Tecmo in merger talks with Koei. Tecmo rejects Square Enix buyout offer

A week ago Square Enix wanted to buy half of Tecmo. Today Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden developer Tecmo rejected Square Enix’s “friendly” buyout offer that was a result of Tecmo’s recent troubled history; the Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki leaving and starting a lawsuit against Tecmo, plus the company’s own employees suing the company for months of unpaid overtime. — Tecmo’s Managing Board claimed they wished to preserve their brand and saw opportunity for improvements in the company.

Shortly after the above statement, Tecmo today announced their plans for a merger with another Japanese games developer: Koei of Dynasty Warriors fame. An Integrated Management Committee will discuss how to best balance each other’s portfolios of games, create a stable and secure work environment, and respect each other’s individuality.

Tecmo’s statement reads as follows: “As the game industry environment changes with high-powered hardware, portable game machines and rapid growth as well as online mobile games, the accelerating consumer needs are varied and sophisticated. The industry has intensified. Multi-platform and the importance of overseas markets is pushing the industry towards global competition.

[…] Under these circumstances, these two companies have excellent financial positions, strengths and the ability to take advantage of each other in order to improve profitability and solidified the foundation of a worldwide leader.” — Via Kotaku

The new Tecmo president Yasuhara Kakihara yesterday announced at an autumn press conference that Team Ninja is currently developing three new games under the new team leader Jin Hasegawa (a Fatal Frame alumnus). These new games are aimed at a “worldwide audience” and will debut at next month’s Tokyo Game Show 2008.

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