Bandai Namco partners with Roadhouse for new mobile IP

The House of Pac-Man just gobbled up a new mobile deal.

Bandai Namco is working with mobile developer Roadhouse Interactive on an unnamed “character-based builder-battle” role-playing game set in a new fictional universe. The deal is important for Bandai Namco as it gives it another chance to grow its business in the mobile market, which could hit $25 billion in worldwide revenues by the end 2014, according to market researcher Newzoo.

The Vancouver-based and privately-owned Roadhouse Interactive has previously released Red Bull Air Race, a mobile game with over five million downloads, according to a press release sent to GamesBeat from Bandai Namco. Roadhouse has also worked on mobile games like Warhammer 40,000: Carnage and Food Battle.

Bandai Namco has previously released mobile games of its own, including the racer Drift Spirits and mobile versions of its popular Tales role-playing game series.

“We decided to work with Roadhouse as part of our ongoing expansion into Western game markets because they have a great understanding of building quality mobile games, as well as a great track-record in creating new IP,” executive vice president of Bandai Namco Studios Vancouver Inc. Atsuo Nakayama noted in the press release. “This project is innovative in that it blends the deep monetization design that has been proving so successful in our projects in Japan with a whole new story and IP crafted here in Vancouver.”