Nintendo found a winner when it started its Nintendo Direct broadcasts nearly 10 years ago. By revealing information about upcoming games in an online presentation, it offered a massively accessible format, and we've seen no end of competitors trying their own versions. Inside Xbox, Ubisoft Forward, Sony's State of Play... the list goes on, and (pun intended) Bandai Namco could be next.
"Bandai Namco Next" is a new trademark that was filed on December 29th with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. There's a lengthy list on what's covers, but outside of games, that notably includes online publications, eSports competitions, computer networks, movies and toys.
Trademarks don't necessarily mean anything will happen, but speculation has also been fuelled by an Elden Ring trailer leaking online yesterday. When taking into account Bandai Namco's upcoming restructure in April, it's possible that its incoming president Masaru Kawaguchi is also seeking a fresh approach.
There's certainly potential to such an idea, should the company go ahead with it. When you remember that Bandai Namco's portfolio covers franchises like Ace Combat, Dark Souls, Digimon, Pac-Man, Soulcalibur and Tekken, we'd be curious to see what it has planned.
Would you be interested in a Direct-style presentation from Namco? Let us know down below.
[source thegamer.com]
Comments 44
Youtubers and influencers everywhere waffling bull5hit for 10 minutes....”Switch Pro confirmed”
It's ironic that Nintendo set the trend for online Directs when their attitude towards online in general is so poor.
Oh Elden Ring, give me that and keep the rest :3
Mmmm give me Dark Souls 2 and 3!
Swonch Pro Deluxe Advanced CONFIRMED
To me Bandai Namco are a publisher who makes loads of games, but it’s not as easy to remember what the actually make like Square Enix or Capcom or Sega. Looking at stuff like Ni No Kuni, Tales, Tekken, Little Nightmares, and Tekken, maybe it’s because they’re good games but under shadowed by the games synonymous with those genres. Dark Souls is massive, but for some reason I forget it’s a Namco property.
Ridge Racer please
@MrGawain i see them as the kings of the arcade and the people that make anime games
So that whole article about hype is just thrown out the window.
Wish for Go Vacation 2 on Switch and Beatmania IIDX style rhythm game by Bandai Namco after Taiko no Tatsujin.
Tekken for Switch, pretty please!
A new Dragon Ball Xenoverse
Dragon Ball Z kakarot for Switch
more teals games for Switch
@Yanina yes please!
@ManaOwls also yes please!
I really want some HD remasters of the Ridge Racer and Ace Combat games.
I'd like HD Time Crisis too but I'm not sure how they'd handle the lack of a light gun without resorting to doing some sort of on-screen pointer controlled via gyro.
hopefully w better results than Anthem Next
New Baten Kaitos game.
Also Baten Kaitos and origins HD remasters
Tekken please. Been hoping for it since the day I got my Switch.
Would make sense with that Elden Ring leak. Maybe they can also put a date on Scarlet Nexus.
While it can be that it also could mean a paid subscription to their catalogue of games. Just saying...
@blockfight @ManaOwls Pleeease, even Wii U had a Tekken game! There's SUCH an obvious and huge gap in the Switch market for a proper 3D Fighter and with online play would be amazing.
Dark Souls Collection on the Switch to hold us over until Elden Ring
Auto Shortened to Bamco Next. Please lord bring us the next Ridge Racer, the Next Ace Combat (i loved infinity personally, 7 was a little meh), the Next Armoured Core. Likely it'll be more Dark Souls, but hope they do a few more new things aswell.
interesting but i hope you do not think about Elden Ring coming to Switch
How about Pac-Man World 2 HD + Blinky’s Fury?
"Bandai Namco Next" is actually evidence that the Bandai Namco logo is the next Smash character
Hopefully they announced the next major Tales game (not Tales of Arise) for Switch. Also this is the year they gonna give Switch more ports of last year's releases probably. Dragon Ball Z: KAKAROT and Tekken 7 would be nice. Also maybe the next Dark Souls Remastered as well.
If it means more Digimon Survive news then I’m all in.
@blockfight Namco and Capcom see their precision fighting game as esports title now so we probably won't see those on Switch any time soon. Esports games are made only for competitive players and they don't see a family console like the Switch as a competitive esports gaming platform which is lame cause people do play competitive games on the Switch too like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Ultra Street Fighter II, Samurai Shodown 7, Garou: Mark of the Wolve, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Shaolin vs. Wutang, ARMS, and Pokken Tournament.
surprising a lot of people actually say digimon is better than pokemon. so it might make it
@Ghost_of_Hasashi I remember in the first year of the Switch there was an article doing the rounds here about how Bandai couldnt get hold of dev kits to bring their games to Switch. That was 3 years ago now. Hopefully that's the only reason they've been slow to release something like Tekken and not the reason you mentioned.
Dark Souls 2 on Switch. Make it happen!
@blockfight That was one of the reason but that was then, right now they should had no problem since they were able to port Pokken Tournament to Switch. My guess is that they are waiting until all the DLCs are done before they would port it perhaps giving Switch owner the ultimate edition of the game, same probably for Soul Calibur 6 as well. Capcom had exclusivity with Sony on SFV so Street Fighter V won't be going anywhere but that still doesn't excuse them for not porting Ultra Street Fighter IV to Switch. That game was long pass and Switch could easily handle it perfectly.
I hope they announce something gundam related for the west on Switch.
For me this is kind of like whats happening to streaming services like Netflix right now. It was great when there was just Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu. But when every little company started breaking off to do their own thing, I became less interested.
I love the big Nintendo Directs. But as more companies break off and do their own thing, the Nintendo Directs become weaker and Im sure as hell not gonna make time to track every companies individual schedules for presentations. So its a lose lose for the companies, I feel like less eyes will be on their products.
more Gundam games pls
Imagine the Pac-Man World trilogy getting the 3D All Stars treatment.
Want Monster Party ported
I'm hoping it's about the new Tales of Arise
game (Huge fan of the "Tales of Series") that was supposed to come out late last year.
Dbz kakarot ported to switch please and thank you
New katamari damacy for switch plz
And tekken or soul calibur
To me, Bandai Namco is such a great company I would love to see what they would give us in a direct.. style.. thing.
Klonoa, Katamari Damacy, Tekken, More Pacman.
Wasn't Bandai Namco just getting a bunch of stuff trademarked not too long ago?
@Pac-Manny You know.. I'm not much of a battle royale kind of guy but Pac Man totally deserves a battle royale. Something similar to Tetris 99.
@Qphlat27 It happened😀
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