Capcom Could Be For Sale if Shareholders Open Company

[Oracle_Summon]

You guys remember the news that Capcom was not doing so well financially?

Well, Capcom stockholders have decided to end the company's take over defense, meaning that Capcom could be bought out by a willing purchaser.

Source:

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/2193...s_open_company_up_to_takeover_possibility.php

What do you think?

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I hope it's not Sony because I don't plan on buying a Sony system

I hope it's not Microsoft, because while I might buy a Microsoft system they RUIN companies

I would love if it was Nintendo

 

[Minato]

This'll be interesting to keep an eye on. It's like the whole Index thing again almost.

Hope everything stays fine with the existing projects.

 

[silvR1995]

Microsoft better stay the heck away. Look what they did to Rare.

 

[finalark]

Well, hopefully someone will pick it up that actually gives a damn about something besides milking Street Fighter.

But the more likely scenario is that they are bought out, all of their IPs go down the tube and the company spends the remainder of its days making mediocre iOS games.

I'll still cross my fingers for Breath of Fire VI, though.

EDIT: Wait a second, Capcom makes Monster Hunter. You know, that series of games that sells MILLIONS of copies in Japan? A place where most games see a few hundred thousand units sold at best? How the flying **** are they in financial trouble?

 

[Minato]

Capcom reinvested 4 billion yen (around 40 million USD) of MH4 profit into its mobile R&D division. I don't think it paid off as well as they had hoped. It's too bad that the top people of Capcom have made some really poor choices. I still think the company has a lot of talented employees that just get screwed over by their bosses.

 

[Mic_128]

Kinda hope Disney buy Capcom so the ___ vs Capcom line doesn't die. That, plus it'd be interesting to leave the door open for Disney properties (Including Star Wars) to enter.

 

[HeavyLobster]

Sony recently sold its stock in Square, and are generally struggling financially, so they probably aren't going to shell out for Capcom's IPs. Microsoft has the cash, but apparently it's difficult for a foreign company to buy out a Japanese company, so that may be a turn-off for them. Many of Capcom's current problems come from badly pandering to MS's target demographics, and MS might not be able to fix some of Capcom's struggling franchises. Nintendo is the most likely of the big 3 to actually purchase Capcom, and has the most to gain from it, as it would give them the devs to actually support their own hardware, and allow them to appeal to a wider audience. The primary concern for Nintendo is that they're still losing money, and most of the rewards they could reap would likely be on their next platform, rather than the Wii U. Also, there's the risk of Capcom's franchises being ignored by the gaming mainstream due to being exclusive on an unpopular platform. It could pay off, but Nintendo might not want to spend the money needed for this to work out.

 

[LivewiresXe]

I admit it would potentially interest me more if certain things were sold off individually, but apparently that's not how these things work. I talked to my brother a bit about it and he seemed to think something like this wouldn't happen unless they had a certain "preferred buyer" in mind for it, and I can kind of see that.

I agree to wanting Microsoft to stay the hell away from this because of what they did to Rare and due to not wanting Street Fighter to turn into, well...you know.

Sony and Nintendo both have a bunch of pros and cons to possibly buying it and Nintendo seems better for some forgotten franchises like Breath of Fire and Mega Man (how that's forgotten by Capcom, I don't know), while Sony would potentially be better for stuff like Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, and Resident Evil (and in RE's case it could go either way considering the best RE game in ages was on a Nintendo handheld). That being said though, Bayonetta 2's going to be on WiiU, so we'll see.

As for non-console making companies, it'd be interesting if like Bamco, or Sega, or someone that's not Ubisoft or EA got it. Hell, there's so many things I could imagine, though admittedly the idea or Arcsys getting Vampire Saviour, or SNK getting SF for some SvC2 (or hell, NRS getting Street Fighter) are mostly just silly wishes since well...what would those companies do with the rest of the IPs anyway? So yeah...no counting on those, but this could wind up interesting as a whole for sure.

I WILL say though, if Nintendo gets it, hopefully they won't do something silly like make Street Fighter 5 a WiiU exclusive.

 

[silvR1995]

I WILL say though, if Nintendo gets it, hopefully they won't do something silly like make Street Fighter 5 a WiiU exclusive.

If Capcom goes to ANY of the console devs (Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft), nearly all of their games will be exclusive to one console.

 

[Minato]

The primary concern for Nintendo is that they're still losing money, and most of the rewards they could reap would likely be on their next platform, rather than the Wii U. Also, there's the risk of Capcom's franchises being ignored by the gaming mainstream due to being exclusive on an unpopular platform. It could pay off, but Nintendo might not want to spend the money needed for this to work out.

Yeah, true. The biggest thing getting in the way of something like Nintendo getting Capcom are the investors and shareholder themselves. I don't think they'd (the investors) want Capcom to go with them either since Nintendo still isn't in the most successful state this gen.

I don't think any of the big 3 would buy Capcom. It wouldn't be surprising if it was a multimedia company that can use its assets more and can utilize parts of its mobile division as well.

I admit it would potentially interest me more if certain things were sold off individually, but apparently that's not how these things work. I talked to my brother a bit about it and he seemed to think something like this wouldn't happen unless they had a certain "preferred buyer" in mind for it, and I can kind of see that.

The primary reason it won't happen is that the situation isn't calling for that. Selling individual properties usually happen when a company has hit bankruptcy, and has to auction off its assets. An example of this would be THQ. And Capcom isn't at that stage.

Edit: ^What silvR1995 said. If a company gets bought by one of the big 3, it's definitely going to have all their games be exclusive to that console.

 

[Sarki Soliloquy]

Either they could dissolve all franchises and divisions to certain companies via auction or sell the company to the highest bidder. I dunno much about economics, but the former would be ideal for property appeal and to prevent a schism in case one of the three console manufacturers ends up purchasing them. But then again, at least Capcom has enough to avoid bankruptcy.

THQ is no where near this ****, but Capcom going under is a sign of the times. It feels really strange for one of the big Japanese 3rd parties to be in this state. What they've been doing with their business model and the scummy practices towards consumers they've done over the years gradually dug an inch into their own grave. Just goes to show that lobotomizing your franchises of their uniqueness, consolidating all your profits to one business venture that becomes a flunk, and pandering to the convoluted CoD demographic can't keep you alive forever.

Not gonna lie, but I'm psyched that Capcom finally got their just desserts. It's the best thing for them at this point. But more importantly, this could mean that we'll be seeing franchises that are inactive come back in their original glory (Mega Man, Darkstalkers, Strider, Okami, Viewtiful Joe, etc.) and misdirected franchises getting back to their roots (Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Bionic Commando, etc.)

But just think about what it would be like if Nintendo bought them out or at least purchases an epoch of franchises and divisions. Their software lineup would be more diverse and I trust that they would handle their franchises with care. You could pretty much save Mega Man with this **** (although they might as well throw a pitch to Comcept immediately after that and work with them to turn Mighty No. 9 into an actual mega Man game! Even if it means delaying the game and building it over from the ground up. Just listen to some statements from Keiji Inafune. It's clear he wants to be reunited with his baby.)

 

[Giygacoal]

Whatever happens, I just hope someone would bring back Ghosts 'n Goblins, Original Universe Devil May Cry, and Darkstalkers.

 

[finalark]

I thinking that if anyone picks up Capcom it'll be Nintendo, given the sheer amount of MM love Nintendo has been giving the character and the fact that all of the MH games, Capcom's biggest money maker, have been Nintendo-exclusive lately.

I'm actually kinda crossing my fingers for that. Given that Nintendo has a history of stepping in on games in development and making sure that they're good hopefully means we can get some quality Capcom titles. But really, I just want DMC6 and Breath of Fire VI already.

 

[Minato]

They are making BoF6. It's for mobile devices. It just doesn't look or play like any of the BoFs lol

Kinda mad how Rise of Mana from Square looks a lot better than what Capcom did for BoF.

 

[finalark]

They are making BoF6. It's for mobile devices. It just doesn't look or play like any of the BoFs lol

I like to pretend that announcement was never made.

Kinda mad how Rise of Mana from Square looks a lot better than what Capcom did for BoF.

I just looked that up. It's not an RTS like Children of Mana and it doesn't reset your level ever few hours like Dawn of Mana, so it might actually be worth while.

EDIT: Well isn't this interesting: http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/5544

 

[Malkior7]

Do what's right Nintendo it is your destiny

 

[Altais]

Here's hoping Nintendo will snag them with a boomerang.

I must say, I rather like some of Capcom's games, namely Okami, Viewtiful Joe, and Mega Man. I am also rather interested in that Azure Striker Gunvolt game they are developing for the 3DS; I REALLY hope it comes out in Europe.

 

[Minato]

Here's hoping Nintendo will snag them with a boomerang.

I must say, I rather like some of Capcom's games, namely Okami, Viewtiful Joe, and Mega Man. I am also rather interested in that Azure Striker Gunvolt game they are developing for the 3DS; I REALLY hope it comes out in Europe.

Okami and VJ won't be the same since that team is gone and they're Platinum Games. They could make sequels, but like the Okamiden game for DS, they might not live up to the same quality.

Gunvolt has nothing to do with Capcom though.

 

[Altais]

Okami and VJ won't be the same since that team is gone and they're Platinum Games. They could make sequels, but like the Okamiden game for DS, they might not live up to the same quality.

Gunvolt has nothing to do with Capcom though.

Ah, is that so? I had no idea.

 

[Sarki Soliloquy]

Okami and VJ won't be the same since that team is gone and they're Platinum Games. They could make sequels, but like the Okamiden game for DS, they might not live up to the same quality.

Gunvolt has nothing to do with Capcom though.

Ideally, if they were to dissolve and auction their IPs, Platnium may want to snag those two right up. Not sure if they have sufficient funds for such a purchase.

 

[Oracle_Summon]

Ideally, if they were to dissolve and auction their IPs, Platnium may want to snag those two right up. Not sure if they have sufficient funds for such a purchase.

I don't know myself, but I feel that they are better off than Capcom.

 

[finalark]

If Capcom's IPs get auctioned off I wouldn't mind seeing Breath of Fire get handed off to Square Enix or Atlus. Hopefully they wouldn't let the series deteriorate into a mobile game.

I think for Mega Man the only company I'd be comfortable with handling the series is Nintendo. They seem to know what they're doing when it comes to platformers. AND JUST IMAGINE THE GLORY OF A 2.5D HD MEGA MAN TITLE.

For Devil May Cry, even though I thought that Heavenly Sword borrowed way too heavily from GoW for its own good and Enslaved was just kinda average at best I wouldn't mind seeing Ninja Theory keep working on the series. I'm sure I'll get crap for this, but I thought they did pretty good with DMC5. Even if it was a bit easier than most DMC fans were used to (although the jump from Nephilim to Son of Sparda was a kick in the goddamn teeth).

Aside from that, there's always Viewtiful Joe and Okami. I wouldn't mind Platinum getting them back, but as Captain Hotcakes said, not sure if they really have the money for that. Plus I'm not sure how interested they would be in making Okami 3 and Viewtiful Joe 3. If Platinum couldn't get them, those two I'd also like to see go to Nintendo.