Atlus Suffers Poor Video Games Sales

Representatives from Japanese publisher and developer Atlus have released results for the first half of the company’s fiscal year, ended September 30. The company suffered a loss of ¥855 million ($7.8m), compared to a ¥6 million ($55,447) profit in the same period last year. At the same time the company’s sales in the consumer sector rose to ¥1.63 billion ($14.9m), from ¥550 million ($5.05m) last year, although a operating loss of ¥ 672 million ($6.17m) was also recorded. Although DVD and arcade sales have performed well for the company, home video games sales have been well down on previous years. The company is to become a full subsidiary of Japanese toymaker Takara in the next fiscal year and plans to expand its business into the mobile phone and pachinko markets.