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Square Enix makes $200M Tecmo bid

Final Fantasy XIII publisher makes "friendly" 22.3 billion-yen offer for troubled Ninja Gaiden-maker; deadline Sept. 4.

Less than 24 hours after it made headlines for selling over 1 million copies of Ninja Gaiden II, Tecmo is making news again. This morning, role-playing game giant Square Enix (Final Fantasy XIII) announced it was making an unsolicited but nonhostile bid for the Dead or Alive 4 publisher.

In a statement, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada presented the offer as an attempt to rescue Tecmo. In the span of two months, the publisher has been rocked by a declining stock price, class-action lawsuits, and the departure of and legal action by star designer Tomonobu Itagaki. Just last week, Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda abruptly stepped down, citing personal reasons.

"Tecmo is a group of excellent creators with a proven track record in the global market, which is a precious human resource of Japan," explained Wada. "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 Square Enix Group, which will provide the group with further growth opportunities as well."

Though Tecmo has not yet publicly commented on Square Enix's offer, it is likely tempting to many shareholders. The ¥920 ($8.46) per share offer is a 30 percent premium on Tecmo's ¥706 ($6.49) closing price on Thursday. The Bloomberg news service values the entire bid at 22.3 billion yen ($205 million). As a result of the offer, Tecmo stock shot up 14 percent to close ¥806 ($7.41) per share today, with Square Enix's stock rising 2.6 percent to ¥3,610 ($33.20).

While generous, Square-Enix's self-described "friendly takeover bid" (TOB) is very time-sensitive, expiring on September 4--next Thursday. Wada's statement ended with "If [Square Enix] should, by the deadline, receive no response from Tecmo, or fail to obtain consent by the board of directors of Tecmo to the TOB, the company will withdraw the proposal, and will NOT acquire the Tecmo shares through the TOB as planned in the proposal." (Emphasis in the original.)

326 Comments

  • Ton77

    Posted Sep 3, 2008 12:56 pm PT

    im mad at you SE you rushed Infinite Undiscovery. Oh well The Last Remnant and Star Ocean are on its way

  • staley6565

    Posted Sep 3, 2008 12:17 pm PT

    If they just made DOA5, but actually revamped the game for the first time since 2000, I'd be happy. Give the game a story that would make each character worth beating it with and I think it'd be a definite buy.

  • MetalGuyver

    Posted Sep 3, 2008 10:02 am PT

    Come on Tecmo, Work with Square and make those awesome Monster Rancher and Deception Games again!

  • Elann2008

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 10:54 pm PT

    Tecmo is trash. I wouldnt bid on it. Keep your 200 mil and walk. Ninja Gaiden has never been the same since the NES days, and only the true old-school gamers can attest to that. Ninja Gaiden Sigma and NG2 are junk. I only reason why I would agree to this bid would be to grab their employees and have them work on Square projects and wash out the name Tecmo, altogether. Good riddens.

  • halosniper52

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 9:49 pm PT

    Take it.

  • Timstuff

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 8:24 pm PT

    "residentzombie2

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 2:22 pm PT

    Plus a Final Fantasy vs DOA fighting game would be awesome"

    Oh my goodness I never even considered that. With Star Wars characters in Soul Calibur 4, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and of course the warm fuzzy feelings we all have about Marvel vs. Capcom. I'm sure that if Square buys Tecmo, we'll at least see Tifa in DOA5 as a guest character.

  • 1uP_OnYou

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 3:34 pm PT

    Well I hope Tecmo excepts the offer that Square-Enix has laid out for them. I feel like Im dreaming I never expect something like this to possibly happen.

  • jeremiah06

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 1:36 pm PT

    @thepyrethatburn:

    Your wrong, Sony bailed Square out then and FFX was a Square soft product the first final fantasy with square-enix was FFX-2 and that merger was 40-60 with square getting the 40 but in exchange getting to keep all their bigwigs in charge after the merger.

  • Thanatos2

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 1:10 pm PT

    Well, hopefully, Square can bring in their legendary need to release polished games. as good as NG 2 was, the camera was awful and the graphics were a little dated, something Square would force Team Ninja to fix if they wanted to release something in conjunction with the Square Eneix brand name

  • residentzombie2

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 11:22 am PT

    Plus a Final Fantasy vs DOA fighting game would be awesome

  • residentzombie2

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 11:21 am PT

    If SE can get Tecmo, we may see Tomonobu Itagaki work as a SE game designer and get back to making HIS Ninja Gaiden and DOA games again. We can only hope.

  • hannify

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 10:55 am PT

    o0 didnt expect that

  • Dixteel

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 10:44 am PT

    I think the intention might be very obvious---
    Remake of FF7: Ninja Gaiden Action + Cloud and his gigantic sword + FF7 RPG and Drama ==> Final Fantasy 7 Gaiden...on Wii!?!

  • mrkame16

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 9:05 am PT

    Imagine....Ninja Gaiden RPG? or a fighting game like DOA staring Final fantasy Characters.

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 8:47 am PT

    I think the reason for this merger is to expand the SquareEnix library of games past the RPG genre. Tecmo has not really done all that great over the past few years, but still has some good IP's to work with. This is one merger that I support in hopes the SE will ultimately make all the Tecmo games 100% better.

  • vss3rd

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 6:42 am PT

    lets try to think of it THIS way..just imagine..

    ninja gaiden with all its button mashing comborific high action..plus--real--character developement.the best of both worlds:
    --mindnumbing action for the twitch
    --gainful character building for those with slower hands

  • dre2k14

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 12:51 am PT

    id be so f uckin pissed if they made ninja gaiden and doa a rpg and thats all se is all about .....sure final fantasy is cool to people that like rpg`s but ive been playin ninja gaiden for years and if they change it to a rpg there gonna lose alot of loyal fans to the series

  • siLVURcross

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 10:49 pm PT

    Whatever SE plans to do, it better not be another FF7 spin off, I'm so sick of em'

  • Phya52

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 10:25 pm PT

    If there were a Ninja Gaiden or DOA rpg, Tomonobu Itagaki would laugh his butt off at the stupidity. I wonder if any of those series would do well without him, by the way.

  • djezhel619

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 8:57 pm PT

    A Ninja Gaiden RPG but with real time fighting... count me in

    Ryu Hayabusa vs. Sephiroth

  • RPG_Fan_I_Am

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 7:53 pm PT

    yes the Spirits with in was an epic fail, square still made money off it, and they used the technology to make final fantasy X, which in the long run made a higher profit then it would have if the movie was never made. square merged after the release of X so it still had solid ground.

    but seriously, lets get to the point, time to buy some shares.

  • SporkFireXPS

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 6:22 pm PT

    thepyrethatburn said:

    "Y'know, the funny thing about these comments is that it was actually Enix that bailed Square out with their merger (Some might remember that Spirits Within didn't quite pan out as was hoped.) but now people seem to think it was the other way around. Occasionally, it does seem that Enix is playing second fiddle to Square now."

    I believe that was Sony, not Enix.

  • hellpolice

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 3:10 pm PT

    Two great companies on a possible merging...this'll open the door for many crossover possibilities muuhahahaha.
    A DOA rpg

  • hunter8man

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 1:18 pm PT

    Oh please, oh please, oh please happen! Dream come true.

  • yodadudehmm

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 11:51 am PT

    ... =D Must... buy.... shares

  • esmarsu

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 6:44 am PT

    While Ninja Gaiden stays alive, I don´t care who the owner is! But Square Enix could be something good for Tecmo. We´ll see what happen.

  • Sato2099

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 12:54 am PT

    There is only one way to save TECMO. Ninja Gaiden and DOA goes multiplatform to PS3.

  • applesause24

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 12:38 am PT

    I believe this would be a great opportunity for Tecmo so long as Square keeps the creativity and image alive.

  • CureForLiving

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 10:56 pm PT

    Seems Square is trying to break into the more action-oriented gaming genre.

  • Scianix-Black

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 9:29 pm PT

    FINAL FANTASY XTREME BEACH VOLLEYBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

    lol.

  • PandaBear86

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 8:55 pm PT

    Cloud, Sephiroth and Tifa in DOA5? Sign me up!

  • NeoNavarro

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 7:47 pm PT

    Don't do it Tecmo! Hang in there things are bound to turn around!

  • bcviper

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 7:20 pm PT

    good. god knows ninja gaiden needs a story.

  • Erebus

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 7:01 pm PT

    A slime appears.
    Ryu attacks...
    Ryu mortally wounds slime for 4 damage!
    You receive 3 XP
    You receive 4 GP
    You receive item: Dragon Sword

  • Barnardsmark

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 5:52 pm PT

    lets face it, if square enix doesn't do this, ninja gaiden 3 isn't happening. i'm kind of excited that square enix might be picking up some really good designers.

  • xdeiri

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 5:32 pm PT

    Sqare enix girls will get bigger boobs now

  • kemar7856

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 5:24 pm PT

    all tecmo has is ninja gaiden and doa but whats gonna happen to doa5 now.......i hope they dont turn ninja gaiden into a rpg

  • Thing2

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 4:53 pm PT

    I don't want Tecmo to go under either, I've been playing their games my whole life.

    Besides, after Itagaki & Kojima team up (i'm calling it) they're gonna need a powerhouse like Square/Enix/Tecmo for healthy competition =)

  • Ardain

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 4:45 pm PT

    Sweet! This is gonna to be tight if Tecmo & Square-Enix are going to be together. Hey maybe that one dude will come back. You all know the one who created DOA and Team Ninja. I just can't remember his name?

  • Pixy64

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 4:31 pm PT

    no i don't agree DOA's character are more cute & famous than Final Fantasy's characters

  • Hachibei

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 4:11 pm PT

    I agree with x-2tha-z. Although seeing some Final Fantasy girls in DOA(X) would be pretty hilarious.

  • grimskunkMGS4

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 3:20 pm PT

    sanim02 you say DOA is MS exclusive but damn if you knew your games you would know it was on PS2 also

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 3:06 pm PT

    see EA, this is the kind of bid you should have made to Take-Two

  • thepyrethatburn

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 2:58 pm PT

    Y'know, the funny thing about these comments is that it was actually Enix that bailed Square out with their merger (Some might remember that Spirits Within didn't quite pan out as was hoped.) but now people seem to think it was the other way around. Occasionally, it does seem that Enix is playing second fiddle to Square now.

    Something for Tecmo to think about before accepting this offer.

  • Nexeus

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 1:47 pm PT

    I agreen with laventine. Square-enix makes amazing games all around as does tecmo. But together the possibilities could be awesome in scope. Imagine RPG fighers and actin games the likes of wich the world has never seen. I hope it goes over smooth. Plus I dont want to see tecmo go under

    PS>>> while in some crossovers would be cool, seeyng ryu in FF14 or cloud in DoA5 would be kinda lame.

  • 666_Laventine

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 12:11 pm PT

    This can be very good if ya ask me and bad at the sametime. I say good cuz Square bought Tri-Ace or Enix whichever they go by and that didn't turn out bad at all. I think this is something that should definetly be highly considered. On one side you have a company that can dominate the RPG realm. They made their own fighters and action games that aren't too well pending which one of course. Then we got Tecmo that makes awesome fighters and action titles. If the two were to merge into "SquareEnixTec" they could be a very well rounded competitor in the gaming business. Since they're all about remaking stuff they could go back on Dirge of Cerberus and make it 10 times more awesome than it is. As for games like DOA I say exclusive games need to stop being exclusive. For crying out loud systems are $300 plus now! I say the sytems just need to clump together and just be one! So what if it pisses off a couple of fan boys? Fan boys are still gonna buy the product thus their ranting is basically as good as null. If this happens I can already imagine some very cool games that the two could do. Final Fantasy action games could now be as fun to play like ninja gaiden, I mean could you just imagine playing a game of the sorts like ninja gaiden, but like controlling Sephiroth, Cloud, Squall, Auron or whoever and look as awesome as if you were playing Advent Children (come on I know you just wetted your pants). When it comes down to it when stuff is like XBox exclusive eventually it goes to another system anyways. Bioshock was exclusive to 360, but where is it going to now? PS3 suckas so don't whine about stuff like that. Oh yeah and the thing bout the Final Fantasy Characters being brought into something like Ninja Gaiden or DOA, are you kidding me? Thats not gonna happen! And even if so, so what? Soul Caliber broght Star Wars characters which by the way was pointless and stupid. Either way I bet even if they did you would just become a sell out anyways and still get the game to play it just to trade it back in to gamestop for $5.

  • x-2tha-z

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 11:22 am PT

    I think the TOB is a good idea but only if they leave their key franchises as they are. There's no need for crossover games. I don't want to see Final Fantasy characters in the next Ninja Gaiden or Ryu Hayabusa in the next Final Fantasy. Square Enix, if you buy Tecmo, please leave Team Ninja as they are. Just give them more money to make great games.

  • sanim02

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 11:03 am PT

    whoa whoa whoaaa hold up.. doa is a xbox exclusive.. if FF characters end up in a MS exclusive game, then people will get pisseedddd.. same if the game becomes multi-plat. SE and TECMO shud NOT merge. Im happy to see doa on a 360 and some FF exclusives on ps3. I dont wanna see cloud, sephiroth or tifa on a xbox game. SE will get whooped by fanboys and i admit i do not like this.

  • badman11226

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 11:01 am PT

    That sweet, tecmo and square. Ninja gaiden 3 is going to be crazy if this 2 merge. Just do it before EA joins in

  • Great_Ragnarok

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 10:28 am PT

    NOOOOOOOOOOO don't do it! we don't want a feminized Ryu Hayabusa! Tecmo is good by themselves!

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