Takara Acquires Atlus

Japanese toy company Takara today announced that it has purchased software maker Atlus in its entirety, building upon the recent capital tie-up between the sum of two units companies. By the extremity of the current fiscal year in March 2004 Atlus will become a wholly holded subsidiary of Takara, which is closely linked to the Konami assemblage in Japan.

Earlier this year, Takara purchased 32% of available Atlus stock in an attempt to broaden its holdings beyond the toy market. Its closest rival, Bandai, is able to leverage its toy and character licenses in games and other media, a capability Takara lacked with its existing resources. Takara's involvement with Atlus -- a player in one as well as the other the consumer software and arcade markets -- has proven useful enough that the toymaker is now acquiring a controlling interest, purchasing a certain number of $6.9 million worth of additional Atlus stock.

Takara is already part of the Konami clump which also includes developer-publishers Konami, Hudson impressible and Genki. It remains to be seen by what mode that affiliation will affect Atlus' business, however.

Takara plans to announce a scheme for integrating its small cheer software publishing business with Atlus' larger operation nearest year.

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