Bandai Namco Holdings Inc.
Lindsay Semler, Ian Beckman
Namco Bandai Holdings Inc.
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On September 29th 2005, Bandai Company Inc., the
toy giant, and Namco Limited, the game publisher
announced they would join operations to form Namco
Bandai Holdings Inc.
Merger made the company the second largest
Japanese game and toy company behind Sega
Company sectors include: toys, visual software, video
games software, amusement facilities, arcade game
machines, mobile games, apparel, and network
gaming
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Namco Cybertainment Inc.
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Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd. in 1955
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Masaya Nakamura
 Originally produced children’s rides
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1970’s
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Acquired Japanese division of Atari
 Namco Arcade
 Gee Bee, Bomb Bee and Cutie Q , designed by
Toru Iwatani
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1980’s
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Pole Position and Final Lap, first multi-player cabinet
 Registered on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
 Release first mega hit, Pac-Man
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1990’s
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Namco Cybertainment, Incorporated
 Arcadea,Consoles
 Tekken and Soul Series
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Bandai Company Inc.
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1950’s
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1960’s
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Expanded market to include export sales of racing
car sets
1970’s
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Founded as a major producer of plastic model kits
Bandai America Inc. was established as a local US Sales
operation
1980’s
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Expanded to video planning and production producing its first
animated feature “Ag Daros”
 Began distribution of several video games for Nintendo, such
as World Class Track Meet
 Signed a contract in 1987 with Walt Disney for video products
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1990’s
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Power Rangers made debut in 1993 gaining popularity in the
US
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Bandai Company Inc.
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2000’s
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Tamagotchi launched in 2005 and won Toy of
the Year in the UK
 Manufacturer of toy licenses of the most
popular brands in the US
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Power Rangers
Pokemon
Dragon BallZ
Digimon
Tamagotchi
Girlz Connect
Manufacturer of toy licenses of the most
popular brands in the US
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Walt Disney
Cartoon Network
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Namco Bandai Holdings Inc.
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September 29th 2005 Bandai and Namco announced joining operations to form
Namco Bandai Holdings Inc.
Product Categories:
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Toys
Visual software and Video game software
Amusement Facilities
Arcade game machines
Mobile games
Apparel
Network Content
Business Divisions of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) Inc.:
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Bandai America Inc. (Toys)
Bandai Entertainment Inc. (Visual software)
Namco Bandai Games America Inc (Video games software)
Namco Cybertainment Inc. (Amusement facilities)
Namco Amercia Inc. (Arcade Machines)
Namco Networks America Inc. (Mobile Games)
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Namco Bandai Merger
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Merger motivation: shrinking consumer base and higher
development costs
Bandai Strengths
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Profitable toy maker
 Ability to create appealing and profitable characters in US markets
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Bandai Weakness
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Suffered in game development compared to other companies in the
market
Namco Strengths
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Game development capabilities
 Hold in video game market
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Namco Weakness
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Lack of global market
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Expanding on Merger
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Revival of past hit arcade games merging toys
and Namcos game content
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Production of figure toys based on Namco
game content
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Soul Caliber, Tekken
Installation of Deka-Tamagotchi at Namco
facilities
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Dragon Buster, GAPLUS, Xevious
Tamagotchi café’s
Development of Amusement machines Mobile
Suit Gundam at Namco locations combining
Bandai’s characters with Namco’s networking
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Namco Bandai 2006 Annual Report
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Since Merger 2006
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Pre-Merger Sales
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Overseas: despite some video game hit titles, market down turn
 Coin operated game machines increased with titles such as Mario Kart
 Mobile Gundam series overseas returns increased sales
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Future Business strategy:
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Launch Tamagotchi Plus
 Use long-established popular characters with new content overseas
 Future Toys:
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Ben10 (US boys), Naruto (US cards), Pocoyo (infant toys)
Future Video Games:
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Dragon BallsZ Sparking!, Neo, Tekken, Dark Resurrection, RAIN, Tamagotchi 2
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2007 and 2008
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Expanded US contents overseas of Power Rangers, Tamagotchi, and
Ben10
Focused on Coin-Op machines by introducing mass-medal machines and
creating new entertainments
Video game software development focused on blending strengths of Namco
and Bandai and focused on organization between the different departments.
Established character toys remained firm, but lack of new hit products.
Video games overseas and arcade machines in Japan performed well.
Package software sales struggled in transition of hardware to nextgeneration
Ban10 popularity expands in US and Europe
Gundam series gains popularity in Asia
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Namco Bandai Inc. Market Holding
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Main sectors: Toys and Hobby and Game Content
9th strongest video game publisher in 2008
Total revenue of $1,468 million dollars
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Net sales were 460,473 million yen
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Japan - 346,736 million yen
Americas Region - 52,623 million yen
Power Ranger, Dragon Ball, Soul Caliber, Tekken
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Namco Bandai Game Content
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Future Plans
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Toys
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Strength products of established characters
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Power Rangers, Masked Rider, Ultraman Series
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Expand target customer to include adults
 New character toys of Dragon BallZ as it’s popularity is growing overseas
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Video game software
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Use multi-platform strategy geared to user preferences globally
 Improve profitability by narrowing down number of titles
 Current Main Titles: Soul Calibur IV, Dragon BallZ, Family Trainer (WII)
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Future Game Lineup
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Active Life Outdoor Challenge
AFRO SAMURAI
Digimon World Championship®
Eternal Sonata™
Namco Museum™ Virtual Arcade
NARUTO™: Ultimate Ninja Heroes® 2: The Phantom Fortress
NARUTO™: Ultimate Ninja® 3
NARUTO™: Ultimate Ninja® Storm
National Geographic™ Panda
SOULCALIBUR® (Xbox LIVE® Arcade)
SOULCALIBUR® IV
Tales of Vesperia
Tamagotchi® Connection®: Corner Shop™ 3
Warhammer® Battle March™
We Cheer™
We Ski™
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References
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[1] TM & BVS Entertainment, Inc. “Bandai’s Creation of Inspiration Operates on a
Global Scale”. http://www.bandai.co.jp/e/corporate/global.html
[2] Nilsumi, H and Feldman, C. Game Spot. “Bandai, Namco to Merge”. May 2, 2005.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6123385.html
[3] 2006- 2008: Annual Reports. Namco Bandai Holdings Inc,.
http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/ir/annual/index.html
[4] Schilling, Mark. "Namco Bandai buys Infogrames stake." Variety. 10 Sept. 2008.
<http://www.variety.com/article/vr1117992022.html?categoryid=1079&cs=1>.
[5] Matthews, Matt. "Edge's Top 20 Publishers 2008." Edge. 28 July 2008.
<http://www.edge-online.com/features/edges-top-20-publishers-2008>.
[6] Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. "Financial Highlights and Supplemental Data for the
Fiscal Year Ended March 2008." Press release. 8 May 2008.
<http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/releases/images/3/44275.pdf>.
[7] Ryan. "SD-Tekken reports Tekken 6 will not receive a US release in arcades."
Arcade Renaissance. 13 Mar. 2008. <http://www.arcaderenaissance.com/2008/03/sd-tekken-reports-tekken-6-will-not.html>.
[8] Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. "New Releases Games." Press release.
<http://www.namcobandaigames.com/games/new_releases>.
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