Namco & Sega Merger

[Gregory DG]

Yikes... Looks like this might happen. The Namco name would disappear and Sega characters might end up in the next Soul Calibur game. Wow... Pac-Man's "father" might disapper!

 

http://pocket.ign.com/articles/393/393855p1.html

[Brad2600]

If you follow the history of video games, you will see that Namco was originally Atari-Japan. Then it was sold off to Nakamura Manufacturing Concern(NAMCO).

 

So in reality, it would be an old school type of merger..two old school companies merging for the best of each other.

 

Remember, Sega did make games for the Atari consoles as well.

 

I'm not worried. I'd take this over a Sega/Sammy merger anyday.

[Yar]

What's next? Nintendo and Capcom?

 

 

Well...now that I think about it...

[MegaManFan]

Sega and Namco makes much more sense than Sega and Sammy does to me. Possibly much more beneficial to boot, especially since it sounds like Sega would be the controlling partner and retain the name, so we wouldn't have to see a legendary gaming name disappear. I would miss Namco but as someone already indicated it was a spin-off company to begin with, whereas Sega with their whole legacy of arcade, console, and other home games going back a long time seems much more vital.

[liquid_sky]

i predict it wont happen. sega sees sammys pachinko and gambling aura as a bad sign and has looked them over. namco has too may successful home properties to lose, being associated with the namco name and all. if anything, the merger would help the 2 consolidate arcade units and let namco use the naiomi-2 hardware system, thus saving the cash strapped company some coin, but as for the home side of things, i dont see an immediate and noticable gain either way, and since the arcade industry is all but dead, merging to consolitate a dying coin-op operation just fails to make financial sence to me.

[AtariDude]

I think the Sega - Namco deal would be good for both sides. I would hate to see the name Namco disappear however.

[chrisbid]

but i would love to see a fighter's megamix 2 with Virtua Fighter and Soul Caliber characters

[Atari-Jess]

i predict it wont happen. sega sees sammys pachinko and gambling aura as a bad sign and has looked them over. namco has too may successful home properties to lose, being associated with the namco name and all. if anything, the merger would help the 2 consolidate arcade units and let namco use the naiomi-2 hardware system, thus saving the cash strapped company some coin, but as for the home side of things, i dont see an immediate and noticable gain either way, and since the arcade industry is all but dead, merging to consolitate a dying coin-op operation just fails to make financial sence to me.

 

Someone certainly sounds like the good little capitalist....

[ultravi0let]

if it means another Ridge Racer game i'll go for it

[goatdan]

and since the arcade industry is all but dead, merging to consolitate a dying coin-op operation just fails to make financial sence to me.

 

The arcade industry isn't dying out nearly as much as people make it out to be. It isn't doing as wonderfully as it once was, but there are big profits still to be made in arcades. This merger could potentially help out both arcade divisions tremedously.

[Rhindle The Red]

Sega has announced that they will decide on their future soon and announce their plans next month.

 

http://www.gamespot.com/all/news/news_6025539.html

 

I'm betting they go with Namco. It makes sense if you are going to merge that you do so with a company firmly in your own field. And combining the arcade divisions does make sense. This way they have the potential income from the same pool of properties, but with potentially much lower development costs. I'd miss the Namco name, but not as much as I miss Atari Games. I say they go with SEGAMCO!

 

I'm also betting that something happens with Capcom in the next year or two. Their sales have been down across the whole spectrum: arcade and consoles (all of them). They need a big massive hit soon or they will be up for bid themselves.

 

If it could happen to Squaresoft, it can happen to anyone.(Except Nintendo, of course.)

[Tempest]

Hmm... Sega or Namco? I'd say Sega has more cache than Namco in the US, but Japanese gamers may know Namco more. Then again the Saturn was a huge hit in Japan. Who knows?

 

Semco? Segco? Namga?

 

Tempest

[liquid_sky]

its sad that all my favorite companies are dissapearing..

 

But i agree, i would rather have sega merge with namco than sammy, i mean look at what happened when SNK merged with that pachinko company that i cant think of, all they did was make samurai shodown pachinko machines.

[Tempest]

But i agree, i would rather have sega merge with namco than sammy, i mean look at what happened when SNK merged with that pachinko company that i cant think of, all they did was make samurai shodown pachinko machines.

 

That company was Aruze.

 

Tempest

[Rhindle The Red]

SNK was never owned or merged with Aruze. They had an extended partnership, whereby Aruze supplied SNK with capital and promotion and SNK allowed Aruze to make parlor games with the SNK characters (and SNK also gave Aruze good deals on releasing software for the Neo Geo Pocket Color). It was meant as an emergency measure to try and stave off bankruptcy. It was never meant to be ongoing.

 

The company that ultimately got control of SNK's properties is the unfortunately named Playmore. They have, in fact, recently sued Aruze over Aruze's continued use of the SNK characters. Specifically, Aruze has a parlor game title for the PS2 that features virtual versions of many of Aruze's machines. Included are some titles (legitimately made at the time) that feature SNK characters. Playmore states that this is in violation of the agreement with SNK that is no longer in force.

 

But the SNK / Aruze alliance is a good example why not to get involved with a company outside your line of work (another is the Atari / JTS fiasco). Although Sammy does have more of a legitimate profile in video games than Aruze did, it's still something Sega will be sure to consider.