Bandai-Namco Wants to be All Things to All Gamers
The long-standing Japanese publisher has some big ambitions, but are they losing their identity?
This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
When you think of Bandai-Namco, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Classic arcade games like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Time Crisis? Punishing RPGs like Dark Souls and its sequel? Playable adaptations of popular anime series like Naruto and One Piece? The dependable familiarity of the Tales of RPG series? Tekken and its hardcore fighting action?
Even before their mid-aughts marriage to Bandai, Namco was a diverse operation, working in many genres across many platforms, and today, they continue to be one of the strongest Japanese publishers in existence. And, just over a week ago at their Global Gamers Day in Las Vegas, this seemed to be the intended message for attendees to take away: If you play video games, Bandai-Namco probably has something you'll be interested in.
Though things aren't quite as dire for Japanese publishers as all of the hand-wringing would have you believe, it was admittedly unusual to see Namco-Bandai have over a dozen upcoming games on display when their contemporaries struggle to publish just a handful of console releases every year. This wealth of products gave this two-day event an inescapable feeling of sensory overload, as groups of journalists found themselves herded from appointment to appointment to learn the release details of games that differed from each other in extremes. Clearly we were meant to tell the world of their robust lineup of upcoming releases, since our appointments focused heavily on superficial information on the games in question—but since you can find that stuff in a billion other places, allow me to act as your filter.
With Bandai-Namco putting so many games on display, there were bound to be some that didn't quite measure up to the rest—though their identities shouldn't surprise you. I shouldn't need to tell you that Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn continues the legacy of the Dynasty Warriors Gundam series by being just barely playable. Enemy Front, a World War II FPS rescued by Bandai-Namco didn't fare much better either, and its budget price of $39.99 doesn't excuse the fact that it looks closer to Call of Duty 3 than any FPS released within the past five years. And as a fan of One Piece, I found the upcoming Unlimited World Red to be more than a little disappointing; I assumed the game would take more cues from Monster Hunter, given its focus on oversized enemies, but it borrows most of the mindless Dynasty Warriors-inspired game play from the past two Pirate Warriors games.
Of course, the event wasn't without its pleasant surprises. While we didn't have any hands-on time with the game, the brief slice we saw of Lords of the Fallen—developed by Poland's CI Games—looked promising, especially for fans of Dark Souls. It's safe to say LotF takes many of its cues from From Software's own line of devious action-RPGs, as the game carries the same sense of hefty weapons and brutal enemies, so much so that our practiced demonstrator struggled to reach the end of the small area he intended to show us.
GRID Autosport served as another (unfortunately unplayable) highlight of Bandai-Namco's Global Gamers Day, even for someone like me with no vested interest in cars or racing. Though the game had barely reached its alpha state, the representatives from Codemasters promised a robust mix of arcade and simulation-style driving across many different variants of the sport, from down-and-dirty street racing to arduous and lengthy endurance races. GRID's online play focuses on an RPG system that's intended for players to form a closer relationship with their cars; driving with the same vehicle earns experience points which can unlock tuning options, but relying on the same car for too long adds to its wear and tear, which adds to the cost of repairs. Most notably, GRID offers a feature that could make just about any game more playable: A rewind button that allows you to go back to a biffed turn or other mishap that could cost you a race.
Throughout the course of this event, the many games shown off by Bandai-Namco had me thinking about the company's identity, or rather, their complete lack of an identity these days. Though they've always been versatile, until somewhat recently, I've regarded Bandai-Namco as a company primarily involved with very Japanese games—mostly because I tend to think of the Namco side of the equation that now plays second fiddle to its parent company, but used to develop some of my favorite games. And while they still produce a hell of a lot of Japanese-centric stuff—their willingness to stick it out with popular anime-based games in the US is certainly admirable—the Bandai-Namco brand now feels like an ambiguous corporate presence when compared to how much the word "Namco" used to resonate with me.
Unfortunately, as publishers look more and more to Hollywood for inspiration (but without that whole "union" thing), Bandai-Namco's bland, corporate ubiquity shouldn't be surprising. After all, studios like Paramount, Warner Bros., and 20th Century Fox release movies with their bottom line in mind, not how much their releases affect something as trivial as identity. Even New Line Cinema, a company that started as an independent film corporation, went on to release some of the most grandiose, high-spectacle films ever made with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
And television isn't any stranger to this, either, as cable channels with a strong idea for content in mind have adulterated their original intent to appeal to everyone—when was the last time you actually learned something from The Learning Channel, outside of what it's like to be a literal boss of cakes? More power to Bandai-Namco, of course, if they can find a way to stay afloat in the volatile world of game publishing and development, but I was hoping to walk away from the event with something a little more meaningful than, "These guys sure make a lot of video games."