Topic: Capcom Shareholders Remove Takeover Defense

[Br26]

It opens the possibility for an outside source to take over the majority of stock.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/37830/capcom-shareholders-remove-takeover-defense

Capcom shareholders announced yesterday that they have voted to end their takeover defense, allowing the possibility of a takeover.

Gamasutra notes that most companies have defense blocks that disallow stock majority takeovers. However, with Capcom dropping this, these defenses have been lifted. They've originally instituted such defenses since a 2008 vote. The company's board could still opt to vote for a new plan.

What Capcom aims to do regarding these takeover defenses being lifted is not currently known.

[the asylum]

Imagine if Nintendo buys Capcom

Actually, imagine if Nintendo bought Capcom, kept the Megaman franchise and threw the rest to the wolves

Would be a good day

[broodwars]

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo did buy Capcom, or at least controlling interest in the company. The two seem to be on much more amicable terms these days.  That said, if you thought the Bayonetta 2 exclusivity backlash from some corners of the internet was bad, imagine what it would be if Street Fighter; Devil May Cry; and Mega Man all suddenly became Nintendo exclusive. The internet would shut down.

[RPG_FAN128]

Monster Hunter and Resident Evil.

[Khushrenada]

The internet would shut down.

It would be worth it.

[Shaymin]

This changes nothing in the short term, as the shareholders will want a better deal in takeover defense and will probably get it.

You'll see a pay-to-win cellphone "game" maker buy Capcom in 5-7 years. That's it.

[Crimm]

This changes nothing in the short term, as the shareholders will want a better deal in takeover defense and will probably get it.

DING DING!


The most lucrative (for shareholders) takeover defense allows them to buy stock at massively under-value in the event of an attempted takeover. This makes it much more difficult to reach the dreaded 50%+1 and the shareholders get a ton of cheap stock. Expect new defense mechanism to look an awful lot like that.

[Spak-Spang]

Too bad.  Nintendo and Capcom would be a perfect couple.


Several amazing classics could come back to Nintendo.


Sigh...it will never, ever happen.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Imagine if Nintendo buys Capcom

Actually, imagine if Nintendo bought Capcom, kept the Megaman, Resident Evil, Street Fighter & Monster Hunter franchises and threw the rest to the wolves

Would be a good day

FTFY

[Adrock]

Why throw any of those IPs to the wolves? Nintendo could make good use of them. Also, I think the saltiness of Xbox owners getting an exclusive Dead Rising then never getting the series again would be entertaining. So, so many tears.

[nickmitch]

Anything to build up Nintendo's war chest of games.  But I would wonder how many people would jump ship in an acquisition.  Some of those franchises may have to go or end up unused.

[Nile Boogie Returns]

I'm taking off work for a week if Nintendo bought Capcom. Would be the most legendary day the internet gaming world had ever seen. The golden tears of pain and loss would be epic defined!

[BlackNMild2k1]

Now EA will buy them, dismantle them, keep the franchises they want, and discard the rest.
None of them will ever touch a Nintendo home console again.

I really hope that doesn't happen.... it would be so great if Nintendo could sneak in with a majority buy in overnite trading before the board had a chance to react.

[Leo13]

I guess I don't understand why everyone just assumes that Nintendo won't buy 51% of Capcom. It's my understanding that they have stacks of cash and Nintendo believes that if they have more great exclusive Wii U games more people will buy Wii U, plus then you could get 1 or 2 more 3DS games a year too.
We'd know for certain Monster Hunter would be Nintendo exclusive from here on out.
I don't know how much it would cost, but it seems to me that there would be a lot of upside and it would be worth spending a decent amount of money. Especially where they don't have to buy the entire company just 51%.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If Nintendo owned 51% of Capcom, it wouldn't just be MH that was exclusive, it would be everything Capcom makes, as Nintendo would now have controlling interest in the company.

[Ceric]

There are a few things Capcom makes that would be better not keeping exclusive but be darned the Nintendo Version be the best.

[Leo13]

If Nintendo owned 51% of Capcom, it wouldn't just be MH that was exclusive, it would be everything Capcom makes, as Nintendo would now have controlling interest in the company.

That's right. Like I said lots of upside. Every Capcom game would either be Wii U or 3DS!

[Leo13]

There are a few things Capcom makes that would be better not keeping exclusive but be darned the Nintendo Version be the best.

I'm lost, name 1 game that has 1 good reason to not be nintendo exclusive

[shingi_70]

What if Microsoft or say Gung-ho decide to buy instead. I know we all like Nintendo but they don't have the biggest pockets in the industry and could be outbid.

[BlackNMild2k1]

MS has been rumored to cut gaming spending and looking to offload the Xbox division since it has yet to make an actual profit since it's inception around a decade ago. But yes, technically, they could afford it. Not sure how good Capcom would be at Super Street Fighter Kinect and other such forced Kinect games, like the last big dev they purchased.

and I have no idea who Gung-ho is, but if anyone was to buy Capcom, none of them would be as exciting as Nintendo, considering that Nintendo has been missing a large selection of their games for quite some time now, and the fact that the internet would literally implode on itself.

[Ian Sane]

Imagine if Nintendo buys Capcom

Actually, imagine if Nintendo bought Capcom, kept the Megaman franchise and threw the rest to the wolves

Would be a good day

What beef do you have with Capcom's other IP?  If Nintendo did this I would rightfully **** on them for throwing away tons of valuable IP.  This would be a horrible day.

I figure if Nintendo bought Capcom they would turn them into Nintendo and Capcom's identity would be lost but I think that's how it is for any merger or takeover.  Sega ain't Sega anymore for example.  It's just a name.  Nintendo would treat Capcom's IP better than others but I figure it would all start to feel like Nintendo games instead of Capcom games.  But if Capcom ever got taken over, I would trust Nintendo a loe more than anyone else.  The suggestion that some crappy cellphone dev would buy them is so likely it's depressing.

Nintendo would benefit from grabbing Capcom though since they're understaffed for supporting an HD console and a handheld.  Not only would Nintendo get a lot of new IP but they would also get a lot of new dev teams so their output of Wii U and 3DS titles would increase significantly.  Capcom also makes good games that are of a different style than Nintendo's so it would provide diversity to the lineup.  This all assumes Nintendo let's Capcom's teams make Capcom games and doesn't just assign them to make Mario spinoffs.  But what value is in that?  If Nintendo was to buy Capcom you would assume they would want Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, etc.  You don't get that if you just assign the team to Nintendo stuff.

Though a cheaper approach would be to grab staff that left major third parties recently.  Keiji Inafune and Koji Igarashi left Capcom and Konami.  Nintendo could grab them and let them do their thing.  Though I figure if Nintendo wanted to do that they already would have or they would be too controlling and those guys wouldn't want to work for another bossy conservative Japanese videogame company.

[MagicCow64]

I'm in the boat that thinks this would be a stellar move by Nintendo, much better than previous suggestions I've seen that they should pick up THQ, Atlas, or other ailing devs.

As for concerns that they would Nintendo-ize Capcom's output, I imagine that would only be for the best. Capcom has basically crapped out on all of their franchises except for Monster Hunter and Street Fighter. Nintendo might be able to make Monster Hunter have a wider appeal in the West, and I'm sure they'd leave Street Fighter the hell alone, that's a very specific thing with a dedicated userbase who would be forced to buy a Nintendo console to play. And it's not like Nintendo's going to take over development on Resident Evil or something, but they could well crack a whip to get it back into shape. Stuff like Bayonetta 2 and The Devil's Third seem like pretty clear evidence that Nintendo is happy to let other teams go as hard as they want.

I sincerely doubt Nintendo would actually do this, as it would be a Herculean managerial task to wrangle a bunch of new teams with different cultures, but given how important Monster Hunter is to the health of the 3DS in Japan, if someone else looked like they were going to swoop it, it could force Nintendo's hand.

[Leo13]

I hope they buy it and Nintendoize them in 1 way-giving the teams the time to produce high quality games instead of rushing them and getting a decent to good game. Yes sometimes that means pushing it back and Nintendo has shown they'll push a game back it ensure its a quality release.

[Ian Sane]

Nintendo as quality control, ensuring that the resulting games are good, would be awesome.  I don't really trust them (or really any company as big as them) to do just that.  There would be a fine balance between letting Capcom be Capcom while also ensuring they don't release junk.

Creative people really just need a filter that vetos when something is junk or, when a business is involved, uncommercial.  That's it.  No steering or mandating certain directions, just a check that says either "that's a shitty idea" or "that won't sell".  So instead of saying "you make this Mario spinoff game" they ask "what do you want to make?" and then go with the idea you think has a chance to make a profit and end up as a good game.

[Adrock]

By all accounts, Nintendo hasn't interfered with Bayonetta 2. Also, given how childishly over-the-top Devil's Third looks, I kind of wish Nintendo would step in and tell Itagaki to cool his jets because the game is trying too hard. Nintendo has shown they can stand back and let creative types do their thing.