tecmo-koei-holdings
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Tecmo and Koei development groups reabsorbed into Tecmo Koei
The amalgamated Tecmo Koei game development and publishing entity continues to evolve. A few months back, there was a CEO changeover. Today, the company announced that the parent company, Tecmo Koei Games, will absorb the two game development subsidiaries, known as Koei and Tecmo. This might sound a little confusing, so we'll explain. Following the merger, according to Andriasang, Tecmo Koei spun off the game development arms of its two companies into two separate subsidiaries. Now it's bringing them back into the main company, under the management of Tecmo Koei Games -- which is itself under the umbrella of Tecmo Koei Holdings. The newly united-then-divided-then-reunited group will continue to develop games under both the Tecmo and Koei brand names.
Tecmo Koei CEO quits, Koei founder steps up
If there's anyone who knows about manipulating the balance of power, it's Kou Shibusawa, who created Koei's classic war games Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms -- and, in fact, created Koei in 1978, in partnership with his wife. It turns out Shibusawa (real name Yoichi Erikawa) didn't need that tactical expertise to achieve the CEO position at Tecmo Koei Holdings, because he just inherited it when current CEO Kenji Matsubara left the company. According to Andriasang, Matsubara cited "personal reasons" for his departure, announced during a board meeting. Matsubara's exit coincides with the release of Tecmo Koei's earnings for the period from April 1 through September 30. The company made 11.069 billion yen in sales ($136.48 million), 27.5% lower than last year. The report noted successful releases for Metroid: Other M and Quantum Theory, and that losses were due in part to the delay of Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll, and to investments for titles coming out in the next quarter -- which includes last week's Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage.
Tecmo/Koei crossover games possible [update]
According to what Gigazine claims to be scans from the Nikkei Corporate Quarterly (a book that provides snapshots of information about Japanese companies), the new Tecmo Koei Holdings is planning to combine IP in at least one new game.Andriasang translated the relevant blurb: "New Games: Will release games that combine Tecmo and Koei titles. The aim is to reach fans of both." The identity (or number) of games, and the identity of the titles that Tecmo and Koei plan to merge are unknown, which means we can amuse ourselves briefly by coming up with our own, like Dead or Alive: Xtreme Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Rygar's Ambition, Dynasty Monster Ranchers, Gitaroo-Man Gaiden Sigma, and Mighty Bomb Genghis Khan. We've checked in with the North American branches of both Koei and Tecmo in an effort to find any additional details about the plan.[Update: Tecmo declined to comment, indicating that the US office didn't know any more than we did about this.]
