Bandai Namco Holdings

Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. (株式会社バンダイナムコホールディングス) (commonly known as Bandai Namco (バンダイナムコ) and formerly Namco Bandai until 2015, also known as Bandai Namco Group,[4]) is a Japanese mass media and entertainment conglomerate founded in 2005 by the merger of Namco and Bandai. The company specializes in toys, video games, arcades, anime, restaurants, and amusement parks.[5] They are unofficially nicknamed "Bamco" by some. The conglomerate is made up of:

• Bandai, toy company; includes Bandai Spirits
• Bandai Namco Entertainment, video game publisher; includes Bandai Namco Studios
• Bandai Namco Experience, amusement machine developer and operator; includes Bandai Namco Amusement
• Bandai Namco Filmworks, film/anime production; includes Sunrise and Bandai Namco Pictures
• Bandai Namco Music Live, film/anime and music production

History

On May 5, 2005, Namco Ltd. announced it was merging with Bandai Co., Ltd. to form Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. (株式会社バンダイナムコホールディングス), with stock transfer to be completed on September 29.[6]

The merger was finalized on September 25, creating the third-largest video game publisher in Japan by revenue.[7] Bandai purchased Namco for US$1.7 billion, with Namco receiving 43 percent of shares and Bandai receiving the other 57 percent.[8][9][10] Furthermore, Bandai swapped one of its shares for 1.5 shares of the new Namco Bandai. Namco traded evenly with a one-for-one share,[11] carried out via a share exchange.[12] Prior to the merger, Bandai and Namco had various subsidiaries that worked under them. After the merger of Bandai Namco, the respective Bandai and Namco subsidiaries were re-designated into different areas of the combined conglomerate.

On March 31, 2006, Namco merged with Bandai's video game operations to form Namco Bandai Games.[13][14] Namco's video arcade and amusement park divisions were spun-off into a new subsidiary that retained the Namco branding.[13]

In September 2006, NBHD acquired CCP Co., Ltd. from Casio and made it a wholly owned subsidiary.[15][16] NBHD have since fully acquired developers Banpresto (whose video game operations were absorbed into Namco Bandai Games on April 1, 2008)[17] and Namco Tales Studio since the merger. Formerly, both were partially owned by Bandai and Namco respectively.

The business of Bandai Networks Co., Ltd. was merged into Namco Bandai Games in April 2009 and Bandai Networks subsequently ceased to exist as a separate company.[16]

Namco Bandai bought a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from French video game publishing & holding Infogrames.[18] Until June 30, 2012, Infogrames had the option to sell the other 66% in Atari Europe to NBHD.[19] Between June 30, 2012, to June 20, 2013, Bandai Namco gained the option to acquire the 66% stake.[20][21] On July 7, 2009, Bandai Namco Holdings bought 100% of Atari Australia Pty Ltd. BNHD acquired 100% of the shares of Atari Asia Holdings Pty. Ltd. and 100% of the shares of Atari UK Ltd.[22]

Namco Bandai acquired D3 Inc., the parent company of D3 Publisher, on March 18, 2009,[23] after first acquiring a 95% stake in the company.[24] In August 2013, Bandai Namco opened a studio in Vancouver, broadening its reach for western demographics.[25]

In October 2019, Bandai Namco Holdings announced plans to acquire Sotsu, a move which would grant the company rights to the entire Gundam franchise, which the company already holds part of due to owning the studio Sunrise, which is also one of the producers of the series.[26]

The company acquired minority stake in German video game developer Limbic Entertainment in February 2021.[27] It gained a majority stake in October 2022.[28]

The company unveiled a new logo and a new mission statement in September 2021 which would be implemented starting on April 1, 2022, to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the founding as Bandai five years before the founding of Namco. The company's updated purpose was "the idea of connecting and working together to create things", and plans to work with fans of their games through communication to help plan how the company would go forward. As part of that, the new logo is based on a fukidashi, a speech bubble that represents both the worldwide influence of Japanese manga as well as their efforts to be communicative with players. On February 8, 2022, the company changed the color of their new logo from magenta to rose red.[29]

In July 2022, Bandai Namco confirmed that an unspecified party hacked the company, gaining unauthorized access to internal systems to multiple groups in Asia outside Japan.[30]

On August 23, 2024, the company entered into a major alliance with Toho which led to said company taking a minority stake in BNHD.[2]

On 24, July 2025, Sony bought a 2.5% stake in Bandai Namco for a price of $464 million.[31]

Corporate structure

The company's headquarters are in the Sumitomo Fudosan Mita Building in Minato, Tokyo.[5] Its North American branch, Bandai Namco Holdings USA, was officially formed on January 6, 2008, and handles the US operations of the company from their headquarters in Irvine, California.[32] The company's European and Asian divisions, Bandai Namco Holdings UK and Bandai Namco Holdings Asia, are headquartered in Richmond, London and Central, Hong Kong respectively. In September 2017, Bandai Namco Holdings established China divisions headquartered in Shanghai.[33]

Bandai Namco Holdings is headed by president Yuji Asako and chairman Masaru Kawaguchi, both of whom took their respective positions in 2025. The company's corporate structure is grounded in the relationships between its employees and subsidiaries; Bandai Namco believes that the health and motivation of its employees is necessary to sustain operations, as it allows for additional creative freedom in its array of products. As of 2019, Bandai Namco is the world's largest toy company by revenue, having accumulated over $6.5 billion.[34][35] It is among the largest and most profitable companies in Japan with over ¥189.8 billion as of 2020.[36]

In February 2021, Bandai Namco Holdings announced the merger of its business units. As part of the changes to be done in April 2021, it would reduce its operating units from five to three. Toys & Hobby and Network Entertainment Unit (video games) merged to form Entertainment Unit, Visual and Music Production Unit (production and distribution of anime and music) and IP Creation Unit (anime production) merged to form IP Production Unit, and Real Entertainment Unit was renamed Amusement Unit (theme parks).[37]

Bandai Namco Shanghai Base

Bandai Namco Shanghai Base, originally Qianshuiwan Culture Center, is a performance center located in Putuo District, Shanghai, China. The building opened to the public in 2012 and was renamed to its current name in 2017. It contains the theatre "Bandai Namco Dream Hall" and several smaller studios and practice spaces.[53][54]

External links