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Author Topic: Possible Namco and Sega merger...  (Read 1990 times)

Mario Maniac

  • Loose buttons
« on: April 17, 2003, 05:31:59 AM »
I just went to Nintendojo.com, where I read an interesting news article about a possible merger between Namco and Sega... The article is posted below:

Reports have been filtering through that Namco Corp.(renowned for franchises like Soul Calibur and PacMan) has approached Sega with a comprehensive merger proposal. Transpired below is the official words from our sources below.


Looking to the future, Namco allegedly believes that joining forces with Sega would allow it to remain competitive in the videogame industry, according to the publication. Both Namco and Sega have a strong focus on home and arcade videogame development as well as amusement facility businesses. Additionally, intellectual assets would be combined between the two companies, meaning that such a deal could very well result in seeing our favorite Sega characters as guest stars in a future Soul Calibur title.
In its proposal, Namco reportedly has calculated estimated sales of nearly three billion dollars when combined with Sega, which would boost it to the number one position in Japan over Konami's current billion sales total. According to Nikkei, the proposal also states that Sega would remain as the surviving entity, thus the Namco label would most likely disappear under the Sega brand. The entire deal could, if approved, be carried out as soon as 2004.

Today's news, though unconfirmed, could mark the second entity interested in merging with Sega, the first being Sammy Corp. of Japan in an announcement made last February. A possible third company has also recently expressed interest in joining forces with Sega, but in a more limited scope. U.S.-based publisher Electronic Arts is reportedly interested in taking a stake in Sega's software development operations and playing a financial role on the marketing side of things.

In response to this latest Namco proposal, Sega has called a board meeting for next Wednesday to discuss its options in merging with either Sammy or Namco, or in partnering with Electronic Arts in some capacity. A decision is said to be coming as early as the end of this month.

Certainly, times are changing when you see Japanese companies like Square and Enix, and now Namco and Sega, partnering up so as to not be pushed out of the software race by larger companies like Electronic Arts. Wheteher or not this will provide Nintendo with more or less support, in the long run, remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

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If this is true, then that would be one of the biggest mergers since Square merged with Enix! It would be really interesting to see different mascots from Namco and Sega games together (Sega's Shinobi starring in Namco's Soul Calibur fighting games, for instance...or Sonic and Pac-Man in a platformer).
People who like video games should also like Nintendo. People who don't like Nintendo obviously don't like video games.

Chupperson Weird

  • Not interested.
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2003, 11:56:08 PM »
Two words for ya, man: General Chat.
That was a joke.

Black Mage

  • HP 1018 MP 685
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2003, 12:02:25 AM »
 I for one am against this. Of course, I was against the Square-Enix merger as well.

 If Namco disappears, I'll be quite upset, considering this company put out my favorite game of all time: Tales of Phantasia. The other 'Tales' series were also decent. Even with the upcomming ToS for the GC, I was quite excited. Oh well, whatever happens, I'm sure it'll be for the best.

 Oh, and Chupperson Weird, I know you're doing this because it was said about your topic, but I don't think it's necessary to be doing it to all of these topics that are in the wrong area. Certainly, I understand you're trying to help, but it's not really adding much to the topics, so, I suggest just to tone it down a little.

Chupperson Weird

  • Not interested.
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2003, 10:11:25 PM »
On the contrary, I said that because Mario Maniac posts all these non-Mario-related (and in this case, non-Nintendo-related) topics in General Mario chat. Many topics, no Mario.
That was a joke.

Black Mage

  • HP 1018 MP 685
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2003, 10:53:43 PM »
I realize that, however, my general point is replying to each of them will most likely not have any impact, and in effect, can drive the subject off of the intentional topic, as we see here.

 There are just too many violations of this that posting to each of them simply won't help. Instead of this method, I suggest contacting Deezer, as to clean them up, or find another solution. I understand you're trying to help, but I feel you're going the wrong way about it, that's all.

Edited by - Black Mage on 4/18/2003 9:54:48 PM

Chupperson Weird

  • Not interested.
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2003, 11:53:40 PM »
Point taken.
That was a joke.

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