Capcom Open to Takeover?

[Moon Jump]

Nintendo or Namco/Bandai would be the best bets. Or split the franchises up. Let the fighting games go to Namco/Bandai and see what Nintendo can do with some of the classic series. I agree with Taiso as well, get Inafune and Mikami back and also build back bridges with the other companies they made games with, mostly Arika because I want Street Fighter EX characters to come back.

 

[ReplicaX]

Platinum would need investors. They'd be paying back those loans for a long time, but goddamn what a pipe dream it would be, both for the Platinum guys and for the fans.

If anything buying the Mega Man IP would be a huge victory in itself. Sadly to much greed out their though. Doubt a company buying Capcom would sell off an IP like that, merchandise branding value alone.

Cave could even reclaim full rights to Progear.

See what Nintendo can do with some of the classic series.

No offense, they have enough of a backlog of their own classics they don't give 2 shits about. IMO Nintendo as a company doesn't deserve the IPs.

Capcom's IPs deserve to be multi-platform period. They were also that way to begin with.

 

[Wachenroder]

It's their entire Board of Directors that need to go, not just a stupid CEO.

I did say "top to bottom shake up" didn't I?

 

[famicommander]

I hope someone buys them and then fires the shit out of Yoshinori Ono. I fucking hate what that guy (and his buddy Seth Killian) did to Capcom fighters.

But really, almost all of Capcom's best developers/artists/producers are already gone. Shinji Mikami, Keiji Inafune, Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, Akira Yasuda, Akira Nishitani, Yoshiki Okamoto, Noritaka Funamizu...

It would really just be Shu Takumi (Ace Attorney producer) and Ryozo Tsujimoto (Monster Hunter). Everyone else that was good at Capcom jumped ship for Platinum, Comcept, Dimps, Arika, Inti-Creates, Crafts and Meister, Game Republic (defunct now), or Tango Gameworks.

I don't think I've ever seen a talent drain so large as the one Capcom has been experiencing for the last ~15 years.

 

[Phyeir]

Platinum would need investors. They'd be paying back those loans for a long time, but goddamn what a pipe dream it would be, both for the Platinum guys and for the fans.

Boy is that a pipe dream. Unfortunately more often than not these day, investors means private equity, which means Board of Directors only focused on short term profits, puts us right back where we were as gamers.

 

[AppleiDog]

The most likely candidate would be Disney, they have been buying up a lot of things past few years, star wars, Marvel and this would go hand in hand, due to them being able to release there entire back catalog

 

[RabbitTroop]

This would be slightly dangerous too. It would mean Street Fighter would never see release on anything outside a Nintendo platform.
Nintendo is just starting to figure out online play.....done well.
Nintendo already has a good relationship with Capcom, but they are also kinda hurting for cash right now. Japan studios are just hurting in general.

When you buy a company, you gain their IPs and technology. Sometimes a company will buy another to replace a portion of their own product lines or services that is underpar.

Meaning: Nintendo would not buy Capcom and then replace Capcom's engines with their own. They would be able to use Capcom's existing technology and try to incorporate it into other Nintendo future products as well.

Or, they could just gut the company and take their IPs. I mean, that's possible too. Depends on what they want and what they deem as being valuable

 

[Phyeir]

The most likely candidate would be Disney, they have been buying up a lot of things past few years, star wars, Marvel and this would go hand in hand, due to them being able to release there entire back catalog

Whats the relationship with Capcom and anyone who produces their media that isn't video games? Most of their acquisitions seem to be tied into either media that are outside their universe that have already a very wide audience or their own chains of distribution.

Point being, Capcom's properties may have a bunch of cross licensing issues with other companies. Plus, as deep and their appeal is with gamers, I dont know how well a new movie starting Dwayne Johnson and Rock Man would hit big.

 

[Wachenroder]

I hope someone buys them and then fires the shit out of Yoshinori Ono. I fucking hate what that guy (and his buddy Seth Killian) did to Capcom fighters.

But really, almost all of Capcom's best developers/artists/producers are already gone. Shinji Mikami, Keiji Inafune, Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, Akira Yasuda, Akira Nishitani, Yoshiki Okamoto, Noritaka Funamizu...

It would really just be Shu Takumi (Ace Attorney producer) and Ryozo Tsujimoto (Monster Hunter). Everyone else that was good at Capcom jumped ship for Platinum, Comcept, Dimps, Arika, Inti-Creates, Crafts and Meister, Game Republic (defunct now), or Tango Gameworks.

I don't think I've ever seen a talent drain so large as the one Capcom has been experiencing for the last ~15 years.

Capcom still has some talent. Off the top of my head Hideaki Itsuno, Hidetoshi Ishizawa and Ryota Niitsuma are all good in my book and i'm sure there's more that I'm either forgetting/not aware of. Ono is cool in my book as well but I can understand the hate since you don't like modern Capcom fighters.

The loss in talent is alarming though. The problem it seems is that Capcom doesn't seem to be the kind of company that nurtures its employees and it shows. Thats why I think the corporate structure needs to be reevaluated. Something stinks bad and its getting worse.

 

[NeoGeoNinja]

...mostly Arika because I want Street Fighter EX characters to come back.

YES.

Esp. Allen Snyder <3

 

[Wachenroder]

And this cool mother fucker

 

[Moon Jump]

YES.

Esp. Allen Snyder <3

Doctrine fuckin' Dark please.

 

[SouthtownKid]

This could spell doom if they fall into the wrong hands.

Compared to the doom of the hands they've been in for the past decade?! I can't bring myself to care too much.

 

[Phyeir]

Something stinks bad and its getting worse.

Wonder what it could be...

Corporate

Well there's your problem.

 

[NeoGeoNinja]

Doctrine fuckin' Dark please.

"Exxxplosif".

Blair was my main character from EX. Was pretty pissed when they omitted her from EX2.

EX+a is definitely the standout for me though. It was really well done. If I want to play SF in 3D, that's the title I turn too. Not SF4.

Fuck. How did I not mention Garuda(??!) but managed to deliberately not mention Skullomania. Because... everyone loved Skullomania.

 

[ReplicaX]

Inafune's story about the reasons why he left Capcom and all the steps he took to try and stay, it sums up in general why many left Capcom before and after him with their own personal stories.

How Christian worked with a Community team and built Unity only for his fellow board members to steam roll their own Community/PR Team's work and fans. Then eventually just laid him off. Meh I can go on forever with this over the last 10 years.

Just plain sad and makes me wanna puke. Maybe if they get the Square Enix treatment they will cut off the leeches and full reorganize and refocus. It's getting rather late at this point though.

 

[neo_mao]

I dunno guys, I am not too optimistic about this whole situation.

I only took a quick look at the article, but it looked like it said that Capcom removed their defensive measures to fight off a takeover...I don't know anything about mergers and acquisitions, but that seems to imply that they still have some control over who may buy them out. And so I think we have to look at this from their perspective...who would Capcom want to become part of?

I don't know anything about Capcom's financials, but I don't think this was an act of desperation caused by bankruptcy or something...I think it was a strategic move. I mean, what would Capcom gain if they were acquired by another Japanese developer, like Nintendo? I don't think they would gain much? As much as I love Japanese developers...to some extent they are all fighting to stay "relevant" in a market dominated by Call of Duty and Assassin Creed, and Grand Theft Auto games...how would Capcom pairing up with Sega, Aksys or even Square Enix help them accomplish this (moreseo than if they were on their own)?

I think Capcom wants to join with the big players, and this was a tactic for them to get acquired by an EA, Activision or Ubisoft to help become more "westernized". I don't know what that means for their IPs...

I could be way off the mark, but right now I am not too optimistic...

 

[Phyeir]

You're reading it right and likely this won't end well for gamers. You don't send out a newswire saying "hey, our defenses our down, you can buy us how now" just as an FYI.

They're asking for buyers. Likely, there was probably even some back office discussions and now they want it public to try and get top dollar. Or yen.

 

[Moon Jump]

I know this has to be about the fourth time I've said this one here but I still can't believe how fast they dropped. I remember seeing how excited everybody was at NY Comic Con not even five years ago and now their talking about going bankrupt. The higher ups that have been putting in shitty DLC, on disc DLC and changing up Resident Evil have got to go.

 

[El Maricon Loco]

They've published/created some of my fave games of all time, but I don't have many fucks to give anymore.

 

[Wachenroder]

You're reading it right and likely this won't end well for gamers. You don't send out a newswire saying "hey, our defenses our down, you can buy us how now" just as an FYI.

They're asking for buyers. Likely, there was probably even some back office discussions and now they want it public to try and get top dollar. Or yen.

I don't think its anything like that. Capcom wants to stay independent and in control (Its a family owned company and the founder is still CEO) so I don't think Capcom is secretly looking for buyers. Investors are most likely losing faith in the company and feel like an acquisition would be more lucrative.

I don't think anything will come of this. Hostile takeovers don't happen over night and Capcom has plenty of time to convince investors to approve the plan next time.

If it did happen though? I guess i'd be ok with them merging with Namco followed by maybe Sega then maaaaaybe Sony.

 

[Professor Denim]

They've published/created some of my fave games of all time, but I don't have many fucks to give anymore.

This.

 

[Phyeir]

I don't think its anything like that. Capcom wants to stay independent and in control (Its a family owned company and the founder is still CEO) so I don't think Capcom is secretly looking for buyers. Investors are most likely losing faith in the company and feel like an acquisition would be more lucrative.

I don't think anything will come of this. Hostile takeovers don't happen over night and Capcom has plenty of time to convince investors to approve the plan next time.

Doesn't sound like the family has enough of a say in the ownership of the company though, otherwise it wouldn't be Capcom itself announcing the lack of the measures being in place. And never underestimate how much politicing may be going on behind the scenes to drive this and what deals are being put in place. Those types of discussions to lay the foundation could be months in advance already and this is a play to get more.

Investors are short term thinkers more than ever, they probably see more value in selling out the company with strong IPs than trying to correct everything internally that they themselves have screwed up, and moving their money elsewhere.

It's all speculation on everyone's part including mine, of course.

 

[SNKorSWM]

Inafune should start another kickstarter campaign to buy Capcom and run that company himself. XD

 

[Wachenroder]

Inafune should start another kickstarter campaign to buy Capcom and run that company himself. XD

I'll take it one further. Imagine all of the old Capcom legends (Inafune, Funamizu, Mikami, Kamiya, Okamoto etc...) all pitching in to buy Capcom. Usurping the house of Tsujimoto and reclaiming what they helped build.