Koei Tecmo merger finalized, detailed; Itagaki to return? Absolutely not

Deals have been finalized, hancocks have been penned, and maybe even blood sacrifices have been made too. Heh. I kid. But seriously though: Tecmo and Koei have announced yesterday of their upcoming merger. They’re setting up shop on April 1 (and no, there’s no Apil Fool’s joke about it!), 2009, under the banner of Koei Tecmo Holdings. Will there be any room for ex-Team Ninja rockstar Tomonobu Itagaki though? Not if current Koei CEO has any say on it.

Deals have been finalized, hancocks have been penned, and maybe even blood sacrifices have been made too. Heh. I kid. But seriously though: Tecmo and Koei have announced yesterday of their upcoming merger.

They’re setting up shop on April 1 (and no, there’s no Apil Fool’s joke about it!), 2009, under the banner of Koei Tecmo Holdings.

Following the press release yesterday, they held a more recent conference and outlined their plans and corporate structure. The facts are these:

• Koei Tecmo Holdings is parking its butt in an office in Yokohama, Japan – more specifically, in Koei’s current office; meaning Tecmo’s the one moving in
• Stock share ratio: 0.9 share of Tecmo for 1.0 share of Koei
• Total capital at start (April 1, 2009): JPÂ¥ 150,000 million
• Expected total sales (for fiscal year 2011): JPÂ¥ 70,000 million
• Operating income (for fiscal year 2011): JPÂ¥ 160,000 million
• Chairman: Kenji Matsuhara (current Koei CEO)
• CEO: Yasuharu Kakihara (current Tecmo chairman and CEO)
• Other board members: Koei founders Yoichi Erikawa and Keiko Erikawa

Unfortunately, they haven’t outlined or mentioned any specific details on what they’ve got planned for their games. Will there be Koei-Tecmo cross overs? Will they be making new IPs instead? While those questions weren’t answered, they did, however, talk about their plans of focusing on the global gaming market.

Now we come to a point of interest. During the conference, someone raised the question if, in the merger, Koei Tecmo Holdings will have room for ex-Tecmo rock star dev Tomonobu Itagaki. Matsuhara’s answer: no.

• Tecmo and Koei to have concrete integration scheme in two months
• Tomonobu Itagaki leaves Team Ninja, sues Tecmo for damages