Atlus West, formerly known as Atlus U.S.A., Inc., is the North American publishing branch of Japanese video game company Atlus, primarily known for localizing games for both them and other third-party developers. Its first original role-playing game was Revelations: Persona on the PlayStation, described by staff as an attempt to break into the Western role-playing game market and establish the company's Megami Tensei franchise through its Persona sub-series.
The company was founded in 1991 as a North American publishing branch for Atlus to break into the role-playing video game market at the time. In November 2013, Atlus USA was restructured to be governed under Sega of America after Sega Sammy acquired their parent company through Index Corporation. Despite the publishing divisions merging, Sega and Atlus continued to operate as separate entities, with all existing Atlus franchises remaining under their pre-established Atlus brand.
Atlus West is notable in its localization approach in preserving as much of the original material as possible, including any cultural references. Outside of being the American publishing subsidiary for the Japanese parent developer, Atlus West acts as an English localizer and publisher for Japanese games, similarly to Aksys Games, NIS America, and Xseed Games. In addition to their own properties, Atlus West's localization and publishing efforts has introduced several notable third-party games to the West including Demon's Souls and the Ogre Battle and Guilty Gear series.
History
Origins and name
Atlus Co., Ltd, a Japanese game developer founded in 1986, had been publishing its own games in its native country since the release of Puzzle Boy in 1989. Its North American branch was first established in Irvine, California on January 18, 1991, under the name Atlus Software, but traces its origins as Asuka Technologies founded on February 27, 1989. The branch was eventually succeeded by Atlus USA on April 1, 1999, becoming a separate subsidiary to Atlus. At the time of its inauguration in 1999, Atlus USA was owned at 85.7% by the Japanese parent company, with the remaining stock being shared among four employees. Atlus USA was formed because Atlus wanted to establish a local company in the United States. In 2010, Atlus' then-owner Index Corporation renamed Atlus USA to Index Digital Media and dissolved its Japanese parent company. The Atlus brand was preserved for Index's video games. In 2014, one year after Index Corporation was purchased by Sega, Index Digital Media reverted to being Atlus USA. Between 2019 and 2020, Atlus USA changed its public brand name to Atlus West.
Notable staff
The current president is Naoto Hiraoka (who is also the Senior Vice President for Sega of America publishing). One of the previous public relations managers was John Hardin, while one of the original staff members was market manager Gail Salamanca. Several personnel have had recurring roles during the history of Atlus USA from their work on both Atlus products and third-party games. A major contributor is Yu Namba, general localization project leader. Namba joined Atlus USA following the release of Revelations: Persona in 1996, and his first work was for Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. He would later work on the later Persona games, and multiple Megami Tensei games including Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and the Digital Devil Saga duology. Another key member for some time was Nich Maragos: formerly a journalist working at 1UP.com, he joined Atlus USA's localization team in 2006 where his first projects were the third Devil Summoner game Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army and Persona 3 FES. He worked on the greater majority of games localized during the following nine years before moving to work for Nintendo Treehouse prior to 2016. Other prominent staff include Bill Alexander, a vice president of Atlus USA who was project leader on Odin Sphere; Tomm Hulett, who worked on the Digital Devil Saga duology, Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity, and was project leader for Trauma Center: Under the Knife; and Mike Meeker, who acted as editor for both Persona 4 and Odin Sphere.