What's up with Hudson Soft?

[doomfarer75]

is Hudson still its own company?  Or was it Konami that folded and was bought by Hudson? I couldn't really get a feel for things by glancing at the website...

[Nemo]

Konami folded?    Not trying to be mean, just thought that was kind of funny since they are probably the most successful 3rd party developer period.  I don't remember if Konami bought all of Hudson, but I know they at least bought most of their stock.  So yeah, Konami now owns Hudson.

[esteban]

Ahhhh, it's confusing.  

http://www.hudsonentertainment.com/index.cfm?page=corp

There are several different layers:

1. Hudson Entertainment, based North America (console division, mobile gaming division). It is a subsidiary of Hudson of Japan (the company we all love). Here in the States, Hudson has released only a handful of console games over the years.  Usually, another publisher (like Atlus, for example) will release a Hudson game here in the States.  Robopon, for example, was released here by Atlus.

2. Hudson Soft Company, Limited, based in Japan.  This is the "real" Hudson that we love. They are owned by Konami (well, Konami owns 45% of the shares, whereas the original founders of Hudson own a mere 22%). Konami makes most of the big decisions, I'd reckon.  See here:

http://www.hudson.co.jp/corp/eng/investors/ir2.html

There is also a European division of Hudson, I think, that handles stuff. Or at least there used to be.

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Historically, of course, there have been different subsidiaries or divisions of Hudson Soft.  TTi was a Hudson Soft partnership. In addition, Hudson released many games for NES and other platforms (so perhaps there was a North American division of Hudson Soft of Japan?).

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The last NON_CRAPPY or NON_RECYCLED Hudson Soft game to appear in the States was Ninja Five-O (awesome GBA game)... it was developed by Hudson but released by Konami here in the States. I can't remember who published it in Japan.

Anyway, in Japan Hudson is no longer the powerhouse it used to be, but if you check out their website, you'll see that they are still releasing console and handheld games (more of the latter).  For NA and Europe, Hudson primarilly recycles their franchises ad nauseum (Bloody Roar, Bomberman, etc.) but they did recently (in the last 3 years?) develop a Bomberman cart game (for Europe?) and they updated Adventure Island, Bonk, and Star Soldier (gamecube, ps2) a few years ago.

I think their main bread and butter is cellular gaming, since it allows them to recycle stuff to a platform that is technically limited (in terms of graphics)... so old 8-bit and 16-bit games look great on a phone... although in the last few years the cellular games in Japan have taken on 3D and will continue in that direction...

Here in the states, our cellular gaming is REALLY behind the amazing stuff that's been available in Japan for 1-2 years already.

/ end of rambling

[doomfarer75]

ah steve, your wisdom and breadth of knowledge continue to astound me.  Yes,  now that I think about it, even mentioning Konami folding is a bit ludicrous...sorry about that..

[Keranu]

How did I miss this thread?