Namco Bandai to open shop next week

SINGAPORE — Japanese game maker Namco Bandai today (Jul 24) gave media a brief tour of its local office.

Located at 21 Media Circle, it is due to officially open on Aug 1. Division Manager, Amusement Machine Group 2, Makoto Ishii said the first order of business is to understand the Asian market before committing on any projects. However, he let slip the Singapore office will be working on an original Arcade game. When asked why the company would start with an Arcade game, Mr Ishii said : “We really, really want to do it.”

The company, famous for its Pacman and Gundam franchise, said the Singapore base is to help the company expand globally. “Having achieved No 1 game maker status in Japan, the company wants to expand globally with the Singapore office as its springboard,” said Mr Kazuki Eitaki, Senior VP of Namco Bandai Corporate through a translator. The company also shared that it had attained record profits for the last year.

The game maker will start with a team of 20 personnel, including expats from its Japan office as well as 10 recruits from the recently shuttered LucasArts Singapore. Namco Bandai hopes to fill its 52-capacity office within three years, said Mr Eitaki. Pressed to share details about the new title, Mr Ishii said: “In order to create a new game, we must first understand the market. But, typically, a game title will need about three years before they can make any announcements. For now, it’s all hush-hush.”

Mr Ishii also said he was impressed with the level of talent found in Singapore. “I realise people in Singapore can draw very well, and are able to speak English and Mandarin and are good communicators. Perhaps they can help us expand the business.” The company also expressed interest in working with educational institutions here to develop games in Singapore. For now, it is still too early to share what plans the company has but it expects to do a lot more activities, shared Mr Ishii.