Square Enix drops Tecmo bid, hints at new deals

Less than 24 hours after Tecmo said no thanks to its $200 million offer, Square Enix has officially withdrawn it. Initially, the Japanese role-playing game giant didn't rule out a hostile bid for Tecmo. However, the day the Ninja Gaiden maker announced it was pursuing a union with Dynasty Warriors publisher Koei, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada threw in the towel.

"If they truly dislike Square Enix, there is no point," Wada told the Reuters news service. "All [game] creators would leave the firm the moment the deal was done. It would be the equivalent of buying a building."

But while the Tecmo takeover may be dead, that doesn't mean the minds behind Final Fantasy XIII aren't laying plans for other buyouts or mergers. "We are talking with quite a few companies in and outside of Japan," said Wada.

While Wada did not go into further detail, and downplayed any on going negotiations as "routine," the fact Square Enix is talking to non-Japanese parties raises an array of intriguing possibilities. First, that the Tokyo-based company might acquire a Western developer, as Sega did with Secret Level (US) and The Creative Assembly (UK). There's also the possibility of some sort of agreement with a Western publisher, such as the recent Grasshopper Manufacture/Electronic Arts deal.