In an interview with gamesindustry.biz the EU CEO of Bandai Namco talks about the massive success of Elden Ring in 2022, and his vision for the future of the industry-leading publisher heading into the future as 2023 comes to a close.
Mr. Muller states that he’s pleased with how much of a success FromSoftware’s Elden Ring was, and that the sales from that game placed high expectations upon FromSoftware’s next title, Armored Core 6, expectations that it seems to have easily reached, with the mecha game reporting great sales numbers.
But despite FromSoftware’s incredible recent track record Mr. Muller goes on record to say that they won’t be neglecting their other IPs and publishers, instead looking towards how diverse their future games are, with the soon-to-be-released Tekken 8 being the cornerstone of their anticipated releases.
[Tekken] has sold more than 50 million copies as an IP, and Tekken 7 sold ten million copies. So, it’s going to be great, it’s going to be big. [It] really takes the fighting genre to a new level… This is as good as it gets in terms of making the best of Unreal Engine, and being able to polish the game to a level where visually, it looks stunning. We have big expectations [for] Tekken 8.
He goes on the state that Bandai Namco is looking to expand more outside the West in terms of developers, citing Germany’s Limbic, Europe’s Supermassive, and Canada’s Reflector as Western-based studios that Bandai Namco will be working with in the future, but also stating that he’s keeping things cautious, and that they won’t be pumping billions of dollars into any single project, instead focusing on smaller high-quality projects such as Little Nightmares.
“We’re doing that with our own studios, Limbic [in Germany], Reflector in Canada, and also the studio partners that we have in Europe, [like] Supermassive. So, in that space, we’re looking for successful but careful initiatives. We’re not going to invest $150 million on the next AAA game for a Bandai Namco IP in the West. We’re going to build on small but secure successes, such as Little Nightmares [and] future games that we have with Limbic as well.”
Another point of interest would be the state of Gundam. Possibly Bandai Namco’s most iconic IP, the mecha anime has had a bit of trouble getting a foothold in the video game industry as of writing, with Gundam Battle Operation 2 having a tough time with its Steam release, Gundam Evolution even being set to shut down by the end of the year. But Mr. Muller is optimistic about the future of the property, saying that Gundam Evolution was a big learning experience for Bandai Namco and that Gundam definitely has a future that they’re excited to explore.
It’s always interesting to see how these titans of the industry handle the visions for their future. With the recent huge successes of Bandai Namco in the past few years and with hotly anticipated titles such as Tekken 8 and the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, it seems their future is brighter than ever.