Bandai Namco has announced that it will establish its own metaverse.
The Japanese publisher revealed this news during its long-term strategy in a mid-term plan presentation spanning April 2022 to March 2025. It also unveiled its goal to spend $130 million (£96 million) on its “IP Axis Strategy” over the next three years.
The plan includes creating a virtual environment to allow for three objectives: connecting with fans, increasing the value of its IPs, and expanding the company’s worldwide presence to boost sales outside of Japan.
“In this IP Metaverse, we are anticipating virtual spaces that will enable customers to enjoy a wide range of entertainment on an IP axis, as well as frameworks that leverage Bandai Namco’s distinctive strengths to fuse physical products and venues with digital elements,” the plan explains. “We are aiming for open frameworks that provide venues for connections with and among fans and business partners. Through the IP Metaverse, we will establish communities among Bandai Namco and fans, as well as among fans themselves.”
The publisher continued, “Through these communities and content, we will build deep, broad, multifaceted connections that continue for long periods of time, and we will focus on the quality of those connections. In this way, we will work to maximize IP value over the medium to long term.”
Each IP metaverse will eventually be a part of an interconnected universe called the “All Bandai Namco concept.”
Though Bandai didn’t specifically say which games will get metaverse treatment in the report—the publisher listed the upcoming game Elden Ring, Dark Souls, the Dark Pictures Anthology, Soul Calibur, Pac-Man, and other arcade classics. Plus, many licensed anime and manga games are also in the metaverse pipeline.
Bandai is in better financial shape lately. The firm posted revenues of $5.4 billion for the year, up 15.5 percent from the previous year, mostly driven by the success in its home base of Japan.
Bandai Namco has also gained access to part of Nexon’s $874 million funding that included game developers like Konami, Sega Sammy, and toymaker Hasbro in March 2021.
Previously, in February 2021, Bandai Namco acquired a minority stake in German developer Limbic Entertainment for an unknown price.
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