Capcom does not want to be bought by Microsoft says exec

The maker of Resident Evil says it would ‘gracefully decline’ from any acquisition attempts, as Xbox promises more Japanese exclusives.

Capcom is one of the oldest video game publishers in the world but they’re not necessarily the biggest, so when they have an off couple of years that immediately puts them in danger of acquisition talk.

And yet in their 44 year history it’s never seemed particularly close to happening, with Capcom always remaining fiercely independent – and more so than ever after a particularly good 2023, with Resident Evil 4 and Street Fighter 6.

If Microsoft wanted to make inroads in Japan they will always be an obvious choice but it seems Capcom are not interested, with chief operating officer Haruhito Tsujimoto admitting: ‘There was once a time we were a target, but rather than acquiring an outside company we prefer organic growth.’

‘It is important to train and develop human resources in-house in order to carry out growth strategies. I also believe we can utilise external partners but we have no intention of acquiring companies.’

Asked by Bloomberg what they would do if Microsoft made an offer for Capcom he answered: ‘I would gracefully decline the offer, because I believe it would be better if we were equal partners.’

Thanks to having such a strong 2023, Capcom’s expects to post its best ever financial year next March. Although the bad news is they’re also looking to expand the number of mobile games the company makes, which remains the dominant format in Japan.

For its part, Microsoft has promised that Xbox will see more Japanese AAA games in the future, with Phil Spencer claiming that, ‘We are currently developing new games in collaboration with Japanese companies.’

When speaking to Game Watch, as translated by VGC, he didn’t name any names, but he did insist that it was not difficult for Xbox to make deals for ‘uniquely Japanese AAA titles such as Lost Odyssey or Blue Dragon.’

That seems a strange thing to say given have few Japanese exclusives have appeared on an any Xbox console, especially in recent years.

‘There are also Japanese game creators who are part of Microsoft Game Studios, and while there are titles we can’t announce yet, we are currently developing new games in collaboration with Japanese companies,’ added Spencer.

‘With further growth, including first party and third party, I believe you can look forward to the arrival of even more Japanese titles in the future.’

Although Spencer used the plural, the only first party Japanese developer which Microsoft owns is Shinji Mikami’s Tango Gameworks, which is part of Bethesda and responsible for the well-received Hi-Fi Rush.

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