14 DAY TRIAL // Tecmo has really been through a lot lately after the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki, the leader of their Team Ninja studio, which was responsible for the Dead or Alive or Ninja Gaiden franchises. The fact that other employees from Team Ninja sued the company over unpaid bonuses doesn't make Tecmo's situation any easier. Although in a difficult position, when the proposition of a takeover arrived from Square Enix, they declined the offer. Instead, they opted for a merger with Koei, creators of Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Dragon Warriors, announced on September 4th.
Although industry specialists didn't see the merger with optimism, the two companies have recently announced the formation of a committee which would overview the merger process. Announced on September 17th, this commission will elaborate on the talks of the management integration.
“A committee has been formed to oversee the business of the two newly-merged companies, comprised of the presidents of both companies (acting as joint-chairmen) as well as executive representatives and non-executive representatives of both companies. This integration will allow employees to demonstrate the full extent of their abilities, so as to best serve the company in the future. This committee is expected to produce a concrete integration scheme for unifying the two companies in the next two months”, read the official release from the two companies.
The purpose of this management merger is that both parties will have a clear chain of leadership and create a “stable and secure environment” in which the game development companies will keep their individual brand and projects. This just goes to show that these two are really serious in their merger and that we should be expecting quality games from them in the future.