Namco Bandai Partners

Last updated
Namco Bandai Partners S.A.S.
Formerly
  • Distribution Partners S.A.S. (2008–2009)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Publishing
FoundedSeptember 2008
Defunct1 July 2013;10 years ago (2013-07-01)
FateMerged with Namco Bandai Games Europe
Headquarters,
Owner Bandai Namco Holdings
Parent Atari Europe (2008-2009) [2]
Namco Bandai Games Europe S.A.S. (2009-2013)
Subsidiaries Namco Bandai Partners Australia
Namco Bandai Partners UK

Namco Bandai Partners S.A.S. (formerly Distribution Partners SAS) was a video game distribution company that was an amalgamation of several former Atari SA (formerly known as Infogrames Entertainment SA) offices located in PAL territories, which were acquired beginning in 2009 by Bandai Namco Holdings.

Contents

History

Atari and Namco had long maintained a cross-publishing relationship that can be traced back to the very origins of Namco, and Atari's liquidation of regional assets was a natural opportunity for Namco Bandai to gain a PAL distribution network.

On September 9, 2008, Infogrames and Namco Bandai Games Europe announced a new joint-venture known as Distribution Partners. The distribution arms of both businesses were regrouped into a standalone entity with exclusive physical packaged-goods distribution rights for video games produced by Namco Bandai and Infogrames within Infogrames European and Asian territories. Along the way, Namco Bandai's parent company acquired a 34% stake in Atari's European and Asian businesses. [3] The acquisitions came on the heels of Infogrames and Atari's financial difficulties, which had begun to snowball in 2006. The venture would trade worldwide, excluding North America and Japan. [4]

On March 25, 2009, Atari announced they would leave the European and Asian markets [5] and sell off their 66% stake in Distribution Partners within the next four months to Namco Bandai Games, although they would still retain a five-year distribution deal in the venture. This move was done so Atari could focus on the MMO market. [6] The purchase was completed on July 7, and Distribution Partners was renamed Namco Bandai Partners in immediate effect, alongside all of Atari's European and Australian distribution subsidiaries being renamed under the Namco Bandai Partners umbrella as well. [7] [8] Because of the existing distribute deal planned beforehand, Namco Bandai Partners would continue to distribute Atari's games, which included titles such as Champions Online . [9] and also distribute titles from other publishers, such as Cities XL from Monte Cristo. [4]

On April 16, 2010, it was announced that the company had signed an agreement deal with Sony Computer Entertainment to allow them to distribute and publish the game Demon's Souls for PAL-region territories. This followed news after Sony's European publishing division and Atlus, who published the game in North America, made announcements that they had no plans to bring the title over to PAL-regions. [10]

On 1 July 2013, Namco Bandai Partners merged its operations with Namco Bandai Games Europe, with the latter now handling distribution of games through both Europe and Australia. This was done out of the parent company's desire in merging its publishing and distribution divisions together to help unify the Namco Bandai brand. [11]

Titles

GameReleasePublisherPlatform(s)Source
Champions Online 4 September 2009 Atari Microsoft Windows [12]
Katamari Forever 18 September 2009 Namco Bandai Games PlayStation 3 [12]
Family Trainer: Extreme Challenge 25 September 2009 Namco Bandai Games Wii [12]
One Piece: Unlimited Cruise Episode 2: Awakening of a Hero 25 September 2009 Namco Bandai Games Wii [12]
Cities XL 8 October 2009 Monte Cristo [lower-alpha 1] Microsoft Windows [13]
Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo 30 October 2009 Namco Bandai Games Wii [12]
Tekken 6 30 October 2009 Namco Bandai Games PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [12]
Ghostbusters: The Video Game 6 November 2009 Atari Xbox 360, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS [14]
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World 13 November 2009 Namco Bandai Games Wii [12]
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 13 November 2009 Namco Bandai Games PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [12]
Star Trek Online 5 February 2010 Atari Microsoft Windows [15]
Project Runway 18 June 2010 Atari Wii [16]
Demon's Souls 25 June 2010 Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation 3 [10]
Test Drive Unlimited 2 11 February 2011 Atari Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [17]
Atari Greatest Hits: Volume 1 25 February 2011 Atari Nintendo DS [18]
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings 17 May 2011 CD Projekt Microsoft Windows [19]
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings 17 April 2012 CD Projekt Xbox 360 [20]
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D 26 October 2012 Atari Nintendo 3DS [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atari</span> Video gaming brand

Atari is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French company Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, USA in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namco</span> Japanese video game developer and publisher

Namco Limited was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, and Shanghai Namco in mainland China.

<i>Dig Dug</i> 1982 video game

Dig Dug is a maze arcade video game developed by Namco in 1981 and released in 1982, distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player controls Dig Dug to defeat all enemies per stage, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandai Visual</span> Defunct Japanese anime and distribution company

Bandai Visual Co., Ltd. was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Pictures</span> American television and film studio

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment through multiple platforms.

Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.

<i>Digimon World</i> 1999 video game

Digimon World is a video game by Bandai on the PlayStation, released in 1999, about the Digimon virtual pets. It was followed by various sequels released for the PlayStation and other platforms. The story focuses on a human brought to File City on File Island by Jijimon to save the island. Digimon have been losing their memories and becoming feral and the city has fallen into disarray. The goal of the player, who is represented by an unnamed young boy, is to save the island by helping Digimon recover their memory and return to the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandai Namco Holdings</span> Japanese entertainment holding company

Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. is a Japanese entertainment holding company founded in 2005 by the merger of Namco and Bandai. The company specializes in toys, video games, arcades, anime, restaurants, and amusement parks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bang Zoom!</span> American audio recording studio

Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio with its headquarters in Burbank, California, in Greater Los Angeles. It has worked on anime, video games, television series, feature films, and original animation projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandai Namco Entertainment</span> Japanese video game publisher

Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. is a Japanese multinational video game publisher owned by Bandai Namco Holdings. It was founded in 2006 as Namco Bandai Games Inc., following the 2005 merger of Namco and Bandai. Namco acquired Bandai's video game business division through a corporate split. In 2009, Bandai Namco Games absorbed Bandai Networks. It is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masaya Nakamura (businessman)</span> Japanese businessman (1925–2017)

Masaya Nakamura was a Japanese businessman and the founder of Namco. He was the company's president up until 2002, where he took a ceremonial role in its management. Following the formation of Bandai Namco Holdings, Nakamura would retain an honorary position in the video game division, Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Atari, Inc. is an American subsidiary and publishing arm of Atari SA. Formed in 1993 as GT Interactive Software Corp., the video game publishing arm of GoodTimes Home Video, the company was subsequently majority acquired by Infogrames in 1999, and later renamed to Infogrames, Inc. As part of Infogrames's company-wide re-branding following its 2001 acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, which owned the rights to the Atari brand, Infogrames, Inc. became known as Atari, Inc. in May 2003. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atari Interactive</span> American video game production and publishing company

Atari Interactive, Inc. is an American subsidiary of Atari SA, formerly known as Infogrames Entertainment SA. The company was originally founded by toy company Hasbro in 1995 as Hasbro Interactive, and was sold to Infogrames at the beginning of 2001.

<i>The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings</i> 2011 video game

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a 2011 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red, based on The Witcher series of fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. It is the sequel to the 2007 game The Witcher and the second main installment in The Witcher's video game series. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, OS X, and Linux.

<i>Cities XL</i> 2009 video game

Cities XL is a city-building video game developed by Monte Cristo as a sequel to their earlier title City Life. It was originally scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2009, but was eventually released on October 8, 2009. The game allowed players to play online and interact with others on massive persistent planets, and to work together by trading resources or building blueprints in order to satisfy the needs of city inhabitants. However, on March 8, 2010 the online service was closed and the game became single-player only.

Atari SA is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive.

References

  1. "Namco Bandai Partners - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg News .
  2. http://files.atari.com/corporate/0908-GB_annual%20report.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  3. "Infogrames/Namco Bandai Europe deal". 9 September 2008.
  4. 1 2 "Namco Bandai completes purchase of Atari's PAL distribution".
  5. "Atari to Leave Europe?". 14 May 2009.
  6. "Atari speeds up distribution sale to Namco Bandai". 25 March 2009.
  7. "Namco Bandai/Atari deal". 7 July 2009.
  8. "Namco Bandai Europe purchases PAL distribution from Atari". 7 July 2009.
  9. "Namco Bandai Partners reveals blistereing GamesCom 2009 line up". 10 August 2009.
  10. 1 2 "Demon's Souls formally dated in Europe for June 25 by Namco Bandai". 16 April 2010.
  11. Long, Neil (1 July 2013). "Namco Bandai completes merger of publishing and distribution businesses". Edge . Future plc. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Namco Bandai Partners reveals blistereing GamesCom 2009 line up". 10 August 2009.
  13. "Namco Bandai Partners to distribute Cities XL in UK". 8 July 2009.
  14. "Non-Sony Ghostbusters dated". 27 July 2009.
  15. "Learn About One of Star Trek Online's Primary Characters".
  16. "Project Runway : Premières images".
  17. "Test Drive Unlimited 2, other Namco Bandai games dated - QuickJump". June 28, 2010.
  18. "Namco dates Knight's Contract, God Eater". Eurogamer.net. 8 December 2010.
  19. "Namco Bandai - the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings". 5 November 2010.
  20. "Namco Bandai wins Witcher 2 suit against CD Projekt".
  21. "Namco and Atari bringing Rollercoaster Tycoon 3D to EU".
  1. Distributed in the UK, Nordic regions, Iberica, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. Monte Cristo handled distribution themselves in other European territories