The merger between Tecmo and Koei brought about one interesting new development that I hadn’t been expecting — a fresh and rather large interest in Europe. The newly formed Tecmo Koei Europe is looking to become a powerful force in the PAL territories, and key to its victory will bethe developmentof fresh IP.
“The European video game market is expanding very rapidly, while Japan has stood still,” says Tecmo Koei CEO Kenji Matsubara. “Our European business is not so big at the moment, but we see many opportunities for us to expand the business, and this is why we’ve created Tecmo Koei Europe. With this office we want to establish a major brand image and also major publisher status throughout Europe.
“To do this we need titles. We already have some big brand games likeNinja Gaiden,Dead or AliveandDynasty Warriors, but to be a major player in Europe we need new intellectual properties. So we will release new IP for Western audiences and reinforce our existing brand titles in the region. That is our strategy.”
Best of luck them, I say. A publisher focusing on Europe is a rare and beautiful thing, despite how much the territory is growing. Hopefully such a focus will pay off.
