History Main / CorporateWarfare

* Played with in the ''VideoGame/Borderlands'' series. In the first game, it seems like a case of non-corporate individuals rebelling against an overpowering megacorp, [[spoiler:until you realize that the main characters are being manipulated by another megacorp.]] In the second, there is one megacorp that is friendly (or at least one CEO that is friendly) to the Vault Hunters, but he doesn't take direct part in the conflict against Hyperion. The Pre-Sequel plays it the straightest, with the core conflict between Dahl and Hyperion, [[spoiler:although Jack is technically acting against the wishes of the Hyperion CEO.]]

* ''DarkOrbit's'' ExcusePlot is that three mining corporations don't get along and your job is to kill everyone not working for your corp.

* In ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' the [[OneNationUnderCopyright Planetary Consortium]] deployed [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Direct Action]] to seize several Anarchist and Extropiab habitats on the grounds that they were havens for software pirates (neither group acknowledges copyrights). However the Titanian Commonwealth decided to side with the anarchists and they formed the Autonomist Alliance.

Compare MobWar. Contrast to OneNationUnderCopyright, where the corporations literally are nations. May involve an ArmyOfLawyers. PrivateMilitaryContractors are a common choice for such security forces. May overlap with NGOSuperpower.

* The English East India Company is featured in the second and third ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' movies. Not only do they have a private fleet and army with a worldwide reach, they also control the ''Flying Dutchman''. The Company wages war on all pirates, intent to wipe them out. Not TruthInTelevision: the East India ''Trading'' Company did arm their ships defensively, but actually fighting wars was the province of the Royal Navy (though they did admittedly have a lot of pull with the government to get the Royal Navy to go where they wanted.)

* The Dutch and English East India Trading Companies both fielded private armies for fending off piracy and putting down native resistance to their colonial monopolies.

* The whole plot of ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' revolves around a war between two megacorporations, General Resource Ltd. and Neucom Inc.; although there are two more sides in it ([[UnitedNationsIsASuperPower peace-enforcing UN]] and the [[NebulousCriminalConspiracy terrorist conspiracy Ouroboros]]), they are much smaller in scale and influence.

* The {{Mega Corp}}s of the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series all maintain hundreds of fighters and a couple capital ships apiece, mainly to protect their supply chains from SpacePirates, [[AIIsACrapshoot Xenon]], [[BeePeople Kha'ak]], and sometimes raiding fleets of rival governments. [[AnEntrepreneurIsYou The player can engage in this as well]], and can also be hired as a contractor by the corporations and be sent on (among other things) station defense and assassination missions.
* ''Roleplay/CerberusDailyNews'' told a story of this happening in the War on Garvug story arc, between ''Franchise/MassEffect'' ''2'' and ''3.'' The war started when a bunch of galactic MegaCorp s invaded the planet Garvug for supposed Prothean artifacts. The krogan and vorcha that made up most of the world's population fought back well and eventually the corporate forces pulled out...[[TrojanHorse only to return in the middle of Garvug's victory celebrations]], killing most of the government officials with bombs and assassinations after coming out with a well-publicized "debate" over whether to pull out from the planet or not.

* ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'': During certain arcs (namely the devalued coins one), there is a trade company that has enough men to do the thug and garrote routine without problem by sheer force of numbers. The other Traders had a nice Intel network of the city maps and then Lawrence has [[BigBadassWolf Holo]]. Considering the setting the idea of using men for pressuring and muting the lone merchant they scammed is logical from their point of view. {{Karma}} on the other hand...

->''"There were several ways to win a corporate war. One of them was to bring out the bazookas"''

* One of the measures the {{Megacorp}} can use against the [[TheCracker Runner]] in the card game {{NetRunner}}. Aside from using malevolent software to fry the Runner's brain, if the Megacorp manages to trace the location of the Runner, he can use anyting from [[http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/android-netrunner/genesis-cycle/cards/freelancer.png "saboteurs"]] and [[http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/android-netrunner/genesis-cycle/cards/dedicated-response-team.png "paramilitary forces"] to [[http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/android-netrunner/core-set-cards/scorched-earth.png "bombing entire city blocks"]] in order to [[DeadlyEuphemism flatline]] the Runner.

-->-- Flavour text of the ''Corporate War'' card, ''Android:NetRunner''

* One of the measures the {{Megacorp}} can use against the [[TheCracker Runner]] in the card game {{NetRunner}}. Aside from using malevolent software to fry the Runner's brain, if the Megacorp manages to trace the location of the Runner, he can use anyting from assassins, paramilitary forces to bombing entire city blocks in order to [[DeadlyEuphemism flatline]] the Runner.

* One of the measures the {{Megacorp}} can use against the {{TheCracker Runner}} in the card game {{NetRunner}}. Aside from using malevolent software to fry the Runner's brain, if the Megacorp manages to trace the location of the Runner, he can use anyting from assassins, paramilitary forces to bombing entire city blocks in order to {{DeadlyEuphemism flatline}} the Runner.

-->-- ''Flavour text of the 'Corporate War' card'', ''TabletopGame/Android:NetRunner''

-->-- '''Corporate War"''', ''TabletopGame/Android:NetRunner''

A common feature of {{Mega Corp}}s, both real and fictional, is the possession of private armies and the ability to wage war.

A staple of {{Cyberpunk}} media. Megacorporations typically are depicted as having "Company Security Forces" which are often as powerful as the military of a small nation. Besides the option for open warfare, they also heavily indulge in covert operations against their business rivals, ranging from espionage to sabotage and "wetwork", meaning assassinations of key personnel.

* In ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'' the Empire of the Seven Systems declared [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00054.html war on the RIAA]] fifty years previous, by then they owned the copyrights and patents to just about everything but what set the rather libertarian Empire off was their [[BrainUploading brain-stripping]] of elderly artists and scientists, which is highly illegal for a [[AndIMustScream damn good reason]]. And apparently there were earlier skirmishes over things like [[http://www.rhjunior.com/QQSR/00100.html laying patent claim over a species genome.]]

** Not just pirates and natives; for much of the 18th century, whenever Britain and France went to war, the British and French East India Companies [[hottip:* :the ''Honourable East India Company'' and the ''Compagnie des Indes Orientales'' respectively]] would dutifully declare war on one another as well. The Carnatic Wars in particular were fought largely by Company forces on both sides, with the British East India Company eventually emerging as the dominant of the two before the French company was eventually forcibly liquidated during the FrenchRevolution.

* CerberusDailyNews told a story of this happening in the War on Garvug story arc, between ''MassEffect'' ''2'' and ''3.'' The war started when a bunch of galactic MegaCorp s invaded the planet Garvug for supposed Prothean artifacts. The krogan and vorcha that made up most of the world's population fought back well and eventually the corporate forces pulled out...[[TrojanHorse only to return in the middle of Garvug's victory celebrations]], killing most of the government officials with bombs and assassinations after coming out with a well-publicized "debate" over whether to pull out from the planet or not.

* CerberusDailyNews told a story of this happening in the War on Garvug story arc, between ''MassEffect'' ''2'' and ''3.'' The war started when a bunch of galactic MegaCorps invaded the planet Garvug for supposed Prothean artifacts. The krogan and vorcha that made up most of the world's population fought back well and eventually the corporate forces pulled out...[[TrojanHorseGambit only to return in the middle of Garvug's victory celebrations]], killing most of the government officials with bombs and assassinations after coming out with a well-publicized "debate" over whether to pull out from the planet or not.

* ''Film/{{Robocop}} 3'' has Omni Consumer Products (and its new shareholders the Kanemitsu Corporation) hire a band of mercenaries to force out the inhabitants of Old Detroit. To combat this, the regular folks form a underground resistance. Oh, just to make sure their investment pays off, Kanemitsu sends robot ninjas to aid their hired guns.

* In John Van Stry's ''Literature/ChildrenOfSteel'' series, wars between corporations over mines in distant systems aren't rare. Freighter crews (comprised mainly of indentured [[PettingZooPeople animorphs]]) are trained in combat and ships are easily converted into troop transports.