Konami to Fully Acquire Hudson This Spring

Konami is preparing a full takeover of the publisher/developer Hudson Soft, to be completed on April 1. Andriasang (via Nikkei) reports that Konami, which currently owns a 54% stake in Hudson, will transition to a 100% stake to take full ownership of Hudson's intellectual property and development teams.

Konami's interest in Hudson is fueled by the mobile and social games spaces, which are especially popular in Japan. Hudson has more experience in those areas, and Konami hopes to mine that knowledge for use in future games.

Konami issued a statement confirming the reports, and stated that it will also acquire the company Digital Golf. Hudson will likely be delisted from the JASDAQ exchange, and Konami will be replacing current Hudson CEO Michihiro Ishizuka with its own executive, Kazuhiko Uehara. The company is considering a name change for Hudson upon the completion of the takeover.