In October last year, Bandai Namco - the Japanese video game publisher responsible for series like Pac-Man, Tekken and Dark Souls - announced it would be changing its company logo.
This change was scheduled to come into effect this year, and it's now officially happened as of the beginning of April. The new logo can be seen on the company's website, products, YouTube and its social media accounts across Facebook and Twitter.
Here it is:
"New year company logo has changed"
The logo expresses the fusion of Bandai Namco and reflects the company's new purpose "fun for all into the future":
"Fun for All into the Future - Bandai Namco exists to share dreams, fun and inspiration with people around the world. Connecting people and societies in the enjoyment of uniquely entertaining products and services, we’re working to create a brighter future for everyone."
"The speech bubble also represents Japan’s manga culture that has become so popular everywhere. The logo stands for our determination to communicate with fans worldwide, to connect with our fans, and to create entertainment unique to Bandai Namco."
“For the motif colour, we sent questionnaires to employees around the world to gather their thoughts about words that express images associated with the aims of the Group. From among the words that were frequently mentioned, we selected candidate colours through scientific methods linking words with colours. From among these candidates, we selected a bright red colour that creates an impression that is enthusiastic, fun, active, and bold.”
What do you think of this new look Bandai Namco logo? Are you a fan? Leave a comment down below.
Comments 73
It looks too generic.
It's bland but never really understood the outrage. Not like logo design matters much anyway and the weird multicolored bubbles they had before didn't look very good either.
how many times have they done this?
its quite a bit
Nothing says fun and entertainment like a… square speech bubble?
It would be better if Pac Man was underneath the speech bubble. That way it looks like Pac Man is saying “Bandai Namco”. Pac Man represents the fans conveying enthusiasm for the brand.
Millions were spent to create this...
How many trees died to make this? Booo..
It looks like a speech bubble. Now when they put that logo in the front cover of whatever game it is, the character shown will look like they are shouting the company name which I had to say would be quite clever for marketing perhaps.
@E_Gadds_Garage : I think incorporating Pac-Man and Tamagotchi would have been a step in the right direction as those two are arguably Bandai's most beloved IP.
Extremely ugly logo. They had such a cool and iconic one before.
@dojmin : I agree. The old red logo was simple, but distinct.
Thanks I hate it! Like damn just can anyone tell me what was wrong with the old one? Nothing, a nice orange with a very poppy logo, but no, it’s just too flash huh!
What does Bandai Namco have to do with manga? Do they side-publish or something?
I thought the Pac-Man pic was the new logo. I was like, wow, that’s cool. I click the article and see the official. I’m like, oh…ok. 🤷🏿♂️ 😂
Still worse than the classic orange, but at least it's better than that light purple... thingy
Well, Namco are known for some great games so let's hope it becomes an iconic logo like before. Time will tell.
@BloodNinja Bandai most definitely puts out a lot of manga as well as anime, more than enough than to be considered an "on the side business." Their in-house anime studio, Sunrise, makes all the anime for Gundam and PreCure, which are both way bigger in Japan than in the states. Additionally, they publish a lot of the big video game adaptations of Shonen Jump manga - namely Dragonball and Naruto.
This feels like a misstep. It's too bland and unmemorable.
It's whatever, but in related opinions, if you have to awkwardly slap two company names together Namco Bandai has a better ring to it
All Logos should be done on MS paint from now on.
Can it be any blander? But I love the interpretation such logos get to justify how mediocre they look. No one, really no one will think about the things the creators and holder of the logo invoke when justifying a certain design, haha.
Boring Logo, i am looking forward when this flat trend is ending, i do not like it.
Wow pretty boring wonder how much this cost
Don't let this bad logo redesign distract you from the bigger issues.
#FreeMsPacMan
I hate how all new logos are basically downgraded and simplified versions of themselves. Like what the hell has happened to the Pringles logo? And there are numerous more examples of this happening.
Someone was probably paid a hefty sum for this design.
It's really similar to the Nintendo logo. But not as good.
For all intents and purposes, this isn't a "bad" logo. It's functional. I'll work better in black and white compared to the old logo and it's much more legible... but that's about it. What it gained in functionality it lost in personality. That's not a win. To me, that's a step down from what it was.
@Lizuka "Not like logo design matters much anyway"
Hooooooooooold up. I'm going to need to stop you right there. Logos are one of the single most important aspects of a company and brand. The logo drives product design, the culture of a company, and gives people a symbol to what they love. Can you imagine if Nike didn't have the swoosh or if McDonald's didn't have the M? Heck, Nintendo's logo is so strong that it can be displayed with every product they create without feeling out of place or breaking their image. A good logo is essential. A bad logo literally changes the face of a company and will influence its products for the foreseeable future.
You have every right to not care about logos, but holy crap, I'm sorry, no. Logos are important.
Looks like the a logo you would see at a gas station.
A logo that screams "We've given up trying to make anything new. Here's Pac-Man again."
#notmybandainamcologo
I like it a lot more than the old wobbly orange and yellow blobs thing, that always looked out of place. I actually prefer the stacked version, which also makes it look less like they were trying to imitate the Nintendo logo.
Individually Bandai and Namco have nice logos, especially Bandai in my opinion. They really could have just stacked them as they were and it would have looked great!
Oh yeah, the one of the most garbage logo redesigns. I will never understand the simplification of corporate logos and I really hate this trend.
They're preparing the merging with Nintendo so they make their logo to look like the Nintendo logo.
@B_Lindz this, it’s just so true, logos make all the difference.
The original Namco/Namcot one from the early 90's was really iconic. It's a small thing but it's also actually not
As soon as I saw the logo I knew there was going to be outrage from lots of people
I'm happy they changed the colour at least. The fushia speech bubble in the old logo made it look like they were a mobile network rather than a video game company.
Such a sad, hollow design. As a graphic designer myself, I have to say the old one was warm and so much more inviting, with very pleasant use of colour and shapes. This one just screams cold and corporate to me.
I kind of like it. It's simple.
@Lizuka While the logo is indeed "eh" and I don't feel too much need to feel outraged about it, saying that logo design doesn't matter much is probably one of the most misinformed things you could say in regard to literally any company--
I was about to go on but I just checked again and can see that someone's already told you exactly why so I won't repeat it.
But yeah, logos have a HUGE importance in a company, it's structure and possible success. That's a historic fact.
I don't like change!
I gotta say, it's not bad.
@Gs69 anywhere between 100 and 250k depending on the abject, time taken, seniority of design staff, asset creation, brand guideline book, revisions etc. might be less of f it’s a design firm that they currently retain or if it was doe in house.
Personally I like it.
I also think . . . what a logo means to us can be based off of what the company (and it's people) do.
If Bandai Namco do more good than bad, then we transfer that feeling to the logo. If we feel they make good games, then that logo represents good games.
It looks like a messaging app logo.
Looks like a bit of a waste of time for ol' Bandai Namco. Sorry BN. Would have loved a Pac Man type logo, ha.
I mean..... it looks fine? not awful but not that creative either
Lousy logo! Lousy logo!
"The logo stands for our determination to communicate with fans worldwide, to connect with our fans, and to create entertainment unique to Bandai Namco."
Laughs in Digimon Survive and Tales of... Fandom
Yep, still not a fan with their new logo.
they should leave the bandai off and just call it NAMCO. Big red letters.
I've never heard anyone speak passionately about their love for bandai, ever. I know they've been around forever but they are about as C grade of a publisher i can imagine.
No. Don't turn me to an oversimplified logo!
@kenyowa Haha, I never knew. Thanks!
@KIRO doesn’t seem worth it what a waste of time and money
@Specter_of-the_OLED But wouldn’t the logo be at the bottom of the cover?
“ The logo expresses the fusion of Bandai Namco and reflects the company's new purpose ‘fun for all into the future’”
No it doesn’t
It looks fine.
I don't think their previous logo was particularly good looking, but at least it was distinct and already well known among gamers. While this logo doesn't look bad by any means, it does look a bit generic.
Just make Klonoa 3 and I won’t care what the logo looks like. Thank you.
It's fine. I have nothing bad or great to say.
Bandai Namco logo says, "We're nintendo's crowbar - the only weapon you'll keep for the apocalypse."
The C should've been Pac-Man.
@BloodNinja They are involved in a lot of merchandising
This trend of over stylizing logos has to stop.
On the other hand it reflects that most modern companies are a ghost or shell of what they used to be and represent, really well.
Removed - inappropriate
@khululy No. Kidding. They show themselves becoming more corporate, almost always in bad ways.
Maybe this is too frugal on my end, but I get the feeling using multiple eras of logos for different things may be an ideal solution. Keep a middle era one most of the time, older ones for unique, limited-time events or products, even internal use, and newer ones for...I don't know, international or extremely kid-friendly stuff? Even that feels patronizing, so maybe not for that, but you get what I mean, using different logos from the past, occasionally new ones, all over time for various kinds of purposes, while having a main one the overwhelming majority of the time.
Unless some at these companies are so cynical that they're self sabotaging on purpose, it helps boost nostalgia of the past times with those brands to an even more unhealthy degree, but it at least turns attention towards smaller, independent, and preferably better and more ethical, moral groups than the "Mega Corp" overlords.
I still hate it. The old logo had way more personality.
@Erigen well specially after Elden Rings i'm sure they can afford it. Namco is no1 japan developer (after Nintendo, Sony)
@dimi FromSoftware developed Elden Ring, Bandai Namco only published the title.
Also:
Sega?
Square-Enix?
Capcom?
I don't have exact figures, but I'm fairly certain these companies are larger or the very least near equal to Bandain Namco.
And, you clearly missed the point of the comment.
@Erigen actually its
Japanese market cap
Bandai Namco ¥7823, cap of ¥1.74T
Capcom ¥7200, cap of ¥975.21B
Konami ¥6500, cap of ¥932.75B
Koei Tecmo ¥6580, cap of ¥850.58B
Square Enix ¥6350, cap of ¥778.08B
Sega Sammy ¥1752, cap of ¥446.43B
international
Bandai Namco: $15.44bn
Konami: $6.09bn
Square Enix: $5.59bn
Capcom: $4.60bn (or 4,9 in others)
Sega: $3.73bn
@dimi That's great. But the wealth of the company was never the point to begin with.
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