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| Liz Maas |
Some possible changes are coming to the Atelier series.
12.07.11 - 12:22 PM
This morning it was announced that Tecmo Koei will be acquiring Gust, the studio behind the Atelier games. Gust, who are currently independent, will see all 100% of its shares sold to Tecmo Koei for 2.2 billion yen ($28,300,000 USD) in the middle of this month. The developer will then become a subsidiary of Tecmo Koei, who already has another subsidiary that currently distributes Gust titles in Japan.
Interest in the beloved Atelier series was cited as the main reason, as they hope to increase that popularity by using the IP in a number of different ways. According to Nikkei, one of the plans includes making social games out of the series. This doesn't mean that the RPGs and things like item synthesis and more recently, worldbuilding will come to an end however - what exactly they plan to do with the main games has not yet been talked about.
North American and European fans of the series can expect Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland for the PS3 sometime in the spring of 2012.
Update: Our source had an incorrect dollar value listed. The original Nikkei article here confirms that the value was 2.2 Billion Yen, or about $28 Million USD.
