Bandai Namco Entertainment

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese video game company, the result of a merger between Bandai and Namco in 2006.

The company is known for its Pac-Man, Tekken, and Ridge Racer franchises, among others. It also holds licenses for Japanese media including Gundam and Sword Art Online.

Namco Hometek and Bandai Games merged in 2006 to form Namco Bandai Games America. Later that year, European divisions also merged to create Namco Bandai Games Europe.

In 2008, Namco Bandai Games Europe partnered with Infogrames Entertainment SA and created Distribution Partners S.A.S. The company focused on combining Atari’s distribution network, and it held a 34% ownership stake in Atari Europe.

Following this, in 2009, Namco Bandai bought Atari’s stake in Distribution Partners for €37 million, and Atari’s European assets were absorbed by Namco Bandai. This led to Distribution Partners being renamed as Namco Bandai Partners, which took over Atari distribution operations outside of North America and Japan.