カプコンは海外ビジネスの増加に際して海外の開発パートナーを探しています。
GamesIndustry.bizのレポートによると下記のとおりとなっています。
「買収やパートナーシップは海外のビジネス拡大において重要な戦略です。我々は世界的なマーケットに対して、一つのコンテンツを様々な方法で活用するわ我々の戦略を行うため、海外の開発会社の事業提携や買収の機会を探しています」
昨年カプコンは Airtight GamesによるDark Void、GRINによるBionic Commandoなどの独自タイトルを発表しましたが、売上は思ったほど伸びませんでした。Dark Voidは200万本予測の所が52万本、Bionic Commandoは150万本予測の所が70万本となりました。
しかしながら海外開発については積極的な姿勢を続けているようです。最初のものとは異なり、カナダのBlue Castle Gamesで開発されたDead Rising 2は極めてうまく行きました。この2社の関係はより強固なものとなり、去年の9月にはBlue Castle Gamesを買収し、Capcom Vancouverとしました。
このようなモデルが今、求められています。敵対的買収は社員の離反を招き、価値を下げるだけです。最初はパートナーシップから始め、次に買収という方法を取るのが最善のように思えます。
日本企業の将来性について明言ができませんが、買収による海外の売上に明確な増大はないでしょうし、こうした方法の合併はゲームコンテンツ自体のライセンスによって行動範囲が狭められるリスクも増大します。
断定はできませんが、2005年にバンクーバーで設立されたSlant Six Gamesはこの流れに乗っているように思えます。Slant Six GamesはSOCOMシリーズでよく知られていますが、（PSP向けゲームのTactical StrikeとFireteam Bravo 3、PS3向けのConfrontationなどもリリース）彼らはバイオハザード オペレーションラクーンシティに取り組んでいます。彼らは恐らくこうした流れの中で買収のターゲットとなっていることでしょう。
Japanese developer and publisher Capcom is looking to secure
partnerships with overseas developers in the near future as it seeks to
increase its overseas business.
"Acquisitions and partnerships are one of the important strategies for
increasing our market share overseas," reads a note sent to investors, GamesIndustry.biz
reports. "We aggressively seek the opportunities of acquisitions and
partnerships for the purposes of creating game content with universal
market appeal and acquiring technologies and know-how required for our
'Single Content Multiple Usage' strategy."
Last year Capcom said it was done having western developers work on original IP. Dark Void, developed by Airtight Games, and Bionic Commando, developed by GRIN, were both to blame
for this; neither sold as well as hoped -- Dark Void did 520,000 units
when it was projected to do 2 million, and BC did 700,000 when it was
expected to do 1.5 million.
Despite that, it still seemed to be interested in continuing to pursue foreign-developed sequels to its games. Dead Rising 2
did quite well and, unlike the first game, was developed by
Canada-based Blue Castle Games. With a strong relationship established
between the two, Capcom acquired Blue Castle and renamed it Capcom Vancouver last September.
That appears to be a similar model for what it wants to do now. A
hostile takeover of a company could lead to its employees leaving,
thereby destroying its value. Instead, it would prefer to partner with
companies and then perhaps acquire them at a later time.
It was made clear that it won't pursue anything along these lines with
Japanese companies "since it would not make a significant contribution
to growth in our overseas sales. Furthermore, this type of merger also
poses the risk of limiting our activities involving the licensing of
game content."
As you'd expect, no specifics were identified. One foreign developer
it's currently working with is Slant Six Games, a Vancouver-based
developer founded in 2005. It's best known for several SOCOM games it's
developed -- Tactical Strike and Fireteam Bravo 3 for PSP, Confrontation for PS3 -- and is currently working on Operation Raccoon City,
the third-person shooter that puts players in the shoes of an Umbrella
Security Service member. Should things go well there, perhaps that could
be a potential target for further collaborations or an acquisition down
the line.
http://www.1up.com/news/capcom-wants-partner-overseas-developers
