DeNA just announced it will establish a joint venture with video game powerhouse Bandai Namco Games on October 1. The new company, which will be called BDNA, will be based out of Tokyo and capitalized at 100 million yen (US$1.3 million).
The idea is to combine Bandai Namco’s (decade long) expertise in making video games with DeNA’s expertise in making social games. BDNA will be 75% owned by Bandai Namco and led by a mixed team of Bandai Namco and DeNA executives (new DeNA boss Isao Moriyasu, for example, will join the board).
Namco Bandai has been providing games to DeNA’s Mobage and Yahoo Mobage since July 2010. In July this year, the company announced its hit game Gundam Royal for Mobage on Japanese feature phones hit the 3 million player mark.
Apart from Mobage, Bandai Namco is also producing games for consoles, Japanese feature phones (i.e. for i-mode) and iOS devices.
