Gaming company Atlus is finally showing its true financial strength through strong profits after years of looking like it was losing money on paper. The studio behind popular games like Persona and Shin Megami Tensei reported a healthy profit of 854 million yen (about $5.9 million) for the fiscal year ending in March 2025, marking a major turnaround from last year’s 757 million yen loss.

The company had been forced to write off something called “goodwill” from when Sega bought it back in 2013. When Sega acquired Atlus and its bankrupt parent company Index Corporation, they paid more than the company’s book value was worth. This extra payment – which happens when buyers see special value in things like brand reputation, talented staff, or loyal fans – created accounting goodwill that had to be gradually written off over time.

This accounting process made Atlus look unprofitable on paper even though the company was actually doing well and selling plenty of games. Now that they’ve finished writing off all that goodwill, we can finally see how Atlus is really performing.

The multiplatform release of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance helped push the entire SMT series past 2.11 million sales worldwide. Even more impressive, the brand-new game Metaphor: ReFantazio managed to sell over 2 million copies despite being a completely new franchise.

With the accounting adjustments now behind them, Atlus can focus on what it does best – making games that fans love while showing investors the company’s true financial health.