https://ift.tt/Lmbj6Bp Namco Builds Its Own $130 Million Metaverse – Can It Boost Its IP Value?

Bandai Namco has disclosed plans to create a metaverse in order to improve its customer relationships. The strategy was unveiled alongside the company’s new mid-term plan, which outlines is three-year vision.

This initiative is expected to cost the company approximately $130 million.

Bandai Namco’s goal is to build communities around the brand and its fans, as well as communities around the IP metaverse. It will eventually establish long-term, complex frameworks through these communities and content, and Bandai will place a premium on the quality of those connections.

Bandai Namco will significantly increase the long-term value of the intellectual property by pursuing this strategy.

Bandai Namco Builds Metaverse Portfolio

Bandai Namco is investing heavily in the foundation and development of this intellectual property (IP) virtual realm in order to make this IP metaverse a reality.

This new metaverse is a component of the Japanese company’s “IP Axis” strategy, which aims to boost fan engagement with its brands.

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According to the company’s blueprint, they anticipate virtual places that will enable consumers to experience a diverse range of entertainment via an IP axis, as well as frameworks that leverage Bandai Namco’s unique characteristics to integrate physical goods and places with digital aspects.

The Metaverse: A Primary Initiative

Bandai Namco views this metaverse shift as critical to its digital business strategy, identifying the virtual domain as a primary initiative.

Bandai Namco has a diverse portfolio of IPs that could be used in their latest endeavor, including Dark Souls and the upcoming Elden Ring, the Dark Pictures Anthology, Soul Calibur, the Tales series, and a slew of licensed manga, anime, and other certified arcade classics.

Additionally, Bandai Namco’s new corporate logo, which was initially unveiled in October 2021, appears to have been slightly changed. The magenta-colored speech bubble pattern surrounding the corporate name has been replaced with a red one.

As the Japanese company noted in October, “the magenta color chosen for the motif not only reflects variety, but also creates a lively and cheerful image that is easy to recreate.”

The new corporate logo will be unveiled in April of this year to coincide with the start of the new mid-term plan.

Meanwhile, as part of its efforts to “maximize IP value,” Bandai Namco anticipates spending an additional 25 billion yen (or $216 million) on new IP development, “groupwide IP initiatives,” and technology research.

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