Elden Ring has proven to be a huge success for FromSoftware and its publisher Bandai Namco. It is Bandai Namco’s fastest-selling game and has reached 16.6 million units sold worldwide since June. FIFA 22 and Pokemon Legends: Arceus have been sold across Europe, while Bandai Namco CEO Arnaud Muller relishes its success, which has a strong influence on the Souls genre.
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However, in an interview with GamesIndustry, the CEO mentioned that Elden Ring was not the Japanese publisher’s first global hit, referring to the international popularity of the Tekken series. The publisher’s strategy is to release new games, but Elden Ring was a new series.
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“Dark souls are always seen as a difficult task [series] and Elden Ring is an extremely difficult game. I think with the work we’ve done to explain to our fans how they can experience this new adventure, this new game has reached a wide audience and made it more accessible,” Muller said. “It’s a combination of type and position.” And I think the results worked well.
Bandai Namco was the first to take the opportunity to create a new IP for half of its games over an entire year. Due to the game industry’s growth towards acquisitions, the Japanese publisher may find several A-partners. also expanded its partnership with Supermassive, which is the company that was acquired earlier this year by Nordisk. However, Muller said the takeover of Supermassive does not influence the relationship.
The CEO also asked to comment on the wave of acquisitions happening in the industry. Muller said the scale of acquisitions “doesn’t affect some smaller publishers because they can access the best studios in the world.”
“But we are at Bandai Namco with the financial means to secure these partnerships. We are working on a number of measures to protect these partnerships’ first option rights, intellectual property ownership and minor stakes in these studios. So there are ways to secure the relationship,” he continued.
Muller said the publisher has always been platform-agnostic, after commenting on Microsoft’s merger with Actitition Blizzard. He wanted to stay in this direction. “We want our IPs and our games to be available to as many gamers as possible, no matter what they’re playing.”
This is an important point that Muller gives. While big companies like Take-Two and Embracer Group are buying up more developers, investments and acquisitions from big companies like Sony, Microsoft and Tencent are making the industry more rigid and less free. A smaller developer is important, and creative teams can find great deals and partner partners.
Likewise, smaller publishers should be able to locate the studios they want to work with so they can contribute new ideas and contribute to their portfolios. In a world of changing fish, publishers without the resources of Bandai Namco could lose their competitive edge and eventually become takeover targets themselves and solve this problem. As Muller says, the more platform games there are, the more players have access to them. Growing industry consolidation will not mean otherwise.