Capcom announced yesterday that it has not renewed the company’s takeover defense, meaning that it’s now open to buyout from another third party interest. This measure was put in place in 2008 to prevent a third-party takeover from stock purchases, but due to lack of investor interest in renewing the objective, the company is now open to buyout should another company buy a large amount of its stock.
Capcom has been in a bit of trouble lately in terms of sales and the fact that investors opted to leave the company open to buyout means they’re not too confident in Capcom’s abilities as a stand alone publisher anymore. So where does this leave them? Currently they’re still operating as an independent publisher, but should another interest acquire a large amount of their stock, the board will examine the stock purchase to determine if the deal should go through.
Should Nintendo consider making a controlling interest purchase in Capcom? It depends on whether or not Nintendo has a vested interest in any of Capcom’s properties. We’ve seen crossovers such as Mega Man making his way to Super Smash Bros., so it makes sense that Nintendo might be interested in buying Capcom. If Nintendo were to purchase Capcom, it would add a huge bevy of characters to its roster and imagine seeing Zangief in a Super Smash Bros. game, or a Mega Man/Metroid crossover game of some type.
Capcom has been an ardent supporter of the Wii U virtual console, bringing several of its past Mega Man and Ghosts n’ Goblins titles to the Virtual Console. Monster Hunter is also a driving force behind Nintendo 3DS sales in Japan, thanks to the popularity of the franchise. Just imagine what Nintendo could do with the IP in their hands, especially if another Wii U title were to be made at the behest of Nintendo in order to boost sales.
Nintendo is also pretty lacking on survival horror games outside of reviving old GameCube franchises like Fatal Frame and Eternal Darkness, so if the Resident Evil series could be brought back to its roots away from the “modern military shooter” vibe of Resident Evil 6 and more like Resident Evil: Revelations, fans of those games might be more interested in having a Nintendo console in their home.
Either way, the fact that Capcom is now open to buyout means we could see any vested interest in the game industry snap up the controlling share of the company. What do you think? Would you be happy with Nintendo having control of Capcom as a company?
