the western market.
With so many amazing titles over the years, it's easy to forget that a single failure can put them out of bussiness forever. For a little publisher, even a little loss or a single title sellig poorly, can be a devastating blow. And after what happened with Nippon Ichi last year, I was very concerned about Atlus's future.
Good news to start the day.
Not to be a party popper but EA and Activision were exactly like Atlus at a time.
That said good on them. They're putting out good shit right now and that's all that matters.
Oh well.
Here's to hoping that Atlus doesn't go the same way as Activision, EA i can dig, i've always been a fan of EA games and haven't personally experienced them fucking me over, but Acti, Ooooh Acti, how I fucking hate them.
I've always just liked EA's control systems for their sports games, I've never liked anything about Activision.
I love Atlus, and I'm glad all that smart marketing finally paid off for them, however... does this mean Persona 5? Please?
Everytime they come to the states they're on the west coast. They actually played with one of my other favorite bands, IO Echo, all up and down California last fall and I was so bummed out. Heard it was amazing too. And now another one of my favorite bands, New Young Pony Club, is touring for their new album but they're British too so there goes that. And the lead singer is even giving away scarves she knit for a UK only contest which is just awesome. Damn the UK and it's hold it has on me!
Anyways back to vidyagames Atlus could go the way of Valve and be virtually impossible to not be fucking awesome.
I suspect any real analysis of Atlus would indicate this is more of a lucky quarter than any indication of future quarters profit.
I seriously doubt Sony is kicking themselves.
If Atlus ever picks up a game about money management, they should use this logo instead.
I hear a lot of people comparing Atlus to Valve when it comes to the way they treat customers. I wonder what would happen if they ever crossed paths...
Universal orgasms. PC gamers and console gamers will hold hands and sing in harmony.
And 360 gamers might whine a bit.
Atlus v. Valve.
Place yo bets.
Also, need moar free soundtracks and artbooks with my games. =D
I've always loved Atlas. Keep it up.
<3 the preorder bonuses I got for Persona 4, Raidou 2 and Knights in the Nightmare.
Aint that the truth. Game of the year as far as I'm concerned. Atlus, keep bringing us games like this and I will continue to give you money.