Bandai Namco

Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. is a multinational video game development and publishing company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
==History==
===Bandi===
Bandai Co., Ltd. was founded on July 5, 1950 by Naoharu Yamashina. Yamashina studied business while in school and enlisted in World World II. During the war, Yamashina was injured in a grenade blast that left him blind in the right eye. His family's business was struggling financially, especially when the war ended. Yamashina eventually traveled to Tokyo to begin studying on the lucrative market for toys. By then, he officially established and founded Bandai, assembling its headquarters in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan.
The first product Bandai released was a Rhythm Ball, a beach ball with a bell that would be marred by quality defects. Bandai began designing other types of toys, such as metal cars and aircraft models. Some of the recently released products would be introduced to other countries, including the United States. As revenue continued to build up, Bandai began expanding its company by building a new shipping and warehouse facility in spring 1953, followed by research and development facilities along with product inspection departments. A manufacturing facility, Waraku Works, was opened in early 1955 to increase the production of toys. Later in the same year, Bandai implemented the toy industry's first quality assurance system.
By July 1961, Bandai started spreading its operations overseas, beginning with the establishment of Bandai Overseas Supply in New York City. While its toys often sold well in Japan, Bandai didn't achieve considerable success until 1963, when it began producing action figures based on the anime show Astro Boy. Still, Bandai had to reorganize and rethink its business strategies, as the company transitioned from working on original products to funding the creation of the animated television series and acting as a sponsor during its run, with advertisements that showed off Bandai's tie-in action figures and costumes.
Another newfound success was found with action figures in the likenesses of Ultraman characters, largely due to the popularity of the television series at the time. The figures were later released in North America to little success. In July 1966, Bandai released Crazy Foam, a line of bubble-blowing canisters that sold 2.4 million units in three months, mainly due to the backing of an extensive marketing campaign. Bandai's other products included the Thunderbird electrical vehicles, the Water Motor bath toys, and the Naughty Flipper, the last of which received a gold medal at the 1968 New York International Innovative productions Exhibition.
Bandai continued to expand in the 1970s with the creation of several subsidiaries; Tonka Japan in 1970 following a joint venture with Tonka, Bandai Models being established in 1971, and finally Popy, which specialized in the manufacturing of toy characters. Although not their most profitable range, Bandai's 1/48 scale AFV models dominated that segment of the model kit market. Bandai America was established as local US sales/marketing operation in 1978. Spacewarp, a line of build-it-yourself toy rolling ball "roller coasters" was introduced by Bandai in the 1980s.
In May 1980, several changes were made to the company's executive class. Makoto Yamashina, the son of the founder, became the president of Bandai. Naoharu Yamashina became chairman of the board. Upon his arrival, Makoto Yamashina completely changed the aging staff of Bandai and replaced it with younger blue chip prospects with the intent of not only bringing new ideas but also revisiting the strategy of the group. The new president took a different approach by selling directly to retailers rather than going through intermediate classes. Later in the same year, Bandai launched the Gundam Plastic Model based on the animated series.
In 1985, Bandai began to dig its dimension into the video game industry. Its first title was Tag Team Match: MUSCLE, released for the Famicom that sold a million copies. Bandai was also responsible for the works of the Nintendo Power Pad and two games, including Athletic World and Stadium Events for the NES.
As the 80s decade wore on, Bandai became one of Japan's most valuable brands, especially for gaining the right to produce toys that spell from various TV series, including Daikaiju, Ultraman, Super Robot, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Power Rangers, Gundam, and many others.
In January 1997, Bandai was in talks with Sega about a possible merger. A $1 billion stock swap bid was put in for the merger, where both companies would have to dissolve in order to merge successfully. Around the same time, Bandai suffered a dramatic decline in sales, resulting in a ¥9 billion loss from the company. By October 1997, both Bandai and Sega decided not to merge with each other, but instead, Bandai agreed to a business alliance with Sega.
===Namco===
Namco Limited was founded on June 1, 1955 by Masaya Nakamura, a rising businessman and son of a shotgun repair shop owner. To help get Japan back on track due to the struggling economy in the aftermath of World War II, Nakamura struggled to find employment with decent pay. He worked various jobs on order to generate revenue and eventually founded Namco. The company was established and headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. It would be until February 1966 that Namco would enter the gaming industry by developing games on am electro-mechanical board. The first game would be Periscope in 1966.
By 1971, Namco had only 10 employees, including Nakamura himself. It saw continued success with its arcade games, which had become commonplace in bowling allies and other known places. The company also established a robotics division to produce robots for entertainment centers and festivals, such as those that distributed pamphlets, ribbon making machines, and a robot named Putan that solved pre-built mazes. But in order to do so, Namco needed to recruit and hire more staff with blue-collar experience to keep the show going.
By 1977, Namco opened a division in Hong Kong named Namco Enterprises Asia, which maintained video game arcades and amusement centers. On September 1, 1978, the company established Namco America in Sunnyvale, California. Later in the same year, a light shooter game titled Shoot Away was released. A month after establishing a base in North America, Namco released Gee Bee. The game was designed by Toru Iwatani, who just recently joined Namco.
In 1979, Namco released Galaxian, which turned out to be a global success. It was one of the first video games to incorporate RGB color graphics, score bonuses, and a tilemap hardware model. In November 1980, Namco released Pac-Man, which turned out to be a global phenomenon and supermassive success. Pac-Man was a maze-navigating game where a yellow-chomping creature has to collect every pellet and not be captured by four ghosts. In 1981, Namco released Galaga, another successful work of gaming, which seemingly was an alternative from Galaxian. Namco also released Dig Dug the same year, a maze chaser that allowed players to create their own mazes. In 1983, Namco released Xevious, designed by new-hire Masanobu Endō. The game's early usage of pre-rendered visuals, boss fights, and a cohesive world made it an astounding success worldwide. Other releases in 1983 included Mappy and the racing game Pole Position.
In 1984, Namco released The Tower of Druaga, an action role-playing maze game, but it did not garner much success. Even so, the early 1980s decade was marred by a crash that would send finances to most video game developers downward. With the Famicom and NES steadily resurrecting the video game world, Namco released Pro Baseball: Family Stadium in 1986, which turned out to be a huge success. The game was known as R.B.I. Baseball in other countries except for the Asian region.
In 1987, Namco released a racing game called Final Lap. It was one of the most-profitable coin-operated games across the globe, remaining towards the top of sales charts for the rest of the decade. Next in line was the helicopter shooter Metal Hawk in 1988, fitted in a motion simulator arcade cabinet, but its high development costs only allowed a select number of copies to be sold worldwide. In 1989, Namco released Winning Run, becoming one of the earliest titles to utilize 3D polygonal graphics.
In 1991, Namco released Starblade, a 3D rail shooting game for the arcade. In 1993, Namco released Ridge Racer, a full-fledged 3D racing game for the arcade and later, the Sony PlayStation in 1997. The next arcade title was Time Crisis, which released for the arcade in 1995 and for the PlayStation in 1997. The 3D graphical success would continue with the release of a fighting game, Soul Calibur, released for the arcade in 1998.
With Japan in a recession, Namco began to struggle financially, and the company needed to rally to order to keep their business going. Its Cybertainment division had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leading to the closure of various arcades in affiliation with Namco. By the end of 1998, Namco saw a 26.3% drop in net sales, where the source proved to be low consumer spending. A further 55% drop was reported in November 1999 when its home console game output decreased. During the same year, Namco partnered with Monolith Soft, which was recently founded earlier in the year by Tetsuya Takahashi, who was formerly in league with Square.
The financial struggles for Namco grew even worse in the beginning of 2000. The next year, with the forthcomings of the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube, Namco underwent rigorous restructuring to increase its income. In 2005, Namco released Mario Superstar Baseball for the GameCube, which turned out to the be the first Mario game of any kind developed by the company. It was originally slated that Camelot Software Planning was doing the development, but Namco did it instead. Mario Superstar Baseball turned out to be hugely successful, and many sources projected that Namco developed the game as an honor in Super Mario Bros. and other NES launch titles saving the 1983 game crash.
==Merger as one==
In early 2005, Namco began merger talks with Bandai, a toy and anime company. Namco's advisors were also critical of Bandai for focusing on promotion and marketing over quality. As Namco's financial state continued to deteriorate, the likelihood for the merger inched closer. Bandai's offer was accepted on May 2, with both companies stating in a joint statement that their financial difficulties were the key reason for the merger.
The merger was finalized on September 25, 2005. In a joint statement, the newly merged company as one cited Japan's decreasing birth rates and advancements in technology as the reason for the merge, and to increase their relevance to newer audiences. Both companies worked independently under the newly formed Bandai Namco Holdings until March 31, 2006, when their video game operations were merged to form Namco Bandai Games.
==References==
Category:Gaming YouTubers
Category:News YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2006
Category:Japanese YouTubers