Bandai Namco Studios

 

Established on March 31, 2006, Namco Bandai Games was the amalgamation of Namco and Bandai's video game development operations being merged and consolidated into one company.^[3][4] The developer produced the majority of its video games in-house, through its subsidiaries such as Banpresto and D3 Publisher,^[5][6] or lending production to external studios. However, as the company was recovering from financial losses and was undergoing a reorganization, Namco Bandai Games believed it was necessary to spin off its game development operations into a separate division.^[7] The company requested for faster development times and healthy relations between its multiple business areas, and believed the formation of a new company would remedy this.^[8]

 

Namco Bandai's video game operations were transferred to a new subsidiary, Namco Bandai Studios Inc., on April 2, 2012.^[8][9] Located in Shinagawa, Tokyo, the company was headed by company veteran Hajime Nakatani and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Bandai Games.^[10] Its parent company stated that Studios would allow for faster development times, tighter cohesion with aligning production teams, and more creative freedom and developer skills for its employees.^[8][11] Namco Bandai's consecutive financial increases in its year-over-year profits also contributed to its establishment.^[12] Studios inherited 1,000 employees from Namco Bandai Games and all 80 staff members from the former Namco Tales Studio, which ceased operations a year earlier.^[8] It would focus on the development of new intellectual properties and follow-ups to established franchises, such as Tekken, Pac-Man, and Ace Combat.^[8][11][13] The two companies would work in conjunction with one another as a keiretsu, where Namco Bandai Studios would develop and plan games and Namco Bandai Games would handle marketing, publishing, and distribution.^[14]

Namco Bandai Studios opened two international divisions on March 1, 2013: Namco Bandai Studios Singapore Pte. Ltd. in Media Circle, Singapore, and Namco Bandai Studios Vancouver Inc. in Vancouver, Canada.^[15] The Singapore division was assigned as Namco Bandai's head video game development branch in Asia, and to establish working relationships with fellow developers in the region.^[15] The Vancouver division was to design online network games and provide content for North America and Europe, while simultaneously focusing on contributing to the country's growing game industry.^[15] Namco Bandai Studios Singapore employed several staff members from the Singapore division of Lucasarts, who had previously worked on the cancelled Star Wars 1313.^[16] Its Japanese division established a working relationship with Nintendo with Wii Sports Club, a high-definition remaster of the original Wii Sports (2006) for the Wii U;^[17] several Nintendo games to follow were developed by Bandai Namco Studios, including Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014), Pokkén Tournament (2015), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) and New Pokémon Snap (2021).^[18]

On April 1, 2014, Namco Bandai Studios was renamed Bandai Namco Studios Inc., following an effort by its parent company to unify the Bandai Namco brand across its international divisions.^[19] The company began development on virtual reality arcade games the same month, which were designed for Bandai Namco Entertainment's VR Zone chain of video arcades. In 2016, Bandai Namco Studios released Summer Lesson, a virtual reality game designed for the PlayStation VR headset.^[20] The Vancouver division closed on November 16, 2018, though a "skeleton crew" was kept to support Tekken Mobile,^[21] and opened a Malaysia division in 2016.^[22] Bandai Namco Studios won the "Grand Prize" award at the Japan Game Awards for its work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as the "Japan Game Awards 2019 Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award" from the organization.^[23] Bandai Namco Research Inc was established in 2019 with some of the research and development departments of Bandai Namco Studios being transferred to this complete new company^[24]

In October 2021, Bandai Namco Studios announced the establishment of the indie label GYAAR Studio within the studio. They plan to release at least one independent game title per year, where each title will be developed by a team of creators from among the studio's young staff. Their first game Survival Quiz City will be published by Phoenixx.^[25]

On November 14, 2023, Bandai Namco Studios revealed for the first time that they now have two dedicated teams called Studio 2 and Studio S for commissioned projects for other publishers, with Nintendo being the main contributor for the past works and likely for future works. The works of the team on Studio 2 have been support for Mario Kart series since 2014 and Arms, while Studio S have been mainly involved in the Super Smash Bros. series since the 4th installment as the lead development studio.^[26]

In July 2024, B.B. Studio, which was in the past a subsidary of parent company Bandai Namco Entertainment became a direct subsidiary of Bandai Namco Studios.^[27]

Its offices in Malaysia and Singapore, Bandai Namco Studios Malaysia and Bandai Namco Studios Singapore, are based out of Selangor, Malaysia and Infinite Studios, Singapore respectively.

Bandai Namco Studios identifies itself as the successor to Namco, focusing on its predecessor's design philosophies and corporate environment.^[28] The company emphasizes creating unique and immersive experiences in games, and is against copying ideas from other developers. Many of its employees were originally employed at Namco:^[28]

• Daisuke Uchiyama – President and CEO. Producer for many of Bandai Namco's anime fighting games, particularly those from the Dragon Ball series.^[29]
• Shigeru Yokoyama – Company chairman. Designer of Galaga and Splatterhouse, and supervisor of franchises such as Xenosaga.^[30]
• Kazutoki Kono – Head of Project Aces, the internal development team behind the Ace Combat series.^[31]
• Minoru Sashida – Manager of the master art preservation program.^[32] Artist for the Mr. Driller series, Techno Drive, and Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere.^[33]

 

Bandai Namco Studios is a strong advocate of video game preservation.^[32] In particular, it sees the master art used for supplementary material in games, such as Galaxian (1979) and Pac-Man (1980), as being of historical importance; the company believes preserving these master arts allows for further appreciation of its predecessor's games as well as the arts themselves.^[32] Studios has amassed a collection of 400 master arts, including those from Xevious (1983), Ridge Racer (1993), and J-League Soccer Prime Goal (1993),^[34] which it stores in an internal department named the "Banarchive".^[35] Many of its pieces were originally deemed lost during its move to Kōtō in 2015, though most have since been recovered.^[36] Bandai Namco Studios hopes to easily share its master arts to the public in the form of YouTube retrospective videos and a virtual reality museum through its Namco Museum of Art project.^[28][37]

In addition to its master arts, Bandai Namco Studios has also preserved promotional pamphlets, source code, master models for characters, design documentation, and release dates for all video games by Namco, Bandai, and Banpresto.^[28] Other divisions within Bandai Namco Holdings and external companies have used these arts for products such as apparel and posters.^[36] Hisaharu Tago, the producer of the Nintendo Switch release of Namco Museum, hopes the company will be able to bring the entirety of Namco's back catalog for modern gaming platforms.^[38]

Bandai Namco Studios currently have six internal divisions in Japan dedicated to development under the company, who has shared the organization of its divisions as in 2023, being organized as the following:^[26]

• Studio 1: With 257 employees, Studio 1 mainly works on the Tekken, Soulcalibur, and the Ace Combat series, with the most recent titles worked being Tekken 8 and Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, and have also worked on God Eater 3, Pokkén Tournament and in the new IP Code Vein.^[39]
• Studio 2/Studio S: With 152 employees, Studio 2 and Studio S have mainly worked on Nintendo published games before at Bandai Namco Studios, be it in small/medium contract work or large contract work. Studio 2 is the one mainly working on large contract work, a.k.a^{[clarification needed]} leading development of their own games, with those being Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Mario Sports Superstars and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Studio S in this case have been mainly working on small/medium contract work, a.k.a^{[clarification needed]} supporting titles with visual assets, graphics and design for Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 9 titles such as Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms and Mario Kart Tour.^[40]
• Studio 3: With 377 employees, Studio 3 mainly works on the Tales and The Idolmaster series, with the most recent titles worked being Tales of Arise and The Idolmaster: Starlit Season, and have also worked on new IP such as Scarlet Nexus and Blue Protocol.^[41]
• Development Enchantment Studio: This division was established in 2023 with the aim of improving the quality of developed titles and promoting internal organization and human resources development company-wide in collaboration with each division. The division includes a team in charge of user research and analysis of developed titles, as well as Gya Studio, which was established as a place for young creators to directly express their ideas and have released games such as Survival Quiz City and Goonect, among many others.^[42]
• Technology Studio: With 296 employees, this division is primarily responsible for cross-organizational technology research and development that is utilized throughout the company. Specifically, they contribute to improving the game experience through motion capture, online technology, sound production, animation production, AI technology, interpretation/translation, etc., to accelerate efficiency of all types of development, and support game development thorough Bandai Namco and external partners.^[43]

• Official website