Sony has announced that it has purchased 68 billion yen (~$464 million) of stocks in Bandai Namco, as well as signing a strategic partnership which cements the long relationship between the two companies.
Both companies have a long history of working together on games and other forms of media. Back in the 90s, Namco was one of Sony’s best partners with the likes of Tekken and Ridge Racer playing a bit part in PlayStation’s success.
“Bandai Namco and Sony have historically collaborated on various projects in the fields such as games, anime and music, and they plan to extend this collaboration to a broader range of areas,” reads he press release.
“The two companies intend to implement initiatives including the expansion of works as well as products and services based on IP developed by Bandai Namco, leveraging Sony’s strengths in areas such as the production and distribution of anime and other video content, as well as merchandising. They also plan to engage in detailed discussions regarding the joint development and promotion of IP such as anime and manga, in addition to planning and technical collaboration on experiential entertainment.”
Notice that last sentence, as it’s very important. As a game, I naturally want to focus on the videogame aspects of this deal, but much like Sony’s investment Kadokawa, anime and manga are the real focus for Sony.
This line from their joint statement sums it up: “Bandai Namco and Sony will focus on expanding the fan community for IP such as anime and manga around the world and strengthening engagement, particularly in the anime field where rapid market growth is anticipated.”
To put some of this into context, videogames accounted for roughly 33% of Bando Namco’s revenue in 2024. In 2023, though, those numbers were far higher thanks to the massive success of Elden Ring.
Notably, this is the second time in under a year that Sony has moved to establish a stronger presence in Japanese companies. At the end of 2024 they acquired a stake in Kadokawa, a major player in the anime space and 70% owner of FromSoftware. Sony expanded that stake to 10% earlier this year. Kadokawa is one of the biggest manga and anime publishers in the world.
Still, this partnership may open the door to more co-operation between the two companies in terms of videogames. After all, Bandai Namco has been publishing FromSoftware’s games for years now. Could we perhaps see more instances of timed exclusivity for Bandai Namco titles, for example?
With that said, keep in mind that this is Sony that has made the investment, and not SIE specifically, so it really isn’t geared toward videogames at all. However, a strong, more profitable Sony overall ia generally good news for PlayStation.