Bandai Namco Leisure invests in additional U.S. sport startups

Bandai Namco’s 021 Fund stated it has invested in two further U.S. sport startups — Flickplay and Code Attraction — as a part of its strategic funding plan.

The Japanese-based firm, a division of world sport large Bandai Namco Leisure, is investing in sport startups within the U.S. regardless of a latest spate of gaming layoffs and a slowdown in gaming enterprise capital investments.

This strategic funding aligns with Bandai Namco’s overarching imaginative and prescient of fostering deep, numerous relationships with followers, companions, staff, and communities worldwide underneath the theme “Enjoyable for All into the Future.”

“We proceed to put money into the U.S. market and startups in America as a result of we predict the U.S. is like the middle of superior know-how and in addition the middle of leisure,” stated Yoyo Yang, chief of the company planning unit at Bandai Namco Leisure, in an interview with GamesBeat. “That’s why we make investments although the setting proper now for fundraising and startups shouldn’t be that good. We’re dedicated to the group, and we proceed to put money into the great firms. All of those options in these firms are centered on the group itself.”

She famous that Code Attraction’s Magma is targeted on supporting creators all around the world, whereas Flickplay is targeted on communities round digital and bodily characters. Beforehand, Bandai Namco additionally stated it invested in GGWP, which is targeted on lowering poisonous habits in communities.

“Bandai Namco Leisure is all about connecting with followers,” stated Karim Farghaly, senior vp of company improvement at Bandai Namco Leisure America, in an interview with GamesBeat. “We join with followers utilizing video video games. However we’re not a standard online game writer as we’ve got a fairly large toy enterprise and amusement enterprise. So we create a number of connections with followers with totally different media. That’s how we are able to lengthen IP worth and ship richer experiences to the fan. That is actually an extension of what we’re attempting to do by placing partnerships and investing in firms that can give us a possibility to attach with followers otherwise sooner or later.”

Farghaly stated Bandai Namco has invested traditionally in third-party sport studios or video games themselves, however these new investments are a lot wider in nature when it comes to partnering with startups.

Flickplay gives a singular service that intertwines digital toys with real-world experiences. Their “phygital” platform allows customers to buy digital toys from designated shops or places and interact in mini-games based mostly on these toys.

Moreover, these digital toys may be integrated into augmented actuality content material, encouraging social sharing and interplay amongst gamers. Flickplay relies in California and its CEO is Pierina Merino, who based the corporate in 2019. Bandai Namco invested within the seed spherical.

Code Attraction has a instrument for sport builders. It has created Magma, a cloud-based collaboration instrument facilitating seamless communication amongst a number of creators engaged on joint initiatives. Magma goals to not solely improve collaboration but additionally present creators with alternatives to showcase their work and discover employment inside a thriving group. Code Attraction relies in Texas and its CEO is Damian Kaczmarek. The main focus is on artists, groups and communities.

Kazuki Ikeda, assistant supervisor of the company planning division at Bandai Namco Leisure, stated in an interview with GamesBeat that the Flickplay platform helps you to buy digital toys after which commerce them with different customers or use them to purchase extra objects in a retailer.

“Lots of leisure actions have moved from the bodily house to the digital house. However on the identical time, we do really feel that due to that the way in which folks get worth in these precise bodily experiences have additionally elevated,” stated Ikeda. “As a fund, we need to discover methods of seamlessly connecting the digital realms with the bodily realms, and that’s why we invested on this firm.”

Ikeda additionally stated the corporate hasn’t slowed down its funding actions however is fixed revisiting its funding thesis to raised match the market scenario. The corporate continues to take a look at rising markets in addition to the immersion of bodily and digital applied sciences, he stated. It additionally seems to be for methods it will probably leverage its mental property and platforms.

The Bandai Namco Leisure 021 Fund’s give attention to investments that improve group engagement stands in step with their broader objectives of evolving the leisure panorama. This funding in U.S.-based firms follows earlier investments, demonstrating the corporate’s proactive stance in pursuing revolutionary companies and applied sciences each domestically and internationally, the corporate stated.

Bandai Namco Leisure CEO Nao Udagawa emphasised the fund’s dedication to cultivating a future the place leisure seamlessly integrates into folks’s each day lives, bridging the divide between bodily and digital realms.

The fund’s strategic strikes embrace a earlier funding in GGWP, a San Francisco firm leveraging AI-based moderation know-how to foster a safe and constructive gaming setting. Dennis “Thresh” Fong, a former esports celebrity, is CEO of GGWP. Again in March, Bandai Namco’s fund additionally invested in invested in DeepMotion based mostly in the US and SuperGaming based mostly in India.