Last month, Namco Bandai announced plans to turn Puzzle Quest and Oneechanbara publisher D3Publisher into a subsidiary. Today, the plan went into action.
At the time, Namco Bandai already had deals to score up to 70% of the company, with plans to go for full ownership. As of this morning, they'd bought 95.02% of D3's company shares at $628 a pop for a total buyout value of $12.55 million, according to Japan's Nikkei newspaper.
D3 Publisher's Publicity Manager, Tamara Sanderson Low, emailed Kotaku the following statement:
Bandai Namco Games, owned by Bandai Namco Holding Inc, plans to acquire 100% of D3, Inc., and its subsidiaries D3Publisher of America and D3Publisher of Europe. D3Publisher operations will remain unchanged at this time. Development of our current and unannounced titles is ongoing and will move forward as planned. D3Publisher is thrilled to join forces with Bandai Namco Games to further strengthen their position in the US and European marketplaces and continue to make quality games that gamers will enjoy.
I guess the era of hostile takeovers is gone, what with the depression and stuff. Does this mean we'll be seeing Puzzle Quest: Naruto next?
Namco Bandai To Acquire Game Developer D3 [Nikkei - subscription required]