To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Bandai and Namco’s merger, the company is planning on opening up the rights to their older IPs.
It was reported in Nikkei, a Japanese business newspaper, that Bandai Namco would open up the rights to their older video game titles, former arcade games that have since been remade for other consoles and handhelds systems. Similar to what Square Enix did with offering three of their older IPs for their Square Enix Collective, Bandai Namco wants to give other companies the chance to revive interest in these older titles.
No character supervision will be performed, so the companies that want to take advantage of new business plan can do nearly anything they want. Bandai Namco’s willing to support and let companies use their works even if they modify the characters, story, or music. They’re willing to accept any applications for this, but there’s one main condition that must be met. That is that the content must not be offensive or damage the reputation of the original work; if it is, the application will be turned down immediately.
The company will start taking applications for this new endeavor on April 1st, but for Japanese companies only. They’re thinking about extending the opportunity to western or foreign companies, but that will be done at a later time. Bandai Namco will receive a small percentage of whatever these games sell. The company’s also planning an advertising plan that will allow them to receive a small percentage of ad revenue from free-to-play games developed from this new business plan.
The games that Bandai Namco is giving access to are:
- Pac-Man
- Xevious
- Galaxian
- The Tower of Druaga
- Tower of Babel
- Dragon Buster
- Wonder Momo
- Galaga
- Battle City
- Valkyrie no Bōken (also known as The Adventure of Valkyrie)
- Yōkai Dōchūki (also known as Shadow Land)
- Wagan Land
- Dig Dug
- Star Luster
- Sky Kid
- Genpei Tōma Den
