Namco Bandai eyes Euro domination

Japanese giant Namco Bandai has its eye on a top five market share position in Europe, following the completion of its buyout of Atar’s PAL distribution business.

The new company is tasked with growing Namco’s established franchises, including Tales of Symphonia, Tekken and Katamari, in Europe, and wants to be amongst the Top Five distributors in every region
it operates in.

For some time Namco Bandai Games Europe has wanted to make a bigger impact on the European market with the objective of becoming a stronger global force in video games,” Namco Bandai Partners vice president Olivier Comte told MCV.

In the context of the successful PAL distribution relationship they enjoyed with Atari over a number of years, when the opportunity arose for them to purchase the PAL distribution operation it was something that was clearly very interesting to them.

The deal equips Namco Bandai Games Europe with all the tools they need to grow their boxed goods business in all the PAL territories.”

The firm has already signed several key European distribution agreements with publishers such as Bethesda and Monte Cristo, and is on the hunt for more partners.

Namco Bandai Partners’ aim is to achieve a top five distribution market share as soon as possible in all the territories where we operate,” continued Comte.

To achieve this, we will leverage the Namco Bandai portfolio and our agreements with third party publishers such as the recent deal struck with Bethesda. We expect to be working with other publishers in the near future and will also be working hard to grow the relationships we already have.”