{"id":50401,"date":"2025-07-25T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=50401"},"modified":"2025-07-24T18:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T09:05:25","slug":"activist-investor-of-major-japanese-game-developer-requests-dismissal-of-ceo-calls-him-unqualified-and-completely-unaware-of-his-responsibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/activist-investor-of-major-japanese-game-developer-requests-dismissal-of-ceo-calls-him-unqualified-and-completely-unaware-of-his-responsibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Activist investor of major Japanese game developer requests dismissal of CEO, calls him \u201cunqualified and completely unaware of his responsibilities\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Japanese game company GungHo Online Entertainment,<\/strong> known for developing the long-running Puzzle & Dragons series and publishing Ragnarok Online, recently received a request from activist investors for the dismissal of its CEO, Kazuki Morishita. This comes a few months after GungHo\u2019s board of directors unanimously dismissed a proposal<\/a> for large-scale reforms from shareholders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 23, investment fund Strategic Capital, who holds a joint 8% stake in GungHo with Intertrust Trustees (Cayman), publicly requested<\/a> that the company hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting. The main objectives on the proposed agenda are to 1) lower the threshold of votes needed to dismiss executives; 2) dismiss CEO Kazuki Morishita from the board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the written proposal, the investors argue that \u201cMorishita must take responsibility\u201d for several issues GungHo is facing. Strategic Capital suggests that the CEO is responsible for GungHo becoming a \u201cone-hit wonder,\u201d stating that the company \u201chas failed to produce a hit for 13 years since the release of its only hit Puzzle & Dragon.\u201d The investors think this stagnation was directly brought on by Morishita, citing that he failed to delegate creative authority to the right persons, instead giving \u201cfull control of game development\u201d to himself.\u00a0In his defense, it is worth nothing that Morishita has kept the billion-dollar franchise alive for all these years, or rather, that Puzzle & Dragons hasn’t been a one-time success, but a continuous one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Puzzle<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Morishita is also criticized for \u201clacking awareness of his responsibilities as the President and CEO,\u201d with some examples including giving himself a salary higher than Nintendo\u2019s CEO ($2.2 million vs $1.7 million) and claiming certain games were \u201chits\u201d despite them not contributing significantly to business performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal compares GungHo\u2019s stock performance over the past decade to that of other major game companies like Capcom, Konami and Nintendo \u2013 whose share prices have risen between 258% and 1780%. In stark contrast, GungHo\u2019s stock has declined by approximately 35%, with business performance also significantly deteriorating. Strategic Capital seems to place the blame squarely on Morishita\u2019s shoulders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, GungHo has (according to ITmedia)<\/a> stated that it is \u201ccarefully reviewing the request and will disclose its decision once determined.\u201d However, given that the company\u2019s leadership previously dismissed requests for reform based on similar arguments, it remains to be seen whether this action by investors will have any effect on how GungHo is managed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of activist investors, Square Enix recently had a significant portion of its shares acquired by Singapore-based investment fund 3D Investment Partners. Although this company is known for making \u201caggressive moves\u201d towards investees<\/a>, it has yet to make any public proposals regarding Square Enix\u2019s management. GungHo\u2019s case is one example of the kind of moves activists can make in attempts to increase shareholder value, and by effect, their own gains.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strategic Capital is requesting the dismissal of GungHo’s founder and president Kazuki Morishita from the company’s board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":50403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[261,17],"class_list":["post-50401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-financial-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nActivist investor of major Japanese game developer requests dismissal of CEO, calls him \u201cunqualified and completely unaware of his responsibilities\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Strategic Capital is requesting the dismissal of GungHo's founder and president Kazuki Morishita from the company's board.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/activist-investor-of-major-japanese-game-developer-requests-dismissal-of-ceo-calls-him-unqualified-and-completely-unaware-of-his-responsibilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Activist investor of major Japanese game developer requests dismissal of CEO, calls him \u201cunqualified and completely unaware of his responsibilities\u201d\u00a0 - 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