Tecmo Koei now Koei Tecmo in West, Marvelous Inc. drops AQL
2014 is the year of corporate name reversals, it seems. After Namco Bandai became Bandai Namco, Tecmo Koei and MarvelousAQL have decided to get in on the act. Or, as we should say now, Koei Tecmo and Marvelous Inc.
It might seem odd, but there is some sense to the moves. When Tecmo and Koei merged in 2009 the resultant company was called Koei Tecmo in Japan, while Western Branches were named Tecmo Koei. Tecmo was the bigger name in the West with the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series among others, so putting the Tecmo name first was a smart move. Five years on, the company wants to move forward under a common name globally, and now we have Koei Tecmo Europe and Koei Tecmo America.
It's a similar deal with MarvelousAQL changing to Marvelous Inc, with the move designed to strengthen the brand with consumers already familiar with the Marvelous trade name. So it's simply Marvelous, darling, though Marvelous' XSEED brand in North America isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
So, the all-important question is who's next? Arts Electronic? Enix Square? If Sega renamed itself Ages at least it could re-run those cheesy 90s ads in reverse.
[Image: Koei Tecmo]
