In a bit of surprising news, it was revealed today by Tecmo Koei that they are planning on purchasing Atelier and Ar Tonelico series developer Gust through the acquisition of their stocks. This means that Tecmo is going to be purchasing all 495 shares of Gust for ¥22 billion or $28.3 million American. The reason noted for Tecmo Koei’s acquisition of Gust has to do with the popularity of the Atelier series as a whole.
Before this purchase, Tecmo Koei has worked along with Gust to help distribute their games in Japan and even in Europe. At the time however, nearly all Gust titles are distributed and localized by NIS America for North American distribution. So it is currently unclear on how this will affect the relationship between the two companies.