Namco Bandai recently posted its financial results for the first half of FY2011, a period running April - September. The results don't look too hot on paper -- the company's "Content" division (which encapsulates its console games branch) reported total sales of ¥7,145 billion ($879 million), while the company as a whole ended up with a net loss of ¥1.93 billion ($24 million). However, when compared to the ¥6.04 billion ($74 million) in net losses the company suffered during the first half of FY10, these figures are ... well, significantly less terrible.
The company's biggest seller released in the current fiscal year was the licensed adaptation of the animated film Despicable Me, which moved 390,000 copies during the first half. Trailing close behind was Dead to Rights: Retribution at 350,000 copies sold. Imagine what kind of a sales powerhouse Namco would have on its hands if Universal ever did an animated movie about a young boy and his insatiable, murderous dog.
Reader Comments (30)
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 9:35PM wcarnation said
What happened to Tekken and Pac-Man?
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 9:51PM Mischief805 said
@wcarnation Tekken Came out in November.. i don't think pac-man has come out yet..
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Posted: Nov 6th 2010 9:58PM TiredofSoopid said
Namco just rehashes old titles and doesn't come out with anything new.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 10:01PM shinkie said
Can we finally get the localized PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia? I'm guessing no, since they won't make much out of it now.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 10:37PM thisredengine said
@shinkie
This didn't take long. Every Namco story, the japanophiles come out of the woodwork to whine about untranslated Tales games.
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This didn't take long. Every Namco story, the japanophiles come out of the woodwork to whine about untranslated Tales games.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 1:24AM R Planteer said
@thisredengine
Except that the game is already translated and out on the 360.
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Except that the game is already translated and out on the 360.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 7:44AM thisredengine said
@R Planteer
Partially. It would be tough to bring back all the original cast again to dub the new parts. Of course, Atlus did it for Persona 3, so who knows.
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Partially. It would be tough to bring back all the original cast again to dub the new parts. Of course, Atlus did it for Persona 3, so who knows.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 10:06PM Undying said
Have they even released a game recently? Last one i bought was ToV.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 10:18PM bargaingamer said
dead to right wasn't that amazing game so no suprise it sold so badly....people keep saying localizing ToV but tales games never been to popular in America, they probably sell a few thousand copies on the ps3.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 10:38PM Nordoyle said
@bargaingamer Gine You'd think with the lack of JRPGs or any kind of RPG in this console gen you would think there would be more of a demand. More so with FF13 being an action adventure than a RPG
Releasing ToV on the PSN for say $30-40 would probability net them a huge boost in sales and a nice profit with little marketing.
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Releasing ToV on the PSN for say $30-40 would probability net them a huge boost in sales and a nice profit with little marketing.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 11:24PM This Little Man Says His Name Is said
@Nordoyle
Did you just say lack of any RPGs in this Gen?
What Gen of consoles are you playing on.
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Did you just say lack of any RPGs in this Gen?
What Gen of consoles are you playing on.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 11:35PM Jack Kevorkian said
@bargaingamer I think eternal sononta did fairly poorly on the playstation if that's an indication. I could be wrong.
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Posted: Nov 6th 2010 11:49PM Nordoyle said
@This Little Man Says His Name Is
Compared to every other console gen we got almost nothing in comparison more so on the ps3 and the ones that we do got where rushed or poorly done. I am not counting anything that is on the pc like bioware games and oblivion.
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Compared to every other console gen we got almost nothing in comparison more so on the ps3 and the ones that we do got where rushed or poorly done. I am not counting anything that is on the pc like bioware games and oblivion.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 12:08AM bargaingamer said
@Nordoyle
the reason why rpg are not so popular right now is because it dominated for two generation of console. On top of that most developer move on to hand held games since it cheaper to develop games on and less time consuming.
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the reason why rpg are not so popular right now is because it dominated for two generation of console. On top of that most developer move on to hand held games since it cheaper to develop games on and less time consuming.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 10:46PM Kirkpad said
The last Namco game I bought was Katamari Forever, that was a while ago I guess.
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 11:08PM Milf Biggenson said
Maybe if Namco would finally smarten up and release Namco Museum for every system ever created. Oh wait....
Posted: Nov 6th 2010 11:11PM Jack Kevorkian said
Used to be my favorite company in their Katamari heydays but they never could hack the transition to online gaming. No talent netcoders at Namco.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 12:08AM SuperWoody64 said
@ccc
Just slap Tekken tag on XBLA with online support that is actually good and I could see them selling a million. It could be a good teaser for tekkenTag2 due out in japan in arcades next year. What a great way to make money namco, in the arcades...in 1995.
Just slap Tekken tag on XBLA with online support that is actually good and I could see them selling a million. It could be a good teaser for tekkenTag2 due out in japan in arcades next year. What a great way to make money namco, in the arcades...in 1995.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 12:15AM Milf Biggenson said
"Imagine what kind of a sales powerhouse Namco would have on its hands if Universal ever did an animated movie about a young boy and his insatiable, murderous dog."
BTW that's why I like this site. Griffin - that was a great line.
BTW that's why I like this site. Griffin - that was a great line.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 1:05AM KaBob799 said
A Katamari game for 3DS would probably help sales =p
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 3:16AM garnsr said
I assume Enslaved is included in this, but maybe not. Like most of the others here I think of Namco games as pretty Japanese, but they have branched out into more Western games lately.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 2:59PM blahblah55 said
@garnsr
Which is a very brave thing to do.
...has a Western developer ever tried branching into the Japanese market in the same fashion?
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Which is a very brave thing to do.
...has a Western developer ever tried branching into the Japanese market in the same fashion?
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 8:54AM SEGA Scream said
Namco Bandai can easily recover its losses. All it has to do is build a giant Katamari and roll up Wall Street. The King would be pleased.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 10:28AM Lerkero said
The fact that Despicable Me is Namco's biggest seller either says a lot about the modern consumer of videogames or a lot about the quality of Namco games.
Maybe Namco just needs a little better marketing.
Maybe Namco just needs a little better marketing.
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 2:56PM blahblah55 said
@Lerkero
Namco Bandai often creates games for specific audiences, it's well advertised to those audiences: However, many of these games rarely deliver something new when it comes to their sequels.
...so their first game sells, but there's hardly a reason to purchase the sequels.
(There's also the fact that they love switching console exclusivity for every other game... and the other consoles get screwed over for that)
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Namco Bandai often creates games for specific audiences, it's well advertised to those audiences: However, many of these games rarely deliver something new when it comes to their sequels.
...so their first game sells, but there's hardly a reason to purchase the sequels.
(There's also the fact that they love switching console exclusivity for every other game... and the other consoles get screwed over for that)
Posted: Nov 7th 2010 5:01PM LittleMofreaky said
Does anyone else feel like Bandai doesn't like releasing games in North America? Like why on earth haven't we gotten ToV on PS3 yet?
Posted: Nov 8th 2010 7:51AM Assassin said
@ccc
What?
What?






