Capcom seeks partners, not buyouts

Capcom, the increasingly western-facing publisher, aims to “enlarge our development line” with the aid of new external studio partnerships.

In a Q&A session following its quarterly financial report, Capcom was asked if it would pursue a strategy of buying other independent developers – following the group’s purchase of Blue Castle Games.

“At this point, we have no definite plans for any more acquisitions,” a company executive responded [no name is attributed].

The company said it would be hiring more staff, and crucially, will be ‘forming alliances with external game development companies”.

It is believed that the first of these alliances is with Canadian studio Slant Six. Capcom has become far more western focused in the last five years, and European indies shouldn’t rule themselves out in this case. UK studio Ninja Theory is building the latest addition of Devil May Cry for the publisher.

“We may make more acquisitions if, while developing a game with an alliance partner, we decide that an acquisition would better enable Capcom and the partner to utilise their strengths and produce benefits for both companies,” Capcom said.