Early this week, Capcom posted a press release update on their investor relation page. The press release states that at the last meeting, the majority voted in favour of not renewing their takeover defence agreement. This means if a party or company were to purchase a majority share of stock from Capcom, they’d technically own the company.
This has led to a lot of speculation about who should buy Capcom. Here are our opinions about the Big Three and their prospects with Capcom.
Nintendo
Let’s get the most obvious answer right out of the way. Nintendo currently has Monster Hunter, Capcom’s largest growing franchise, on their platforms almost exclusively. In Japan alone, Monster Hunter Ultimate on 3DS and Wii U helped to sell systems, and the Wii U version was considered to be the one of the only reasons to buy the console in North America until the end of last year.
Nintendo has also been the first home to many Capcom classics before being ported to other consoles. Acclaimed games such as Viewtiful Joe, and even Resident Evil 4, considered to be one of the best video games of all time made it’s home on a Nintendo console. If Nintendo did purchase Capcom, it would obviously take their IP’s and make them Nintendo exclusive.
Now, this would cause an uproar with the gaming community, however it would be a good business decision on their part. Nintendo has been lacking third-party support since the Wii was their current console, and now with the Wii U they aren’t selling enough hardware. Having Wii U exclusive games from a third-party would give the system more games to add to it’s tiny library, and would create more customer want for the console to play these games.
Sony
Sony’s PlayStation consoles also have a history with Capcom, and would be a likely buyer of the company. Games like above mentioned Viewtiful Joe, and Resident Evil 4 made their debuts on the GameCube, but received their best versions on the PlayStation 2. Viewtiful Joe received extra characters such as Dante from Devil May Cry, while Resident Evil 4 got brand new weapons, as well as a whole extra story mode that was exclusive to the PS2 version at the time. The PlayStation 2 was also the home to other great exclusive Capcom titles such as the first three Devil May Cry games, and the highly praised, but poor selling Okami, a critically regarded cult classic.
Another good thing about Capcom being acquired by Sony would be that their games wouldn’t be hindered by having them be developed them the other consoles on the market that don’t perform as well as Sony’s. This would mean that time and resources wouldn’t be wasted to make two different versions of the same game. It would also mean that future PS4 exclusives have the potential to be bigger and better looking.
Microsoft
Capcom being bought out by Microsoft won’t ever happen. Japanese law makes it a convoluted process for foreign companies to acquire or merge with Japanese companies. There’s also the fact that the Xbox 360 didn’t do well in Japan, and the Xbox One is not even being available there yet.
No one
The best outcome right now for everyone is if no one buys the majority of stocks from Capcom. Having all of their IP’s tied to one company’s system would make gamers absolutely furious, and wouldn’t lead to the sales that they want or need, as multiplatform games sell in far greater numbers than console exclusives.
What Capcom really should do is take a hard look at why their titles aren’t doing as well, and evolve with the market, pay attention to customer complaints. Stop making customers pay for DLC that’s already on the disc. Stop expecting games to make money when there’s next to no promotion for it.
Also, please remember that you have Megaman, and do something with him.
