MS to buy capcom? (1 Viewer)

[Dave E H]

Story on www.computerandvideogames.com
text also on teamxbox: Link Removed
Thoughts? I sure would love to see Breath of Fire on the XBox. This deal would certainly really help MS in Japan.

 

[James Nguyen]

Don't know how much credence I would lend to the rumor just yet (though I guess the whole Rare deal has burned away some of my cynicism and doubt). I am however rather astonished that Capcom with all their veritable wealth of gaming series and characters is posting negative financial numbers. Truly had no idea. Whether or not they're in actual financial dire straits doesn't seem to be deeply touched upon in the link..

Definitely an interesting topic though..

 

[Justin1]

Capcom has been struggling for some time. The only cashable franchise they have is Resident Evil. This is the reason we've seen 10 sequels in five years. The street fighter franchise has been dead for close to 6 years. Needless to say, not much revenue is available. Capcom heavily backed the Dreamcast and this certainly didn't help their situation much.

 

[Romier S]

I very SERIOUSLY doubt this.

This all stems from reports that Capcom is posting losses mainly from real estate and facility costs. Shortly after the reports people suddenly decided that meant Capcom was up for grabs. I wouldn't put much into this.

 

[Dave E H]

Capcom revealed today that the company expects to post losses of approximately 12.7 billion yen ($103 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2003. This stands in stark contrast to the 3.8 billion yen profit the company initially forecast. Speaking about the dramatic reversal, a company spokesperson blamed losses on an extraordinary loss of 23.1 billion associated with the company's real estate holdings. It's believed Capcom has begun liquidating several assets including corporate offices in order to boost cash reserves. Aside from the devaluation of real estate holdings however, Capcom also blamed poor sales and increased operating expenses on its reversal of fortune. While news of the company's revised projections was released after the close of trading in Japan, rumors of the announcement sent shares in the company down nearly 3 percent on the Tokyo exchange.

Poor sales was cited as well.

 

[James Nguyen]

103 million in the fiscal year? ouch
what's the source for that?

 

[Dave E H]

Can't find the original, but that was taken off teamxbox.

 

[Paul Richardson]

After the Rare thing, I imagine we're going to see rumors like this for every development group that has poor sales.

 

[Dave E H]

I think its obvious that MS needs to do something to get sales up in Japan. Seems quite logical that they would go after a marquee publisher in Japan, assuming they believe that Japan is still a key market.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I would be shocked if they weren't trying

Basically MS has realized that they can't win in Japan, and that they will be dead last, and that they'll at best be #2 here

The solution? Buy up the best dev houses! SHocked they didn't manage to buy Sega (glad too) but I wouldn't be suprised if they wouldn't LOVE to eat Konami too. That would royally screw Sony big time

It's obvious that Microsoft is back to their usual games, can't beat em with quality, beat em with cash

 

[Chris Rock]

It's obvious that Microsoft is back to their usual games, can't beat em with quality, beat em with cash

It's the American Way! I don't fault them for it. (I say this while typing on my Microsoft Internet Keyboard, using Microsoft Windows XP to run Microsoft Internet Explorer. Oh, and I have a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer here, too.)

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Rare went to Nintendo, said "we don't want to be second party anymore, would you like to buy us?," Nintendo said no, so they went to MS. There's nothing wrong with that.

But I don't want to see MS buying all the developers until they stand a chance in Japan. They should know that any competition is good competition, so buying all the competition means no competition.

I just hope these rumors aren't true. Even if they are, there's still a bunch of Capcom games coming out that are probably exclusive to one console or another through deals.

 

[Mike Pattee]

I personally wouldn't mind if MS bough capcom since I'd really like to see snk vs capcom on xbox.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Just as much as you guys don't want MS ruling the gaming world, you shouldn't want Sony to rule the gaming either. Hardware-wise, the XBOX is what the Playstation2 should have been in terms of processing power. Instead, and w/ no competition at the time, Sony puts out a machine (the PS2) that is only marginally better than the Dreamcast - its closest competitor.
If buying up other companies keeps MS competitive, more power to them. But don't think for a second that Sony wouldn't do the same if their marketplace position was threatened. The goal of every major company (including Sony)is to successfully compete, attain market dominance, and keep it at all costs....that's the American way!!!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Capcom vs SNK is already coming to XBox

In fact it's an XB Live title in Japan, and should be in the US as well

 

[JoshF]

It's the American Way! I don't fault them for it. (I say this while typing on my Microsoft Internet Keyboard, using Microsoft Windows XP to run Microsoft Internet Explorer. Oh, and I have a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer here, too.)

I do fault them for it. I think this would be horrible for the gaming industry. Capcom needs to be able to publish what they want; they're one of the mainstays of the industry. It would be a huge shame if Microsoft bought up this great Japanese developer.
(I say this while typing on my Apple PowerBook, using OSX to run Chimera. Oh, and I don't use Office.)

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Sony released their hardware a full year after the DC and a full year before MS and Nintendo. As long as it's capabilities are better than the Dreamcast's, then I think they did what they should have. The fact that the games are also as good as they are (some of them, at least) also made the purchase worth it, regardless of how powerful it is in comparison to the XB, DC, and GCN.

The X-Box is extremely powerful but has very few must-have games. MS knows this and is trying to expand their library because they were stupid and tried to hit an extremely small market with a bunch of really bad games and only a few good ones. Those good ones just so happen to not be the kind Japanese audiences usually go for, so they're screwed.

Also, my point above was that Rare went to MS with the sale. In this case (Capcom, if the rumors are true) it sounds like MS went to Capcom, which I'm not very fond of. Sure, Nintendo has bought out third party developers, but none of them had something like Resident Evil, MegaMan, the Vs. games, and Street Fighter all in one package.

 

[Dave E H]

I'd rather SOMEONE buy Capcom than have them whither - either by not being able to produce all the games they should, or only focus on pumping out remakes of the most successful franchises and not being able to do innovative things like TekkiSteel Battalion. It takes a lot of money to develop something completely new and amazing - if they are losing money, that will definitely be the first area cut. They don't need to be independent to benfit gamers the most - they need to be financially secure.

Sure, I own an Xbox and would be able to benefit either way, but I also own a PS2 and can play their games there. I'm in it for the games, and I'd rather have a strong 2nd party Capcom than a whithering independent Capcom.

 

[CameronS]

I wonder what would happen to the exclusive Resident Evil deal with the Cube if Microsoft bought Capcom.

 

[Mike Pattee]

Isn't the SF vs SNK thats coming to xbox some simplified EO version or something?