After Tecmo publicly rejected Square Enix's takeover bid Wednesday, the company quickly came back with an announcement Thursday that it was in talks with publisher Koei.

Today, both companies entered into what amounts to fairly serious talks thanks to an "Integrated Management Committee" that could combine each publishers respective East and West game libraries.

For Tecmo, that means popular Western fighting games like Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, and for Koei is means popular Japanese titles like Dynasty Warriors.

In a statement obtained by Kotaku Thursday morning, Tecmo said the merger is in response to a changing industry environment, which is growing in terms of hardware, portable gaming, and online. The company also mentioned the emerging worldwide reach of video games as a key driver behind the merger talks.

Lastly, the statement said both companies are currently negotiating ways to keep their respective identities intact should a merger or takeover occur. What? No Ninja Gaiden/Romance of the Three Kingdoms mash-ups? Bummer.