Namco has unveiled that the company has proposed to merge with Sega, thereby dethroning Konami and creating Japan's largest 3rd party publisher. Relating to the proposal, Namco executive director Keiji Tanaka mentioned that Sega should merge with Namco rather than its current partner Sammy, as the synergy effects of a merger between his company and Sega would be greater. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Sega has also received a business and capital tie-up proposal from the world's largest 3rd party publisher Foster City, California-based Electronic Arts. Sammy however, the company which has already announced to merge with Sega insists that their scheduled merger is going ahead as planned, as the official agreement will be inked next month and the decisive shareholders' meeting will be held in June.

Sega's board of directors will apparently decide which company to cooperate with sometime next week, around the 23rd.

• Bloomberg Japan