Pac-Man and pals are now free agents in Japan. Sort of.
Bandai Namco announced its catalog IP open project, which would enable Japanese game makers access to some of the company’s most popular characters and properties, such as Pac-Man, DigDug, Xevious, Mappy, and Wonder Momo. This project begins in April, and it’s only available to Japanese creators, with the games created only coming to Japanese consumers. While it’s already one of the largest game publishers in Japan, this move will allow the company’s properties to show up on more platforms and devices, giving it further reach into the video game software industry, a market that game investment bank Digi-Capital says will reach $100 billion by 2017.
Here are the IPs that Bandai Nacmo will make available:
- Pac-Man
- Galaxian
- Xevious
- Mappy
- Galaga
- DigDug
- Tower of Duruga
- Battle City
- Star Luster
- Tower of Babel
- The Adventure of Valkyrie
- Sky Kid
- Dragon Buster
- Shadow Land
- Genpei Toma Den
- Wonder Momo
- Wagan Land
The company suggests phone and browser games as an approach for the use of its characters, and creators will only need to undergo a simplified process to be approved. It’s still working on the details of the submission process, as well as details on what platforms and business methods it will accept. It’s not clear yet how the company will make money from this project. Bandai Namco will update creators once these factors are decided.