īoth companies in a joint statement cited Japan's decreasing birth rates and advancements in technology as the reason for the merge, and to increase their relevance to newer audiences. Bandai purchased Namco for US$1.7 billion, with Namco receiving 43 percent of shares and Bandai receiving the other 57 percent.

The merge was finalized on 25 September, creating the third-largest video game publisher in Japan by revenue. In February 2005, in the wake of their 50th anniversary, Namco announced their intent to merge with Bandai to form Bandai Namco Holdings. It is the core publishing and development area of the Bandai Namco Group's 'Content Strategic Business Unit' (Content SBU), and the main video game branch of Bandai Namco Holdings.īandai Namco's former headquarters in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company also owns the licenses to several Japanese media franchises, such as Shonen Jump, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Sword Art Online, and the Ultra Series. Pac-Man, himself serves as the official mascot of the company.Īs of March 2022, it is the third largest video game company in Japan in terms of revenue and market capitalization, after Sony Interactive Entertainment and Nintendo, ahead of Sega, Square Enix, Nexon, Capcom and Konami. Namco Bandai Games was renamed Bandai Namco Games in 2014 and again to Bandai Namco Entertainment a year later.īandai Namco Entertainment owns several multi-million video game franchises, including Pac-Man, Tekken, Gundam, Soulcalibur, Tales, Ace Combat, Taiko no Tatsujin, The Idolmaster and Dark Souls. Namco Bandai Games absorbed Banpresto's video game division in 2008 and dissolved Bandai Networks in 2009.ĭevelopment operations were spun off into a new company in 2012, Namco Bandai Studios (now called Bandai Namco Studios), to help create faster development time and tighter cohesion between development teams.

Originally known as Namco Bandai Games, it merged Bandai Games and Namco Networks in January to create Namco Bandai Games America. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings, an entertainment conglomerate.īandai Namco Entertainment was formed on 31 March 2006, following a corporate merge between Namco and Bandai on 29 September of the previous year. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Lyon, France.

is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo.

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