Namco-Bandai aims for massive overseas growth

Japanese media firms Namco and Bandai hope to grow their non-domestic sales to represent around half of their combined income in the years following their planned merger, with major overseas business expansion planned.

Speaking with Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun in an interview partially translated by US website GameSpot, Bandai president Takeo Takasu explained that the target oover the next three to five years is to raise the overseas sales ratio to 50 per cent.

Bandai presently makes 18 per cent of its revenue from overseas sales, while 20 per cent of Namco's business comes from outside Japan. The two firms plan to complete a merger in September, with Namco Bandai Holdings set to be the second largest game and toy firm in Japan after Sega Sammy Holdings.

"We plan to raise our overseas sales ratio to 50 percent, and we are aiming to become a global enterprise," Takasu told the newspaper. "After our merger, we will become a company that the world has never seen before. We will deal with anything from games, toys, [animated] movies, stationery, to amusement facilities."

" We will offer a wide choice of options for our customers when it comes to video games," he continued, "ranging from the high-tech next-generation game consoles to mobile phones."

As the first step in its overseas expansion, Bandai has begun selling its capsule toys - known as gashapon - through Namco's distribution network in North America, and hopes to gradually move them into retail outlets such as convenience stores and pharmacies as well as game-oriented outlets.

Bandai also plans to apply its significant prowess in the field of toys and merchandising to some of Namco's best-known character franchises, with Takasu mentioning Pac-Man specifically as a franchise which will make its way into the toy and stationery fields.

While Namco has a significant publishing presence in North America thanks to the Namco Hometek subsidiary, expansion in the important European market may prove more difficult for the merged company. Neither Namco nor Bandai has a significant presence in this territory, and Namco relies heavily on local firms to publish even its most high-profile titles in Europe.