It's far rarer for foreign acquisitions of medium or large Japanese videogame companies, it's basically unheard of. Again, I literally posted a list of companies for which acquisition and significant foreign investment comes with an automatic presumption of denial, and both of these were assessed and approved.
Because those assessments aren't published, it's difficult to know what influences those decisions. Platinum Games have worked with both Nintendo and Sony, who are listed, and who would get the opportunity to express a view on any foreign investment in Platinum games. What's the expection that neither would express concerns about a Microsoft acquisition?
Uh, but we're talking about Platinum Games and they are not in that list. And if they were, they'd be listed under category 1.
Also, note that Capcom isn't protected and neither is Square-Enix. It's noted as requiring only a post investment report. Foreign companies are free to purchase large chunks of the company with the only requirement being that they report the purchase of those shares to the government after the purchase has completed. There is no automatic presumption of denial for any company or corporation in category 1.
Basically anyone in category 1 is part of the group of registered companies that only require post-purchase notification. No government approval is needed prior to purchasing large chunks of the company.
Please note that just like Capcom and Square-Enix, Japan Creative Studio is listed under category 1 and are now under ownership by a Chinese company.
Sega is category 2 which has some limited restrictions where the government will look at it, but unless they have serious reservations (like the purchasing company being located in a country that Japan is uncertain about or are not allies with), they're likely to approve a purchase. The government considers them important enough to have some limited government oversight, but not important enough to automatically deny foreign investment and acquisition.
Sony is category 3 where denial is virtually guaranteed. These are companies that are in the "core" categories (medical, financial, etc. IIRC, there are 24 core categories). Note that Sony is part of Japan's financial sector (a core category). Thus it would be almost impossible to acquire the whole of Sony. However, purchase of parts of Sony (like TV or PlayStation) wouldn't trigger category 3 considerations. Those would fall under either category 2 or category 1. Of course, that would require spinning off those divisions first before they could be sold to a foreign entity. If a company or corporation is listed as category 3, then it's difficult for any foreign companies to purchase any significant amount of shares (anything greater than 1%) unless that company is on really good terms with the Japanese government.
Going back to Platinum Games, since they aren't even listed as Category 1, there isn't even a requirement for post purchase notification to the governmental body that overlooks company and corporate acquisitions.
Of course, a change of ownership would require notifying the government, but anyone in Category 1 are highly unlikely to be denied a change of ownership unless the Japanese government has serious issues with the originating country of the purchasing corporation. For example, any company based in North Korea (if there exists any non-government owned companies) would get denied.
Regards,
SB
The time, effort and cost is certainly part of it.
