Holy shit :shock: The auction for popular Japanese publisher Atlus just got a little more interesting.Recently, news broke that Index, Atlus' parent company, was filing for civil rehabilitation, a form of bankruptcy. Atlus is currently set for auction on July 28th with Nintendo as a rumored frontrunner. International Digital Times has reported that Nintendo has been 'treating [Atlus] practically like an in-house studio. That may be because Atlus is about to become one.' This would also look favorably for Nintendo's fledgling home console, the Wii U, which hit record lows in sales recently.However, Microsoft's top shareholders have recently been receiving emails about Microsoft's plans on the auction. The plans were confirmed as of July 26th when Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive officer, told Wall Street Journal that they are set to bid on Atlus. Rumors are spreading that they have set 'over $200 million dollars' aside for Atlus' auction. Though other companies have not revealed or have rumors on their price ranges (as one would think is common sense for an auction) nor has this statement been confirmed, this could be a tactical move on Microsoft's part in order to scare competitors off through rumors.Currently, Index is looking for 15 billion yen in revenue from Atlus' sale, or around $152 million in US currency. If Microsoft is the leader in the auction by its end time, shock waves would be sent through the industry on the heavily Western-focused company taking a huge chunk of the Japanese market for themselves. Though Atlus has said that all current transactions and products will available for sale normally throughout the entire transaction, one can only wonder if the future will see atypical combinations like Persona 5 on the Xbox One.We'll be updating this page with more news on the story, including the auction itself. Keep it here for the latest.Wow, consider me shocked. I'm currently enjoying Persona 4 Golden a lot on the Vita and wanted to see Sony acquire them.SourceÂ
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