Tecmo Says No To Square Enix’s Offer of Rescue

Trouble has been brewing over in Tecmo land of late. Itagaki, as we all know, is in litigations with the company over bonuses and broken promises, company president Yoshimi Yasuda resigned two weeks ago over the fiasco and subsequently, shares for Tecmo went down in flames as a result. Because of all the turmoil, the gaming company has been hoping that they could either continue to tread water until the rough spot passed or hope and pray for a knight on a white horse to come in and save them from themselves.

In trots Square Enix on the proverbial white stallion with their armor glistening in the sun. Reaching out a strong hand to Tecmo, Square Enix offers to buy out half of Tecmo’s shares for $100 million and if rejected back away slowing for the ailing maiden – never to contact her again. True to their word, Square Enix has backed off of Tecmo after getting a flat out refusal from the company and are instead riding off into the sunset of continued gaming success. Meanwhile, the troubled Tecmo is instead in talks with Koei over a possible merger instead.

In retrospect, this may be a good move on their part. Not only did shares in Tecmo jump 7.5% when the news hit, the company feels as if it would be able to continue their growth should they side with Koei.

According to a statement issued by Itagaki’s former stomping grounds:

“Through a merger, we expect we can grow further by respecting both companies’ identities and having an environment in which employees can fully exhibit their skills,” said Tecmo and Koei in a statement, pointing to a choice for Tecmo which “has a higher possibility of improving corporate value.”

In the meantime, Square Enix is not harboring any ill-will towards Tecmo, but have instead stated that the company would have been better off joining their team if only to help out the Japanese gaming market:

“The game industry in Japan is standing at a critical juncture whether it continues to be a center of the video game industry in the world, or not. Tecmo is a group of excellent creators with proven track-record in the global market, which is a precious human resource of Japan.

We, however, cannot be optimistic about the future of this significant resource, given the current circumstances surrounding Tecmo… We believe that Tecmo will be able to make a great leap forward by joining the Square Enix Group.”

We will keep you posted on what happens next, so check back with us often. Maybe the new holiday line-up Temco is releasing with help pad their pockets a bit more.

Thanks: GI.biz