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Square Enix Withdraws Tecmo Bid, Hints At Other Acquisitions
by David Jenkins
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September 5, 2008
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Following Tecmo’s announcement yesterday that it is seeking a merger with fellow Japanese publisher Koei, Square Enix formally withdrew its offer of a friendly takeover.
The withdrawal of the offer follows a written letter of rejection from Tecmo. Although Square Enix were willing to make minor revisions to the offer, a statement from the company implies that demands made by Tecmo, particularly in regards to the takeover price, made further discussions impossible.
Discussing the withdrawal with Japanese press, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada indicated that he did not know whether the company would try to acquire Tecmo again at a later date.
An AFX news report suggests that any future deal depends on whether Tecmo wants to work for Square Enix. A merger between Tecmo and Koei would create a company still less than a third the size of Square Enix.
Wada also confirmed that Square Enix was continuing to look at further acquisitions around the world, but failed to give any hint as to what type of businesses the company was most interested in. "We are talking with quite a few companies in and outside of Japan. We are routinely in such talks," he said.
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I say if they want to have a piece on the platform they should go all out on it, not through mergers and outsources but establishing priorities and actually delivering.
Also, I don't really want them buying most good companies out there, I mean I'd be heartbroken if they tried to buy Nippon Ichi or Atlus (who btw, in the last few years delivered games o much better than the typical Square-Enix monotony)
Japanese RPG studios are the last companies I'd expect them to pursue, especially in light of how niche the genre is becoming. While a single genre focus worked great during the 90s, market conditions are totally different now.
Unless for some reason they want IP and buy mangá companies, but I doubt that, seemly they like to invent and re-invent IPs, with games that sometimes even direct sequels has completly diffrent characters and even setting (like the sequel being 1000 after the first game, thus having a completly diffrent place)
The initial purchase of Taito was the start of such effort as it allowed them to get a foot into japan's arcade/amusement business to compete with the likes of SEGA and Namco. Now as somebody commented on earlier, its obvious that they want to get more into the action and possibily fighting genres; Had the deal with Tecmo went down its obvious phase 2 would've been completed.
Other than that it should be interesting to see what move SE make now.
and they DO need to invest on the Wii like mad, I mean... are they dumb?