Bandai Namco, a game developer and publishing company involved in the production of toys from several intellectual properties (IPs), has revealed more information about its $130-million metaverse gambit. The company says this new initiative will be based on its Gundam IP, being one of the first instances in the announced IP Axis strategy of the company, which envisions a multi-IP hub of multiverses.
Bandai Namco Begins Building Its Metaverse With Gundam
Bandai Namco, a Japanese game developing and publishing company, has given more details about the future of its $130-million metaverse investment. The company has confirmed that the first IP that will receive the metaverse treatment will be Gundam, the popular giant robot universe with several videogames, manga, and anime adaptations. First being hinted at in an announcement last month, the company took advantage of the third Gundam conference to reveal this news worldwide.
According to Bandai Namco:
[This metaverse will be a] platform of opportunities for Gundam fans worldwide to come together to converse and connect in a variety of categories.
Fans of the franchise will be able to form part of different communities that include music, video games, anime, and even Gunpla, the models that mimic different robots present in the franchise.
Furthermore, the company also revealed that users will be able to scan their Gunpla models to be able to introduce them to the metaverse and face other Gunpla users in battle.
User Content Is King
Bandai Namco’s first metaverse instance will be used as a device to interest more companies to promote the entry of other companies into the Gundam market inside of the metaverse. In this way, other companies might have the opportunity of offering their Gundam-themed products with the approval of Bandai Namco.
However, the focus that Bandai Namco is putting on users is also significant in this upcoming system. According to the announcement, users will be able to produce their own Gundam content, too, in the form of customer-to-customer (C2C) business. This feature seeks to allow users to get revenue from their own creations, allowing for a sustainable economy established between content creators and consumers. On this, Bandai Namco stated it “expects that new Gundam businesses will be created and that this will lead to further expansion of Gundam IP co-created with fans.”
Other companies have also recognized the importance of rewards and user-generated content economies as a way of improving the longevity of a particular game proposal. This is the case with Yosuke Matsuda, president of Square Enix, who voiced his support for these new features in a letter written in January.
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