Amid the many and varied documents coming out of Microsoft’s battle to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion are emails and strategy slides revealing companies on Xbox’s potential hitlist. It seems most video game publishers have at one point fallen under the eye of Microsoft’s mergers and acquisitions team, including Square Enix, Sega, and even Nintendo.
Capcom, the company behind Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, and Street Fighter, is often mentioned as a potential acquisition target. But how would Capcom respond if Microsoft came calling?
That’s exactly what Capcom COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto was asked during an interview with Bloomberg at Tokyo Game Show 2023. His answer: no thanks.
“I would gracefully decline the offer because I believe it would be better if we were equal partners,” he said.
That’s pretty clear cut. According to Tsujimoto, Capcom would not sell out to Microsoft — and perhaps with good reason. Capcom is doing wonderfully well at the moment, with record sales and a share price near an all-time high. Conversely, Tsujimoto said Capcom is uninterested in buying companies itself, too.
“I think there have been many [merger and acquisition] talks in the game industry,” he said. “There was once a time we were a target, but rather than acquiring an outside company, we prefer organic growth. It is important to train and develop human resources in-house in order to carry out growth strategies. I also believe we can utilise external partners, but we have no intention of acquiring companies.”
Tsujimoto’s comments echo those of Sega boss Shuji Utsumi, who recently made clear the company is not for sale. Despite these potential rejections from Japan, Microsoft is set to close its deal to buy Activision Blizzard after the UK finally approved the merger. The question is: will Microsoft stop there?
Capcom held a special broadcast at Tokyo Game Show during which it issued updates on a number of its games, including Dragon’s Dogma 2, Exoprimal, Street Fighter 6, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy. In case you missed it, here’s everything Capcom announced at TGS 2023.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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