Atlus West, formerly known as Atlus U.S.A., Inc., is the North American publishing branch of Japanese video game company
Atlus
is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, arcade manufacturer and distribution company based in Tokyo. A subsidiary of Sega, the company is known for video game series such as ''Megami Tensei'', ''Persona'', ''Etrian Odyssey'' and ''Trau ...
, 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
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
, described by staff as an attempt to break into the Western role-playing game market and establish the company's ''
Megami Tensei
''Megami Tensei'', marketed internationally as ''Shin Megami Tensei'' (formerly ''Revelations''), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji Okada, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed ...
'' franchise through its ''
Persona
A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally ref ...
'' sub-series.
The company was officially founded in 1991 as a North American publishing branch for Atlus to break into the
role-playing video game
A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
market at the time. In November 2013, Atlus USA was restructured to be governed under
Sega of America
is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...
after
Sega Sammy
(also known as the Sega Sammy Group and generally Sega Sammy, stylized as SᴇɢᴀSammy) is a Japanese holding company formed from the merger of Sega and Sammy Corporation in 2004. Both companies are involved in the amusement industry (Sega ...
acquired their parent company through
Index Corporation
, formerly known as , is a Japanese corporate information and communications technology company owned by Sawada Holdings.
"Index Corporation" was a corporate name used by three different Japanese companies, between 1997 and 2016, the last one be ...
. 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
Aksys Games Localization, Inc. is a video game publisher that specializes in translating and localizing Japanese video games for English-speaking markets. It was founded by Akibo Shieh in 2006. Some of its clients include Bandai Namco Games, Xs ...
,
NIS America
is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and ''Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' character ...
, and
Xseed Games
Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related mat ...
. 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
is a 2009 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 3 under the supervision of Japan Studio. It was published in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment in February, in North America by Atlus USA in October, and in PAL ...
'' and the ''
Ogre Battle'' and ''
Guilty Gear
is a series of fighting games by Arc System Works, created and designed by artist Daisuke Ishiwatari. Guilty Gear (first video game), The first game was published in 1998, and has spawned several sequels. It has also adapted to other media suc ...
'' 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
''Kwirk'', known in Japan as , is a puzzle video game developed and published by Atlus in Japan on November 24, 1989, for the Game Boy. The game was later published in North America in March 1990 by Acclaim Entertainment.
Plot
Kwirk and his gir ...
'' in 1989.
Its North American branch was first established in Irvine, California
Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...
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
, formerly known as , is a Japanese corporate information and communications technology company owned by Sawada Holdings.
"Index Corporation" was a corporate name used by three different Japanese companies, between 1997 and 2016, the last one be ...
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
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
, 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
Localization or localisation may refer to:
Biology
* Localization of function, locating psychological functions in the brain or nervous system; see Linguistic intelligence
* Localization of sensation, ability to tell what part of the body is a ...
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
''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...
, 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
is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...
prior to 2016. Other prominent staff include Bill Alexander, a vice president of Atlus USA who was project leader on ''Odin Sphere
''Odin Sphere'' is an action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 2. It was published by Atlus (Japan and North America) in 2007, and by Square Enix (Europe) in 2008. A remake, titled ''Odin Sphere Leifthrasir'' (styli ...
''; 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
released outside of Japan as ''Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4'', is a 2008 role-playing video game by Atlus. It is chronologically the fifth installment in the ''Persona'' series, itself a part of the larger ''Megami Tensei'' franchise, and was ...
'' and ''Odin Sphere''.
Localization approach
The branch's stated aim was to publish high-quality Japanese games in North America. While Atlus had become famous in Japan for the ''Megami Tensei
''Megami Tensei'', marketed internationally as ''Shin Megami Tensei'' (formerly ''Revelations''), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji Okada, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed ...
'' role-playing franchise, the series was deemed too dark to be released overseas despite a recognized market: a major part of this was their use of religious imagery and taboo, which ran counter to potential publishers' content guidelines for overseas releases. It was eventually decided to bring over entries from the franchise to help establish Atlus in the West, as they did not have a role-playing series to compete with other major series such as ''Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
'', ''Suikoden
is a series of role-playing video games created by Yoshitaka Murayama. The games are loosely based on the classical Chinese novel ''Water Margin'', whose title is rendered as in Japanese. Each individual game centers on themes of politics, co ...
'' and ''Breath of Fire
''Breath of Fire'' is a role-playing video game series developed by Capcom. It originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The series is notable for its recurring characters and ambiguous continuity; though each game is its ...
''.
When Atlus USA first localized ''Revelations: Persona'', the first role-playing game localized by the team, was handled by a small staff of six full-time employees, meaning that localizing the game was a huge task. The staff was later expanded, although they would be affected by staff and resource limitations for other early projects. Since the release of ''Persona 2: Eternal Punishment'' in 1999, Atlus has adopted a policy of keeping their localizations as close as possible to the original Japanese versions, a tradition they have followed to the present day. The first mainline game to be released in the West was ''Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne'' in 2004. It was decided based upon the success of mature Western games such as the ''Grand Theft Auto
''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones (video game developer), David Jones and Mike Dailly (game designer), Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan Hous ...
'' series. As per their resolution, they kept it as close as possible to the original, consulting the Japanese guides and game source code so they would not make mistakes with demon names.
Following the release of ''Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne'', the "''Shin Megami Tensei''" moniker was attached to games released in the West across the core games and its various subseries. This was done to help with marketing, and worked in their favor due to all their selected games being part of the wider ''Megami Tensei'' series. For some games, such as entries in the ''Persona'' series, the moniker has been dropped. A notable exception from Atlus' localization history is the massively multiplayer online role-playing game
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
'' Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine'', which was localized by Aeria Games
Aeria Games, formerly known as Aeria Games and Entertainment, is an online game publisher. The corporate headquarters is in Berlin, Germany.
Aeria Games was a subsidiary of ProSiebenSat.1 Media, which operates an Internet gaming portal for mas ...
, who consulted with Atlus to make sure their work was faithful to the series.
The first stage of Atlus' localization process is familiarization with the game. The time the developers can access the game varies, with this stage beginning after completion of the master version for in-house products and after release for third-party games. The project leader receives all text files and relevant graphic assets while the translators play the game itself in its unlocalized form. This approach is vital as, from the main scenario to potential side quests or other smaller narrative elements, it was important to know context and point-of-view so they could be accurately localized. The localization process begins after this, taking varying lengths of time depending on the project: some took a very short time, while others required several months work. If there is voiced dialogue, the English voice recording can further extend the process. The programming stage, where the localized assets are inserted into the game, is given to the original developers as Atlus USA have no in-house programmers. After this comes the quality assurance
Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
(QA) testing, necessary to find and correct any bugs or text typos that occurred during the programming stage. Finally the game is sent for manufacturer approval, before moving to manufacturing. Further programming and QA work may be needed if the manufacturer is unsatisfied, and the manufacturing process can take varying amounts of time based on the game's medium. Their QA process was reassessed following the release of '' Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse'' in 2016, which had unlocalized text which appeared under certain circumstances. For games developed by other companies, Atlus USA also makes inquiries about the game's availability for licensing, then purchase an import copy, and if they are impressed make a pitch to the game's developers.
The ''Digital Devil Saga'' duology was the first ''Megami Tensei'' product to make extensive use of voice acting. As the Japanese version used famous Japanese actors, the localization team picked well-known English voice actors for the lead roles, and took extra care lip-synching the English dialogue. For voice acting, the team tried to choose actors who could properly and accurately portray the characters, and sometimes made additions to better distinguish the characters in a way understandable to a Western audience. A cited example was the ''Digital Devil Saga'' duology, where character Cielo was given a Jamaican accent to help portray his easy-going and friendly personality. Atlus USA tries to keep voice actors consistent between games which use the same cast of characters, but when a voice actor is unavailable, they will recast with an actor who sounds as close as possible to the original so there is minimal disruption to continuity.
Changes
Despite their dominant policy of keeping games intact when translating from Japanese to English, some concessions have needed to be made with releases. When discussing the differences between localizing ''Shin Megami Tensei IV
is a Japanese post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by Atlus for the Nintendo 3DS. It is part of the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series, the central series of the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise, though no direct story connection exists to ...
'' and the mobile port of the original ''Shin Megami Tensei
''Megami Tensei'', marketed internationally as ''Shin Megami Tensei'' (formerly ''Revelations''), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed and publishe ...
'', Nich Maragos said that while ''Shin Megami Tensei IV'' had a dialogue-driven story, ''Shin Megami Tensei'' used briefer and more to-the-point dialogue, in addition to having a strict character limit for dialogue boxes, making the latter a more challenging project. '' Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey'' was the first game to be developed with a Western audience in mind, which changed how the team were required to approach the localization. For the third ''Devil Summoner'', the localization team added 1920s slang to the script so its setting in a fictionalized version of the Taishō period would sound authentic. They also removed a mahjong
Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...
minigame as there was no tutorial for players unfamiliar with the game, and its rewards for playing were meager.
The most information about the difficulties of localization have been for the ''Persona'' series. ''Revelations: Persona'', the first role-playing game localized by the team, was handled by a small staff of six full-time employees, meaning that localizing the game was a huge task. They were also faced with the problem of the numerous Japanese cultural references the game contained. Nearly all references to Japanese culture were removed, with the setting changing from Japan to North America. This meant that the names and ethnicity of all character were altered, with the most notable being the character Masao Inaba being turned from a Japanese to an African American boy named Mark. ''Revelations: Persona'' has become notorious for the number of changes made to the game's content for its Western release. Atlus USA's next original game, ''Persona 2: Eternal Punishment'', was described as a "halfway point" in their localization style: while they kept as faithful as possible to the original script, they needed to take the alterations to ''Revelations: Persona'' into account for character names. The first ''Persona'' game was later remade, and this allowed the staff to completely redo the localization, changing everything to be more faithful to the original with the exception of a few fan favorites.
For ''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4'', Japanese honorifics were retained despite it being a contentious decision among fans. Humor that was focused on a knowledge of Japanese culture also needed to be either changed completely, or adjusted so that it would be understandable. In ''Persona 3'', references to the first ''Shin Megami Tensei
''Megami Tensei'', marketed internationally as ''Shin Megami Tensei'' (formerly ''Revelations''), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed and publishe ...
'' were changed to those of the first two localized ''Persona'' games. Some issues with language have caused changes to be made: ''Persona 3'' character Mitsuru Kirijo's second language was changed from English to French, and class questions based around language needed to be entirely redone. Some character names were altered, such as the stagename of ''Persona 4'' character Rise Kujikawa. For ''Persona 4 Golden'', an expanded remake of ''Persona 4'', the main trouble was finding a suitable voice actress for new character Marie. For '' Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth'', this approach was taken, and added dialogue was inserted to explain aspects of the game's fourth dungeon, which was themed around a Japanese culture festival.
For games outside the ''Megami Tensei'' franchises, changes have been less prominent due to many of their games taking place in fictional universes without references to popular culture. The script for ''Odin Sphere'' was inspired by the work of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, but the team were faced with difficulties with the auto-scrolling dialogue and text bubbles. When recording, the voice actors needed to time their performances to the scrolling dialogue, and the text bubbles needed to be individually resized while also keeping the English translation as close and concise as possible. '' 3D Dot Game Heroes'' required little to no changes, as its original script was already replete with Easter eggs and references to the classic video games it was giving homage to. ''Stella Deus'' also underwent minimal alterations, including preserving the story's religious themes.
Publishing
During its early lifetime, before it had fully established itself, Atlus USA was a third-party publisher for Sony, Nintendo and Sega for their respective home console systems. Their first ''Megami Tensei'' release was the action spin-off ''Jack Bros.
''Jack Bros.'' is an action game, action video game developed and published by Atlus for the Virtual Boy, released in late 1995 in Japan and North America. It is a spin-off from Atlus' video game series ''Megami Tensei'', and was the first entr ...
''; their first role-playing release was ''Revelations: Persona'' for the PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
. The next original game to be released by Atlus USA was ''Persona 2: Eternal Punishment'': its prequel ''Innocent Sin'' was considered, but workload and content issues meant that it remained exclusive to Japan. Despite fan demand, the greater majority of Atlus' early games remain exclusive to Japan due to their age and the company wishing to focus on their latest games.
In addition to their own franchises such as ''Megami Tensei'' and ''Trauma Center
A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major trauma, major traumatic injuries such as Falling (accident), falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma cent ...
'', the company notably localised several third-party series and individual games. These include '' Ogre Battle'' from Quest Corporation
was a Japanese video game company founded in 1988. Quest is best known for its critically acclaimed tactical role-playing game series ''Ogre Battle''.
In 1990 Quest was merged with the company Bothtec, the latter focusing on the development of ...
, ''Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
'' from Sting Entertainment
is a Japanese game development studio. Some of their titles include ''Treasure Hunter G'', '' Evolution: The World of Sacred Device'', and the ''Dept. Heaven'' series of games. Its active properties currently include '' Baroque'', ''Dokapon'' ...
, the original ''Guilty Gear
is a series of fighting games by Arc System Works, created and designed by artist Daisuke Ishiwatari. Guilty Gear (first video game), The first game was published in 1998, and has spawned several sequels. It has also adapted to other media suc ...
'' by Arc System Works
, commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear'' and ''BlazBlue'', a ...
, and ''Demon's Souls
is a 2009 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 3 under the supervision of Japan Studio. It was published in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment in February, in North America by Atlus USA in October, and in PAL ...
'' by FromSoftware
FromSoftware, Inc. is a Japanese video game development and publishing company based in Tokyo. Founded by Naotoshi Zin in November 1986, the company developed business software before releasing their first video game, ''King's Field (video game) ...
. Despite their wide reputation for publishing role-playing games, they have also branched out into other genres with games such as ''Galleon
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...
''. Two games that the company localized but did not publish were '' Disgaea: Hour of Darkness'' and ''Phantom Brave
is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation 2 video game console, developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software. It was released on January 22, 2004 in Japan, on August 31, 2004 in North America and on February 4, 2005 in Europe. The Nor ...
'': while they handled localization and sales distribution, the game's original Japanese developers and publishers Nippon Ichi Software
is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and ''Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' character ...
handled Western publicity and publishing. The reverse has also been done; '' Lunacy'', for example, was translated and localized by Sega of America, but licensed to Atlus USA for publication and marketing in North America. A different notable third-party game was ''Citizens of Earth
''Citizens of Earth'' is a role-playing video game developed by Eden Industries and published by Atlus for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, and the Nintendo 3DS. Players take control of the newly elected Vice President of ...
'', an independent game developed by Eden Industries that was picked up by Atlus following difficulties securing funding for the game. A similar event was when Atlus picked up ''Demon's Souls'' for publication after the game was rejected for Western publication by Sony Computer Entertainment. A recurring partner is Vanillaware
is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. An independent company, it was founded in 2002 under the name Puraguru by George Kamitani, a game developer who had previously worked at Capcom and Atlus, and directed ''Princess Crown'' (1997 ...
: their first game, ''Odin Sphere'', was published in 2007. Atlus later picked up the publishing rights to ''Dragon's Crown
''Dragon's Crown'' is a 2013 action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It was published in Japan and North America by Atlus and in PAL regions by NIS America. A high-definition port for PlaySt ...
'' after original publisher UTV Ignition Entertainment
Ignition Entertainment Limited, doing business as UTV Ignition Games, was a video game publisher of Indian media conglomerate UTV Software Communications. After The Walt Disney Company acquired UTV Software Communications as a wholly owned subs ...
ran into financial trouble. As part of their agreement to publish ''Dragon's Crown'', Atlus had right of first refusal for Vanillaware's next game, and they ended up publishing the company's sci-fi game '' 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim''.
Before 2017, Atlus did not have a European branch, meaning that their games were released through third-party publishers, which has in turn traditionally resulted in delays of at least several months between the European and North American releases. The first Atlus game to be published in Europe was ''Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne'' followed by the ''Digital Devil Saga'' duology. These games were published by Ghostlight, who would go on to publish other games including ''Devil Survivor
''Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor'' is a tactical role-playing video game in the ''Megami Tensei'' series developed by Atlus for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan on January 15, 2009, and in North America on June 23, 2009. An enhan ...
'' and its sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
. Other later publishing partners include Koei
Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...
(''Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army'', ''Persona 3''); Square Enix
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...
(''Odin Sphere'', ''Persona 4''); 505 Games
505 Games S.p.A. is an Italian video game publisher based in Milan. It was founded in 2006 as a subsidiary of Milan-based Digital Bros.
History
505 Games was founded in 2006 in Milan as a subsidiary of Digital Bros. The company found its earl ...
(''Stella Deus''); NIS America
is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and ''Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' character ...
(''Persona 4 Golden'', ''Persona Q'', ''Odin Sphere Leifthrasir''); Deep Silver
Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion. Eugenio Vitale serves as the director of games development for Deep Silver.
History
Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be '' Anarc ...
(''Persona 5'', ''Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse''); and Namco Bandai Games
is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...
(''Demon's Souls''). Despite lacking a European branch for some time, Atlus has published games digitally in Europe, including the remake of the first ''Persona'', ''Persona 4 Arena
''Persona 4 Arena'' is a fighting video game co-developed by Atlus and Arc System Works for arcades, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360; the game is a spin-off from the ''Persona'' series, itself part of the larger ''Megami Tensei'' franchise. The game w ...
'' and Aquria-developed game ''The Caligula Effect
''The Caligula Effect'' is a role-playing video game developed by Aquria. It was released for the PlayStation Vita in Japan in June 2016, and by Atlus USA in North America and Europe in May 2017. A remake of the game, ''The Caligula Effect: Overd ...
''. A European branch was finally opened within Sega of Europe's offices in 2017, allowing them to release special editions of their properties directly in Europe.
Third-party games published
References
External links
*
{{ACE Team
American companies established in 1991
Video game companies of the United States
Video game companies established in 1991
Video game publishers
Sega Sammy Holdings
American subsidiaries of foreign companies
Companies based in Irvine, California
1991 establishments in California