Atlus, the company that brought consumers games like Persona 4 Golden and Shin Megami Tensei IV is being sold by parent company Index Holdings, which is going through some serious financial troubles. Index Holdings has filed for “civil rehabilitation proceedings” in Japan, which equates to bankruptcy protection in the US. In order to resolve the company debt, Index Holdings has decided to sell off several of its assets, including Atlus. This decision has piqued the interest of at least 20 different companies including Sega. With the proceedings under way, Index Holdings will be selecting candidates based on bid prices by the end of the week. A deal is expected to be reached and the proceedings concluded by the end of August 2013.

With a name like Atlus as one of the assets, Index Holdings has secured bids as high as 20 Billion yen ($201 million/ £132 million/ €151 million) for its offering. Atlus is proceeding with business as usual considering the circumstances. With Atlus having recently launched Fire Emblem: Awakening and Shin Megami Tensei IV on the 3DS, it’s surprising that there is no word of a bid from Nintendo. There is no bid for Atlus from Microsoft or Sony either, though that is not surprising considering they are busy preparing new consoles for release this year.

If Sega’s bid is high enough, then they will walk away with Atlus and the other assets Index Holdings is offering up. That means consumers could see Sonic appearing in Persona 5, Shin Megami Tensei V or the next Fire Emblem, though I doubt that would make some fans happy. There are still a lot of people who are still waiting for Phantasy Star Online 2 to grace the US market, and Ari has been wishing for Phantasy Star V for some time now. Regardless, there will be a deal by the end of the month and someone is walking away with Atlus and a slew of other Index Holdings assets.