SAN JOSE, Calif. (Jan. 17, 2006) – Namco Networks, a leading publisher and developer of wireless games and content, today launched its latest series of videogame ringtones, available to subscribers of Namco’s ringtone service, PAC-MAN’s Arcade Corner™.
Exclusively available through PAC-MAN’s Arcade Corner, the new ringtones include sounds from Namco’s award-winning console phenomena, Katamari Damacy™ and its recently released sequel, We Love Katamari™. New ringtones from the hit games series Tekken®, Ace Combat™, and Time Crisis® are also available, along with ringtones from classics PAC-MAN®, Ms. PAC-MAN®, Galaga® and Sonic the Hedgehog by SEGA. PAC-MAN’s Arcade Corner distributes game ringtones from many of Namco’s other popular console and arcade games as well as from the games of other game publishers.
“Namco Networks recognizes the prevalence of arcade and video games in our culture and that consumers of mobile entertainment find value in and identify with these popular games,” said Scott Rubin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Namco Networks. “PAC-MAN’s Arcade Corner gives consumers the opportunity to personalize their mobile phone experience with their favorite video game sounds.”
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Jan. 9, 2006) – Namco Networks, a leading publisher and developer of wireless games and content, today announced the official establishment of NAMCO NETWORKS AMERICA INC. as the mobile-dedicated subsidiary for Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) Inc..
“While the wireless content division of Namco America has always been heavily involved in the publishing and development of mobile games, the establishment of this mobile-dedicated company allows us to concentrate exclusively on mobile content and be a leader in this rapidly growing and changing industry,” said Kenji Hisatsune, President, CEO and COO of Namco Networks. “Like Namco America before it, Namco Networks will continue to provide fun, high-quality mobile games that ‘push the envelope’, both in content and in the leveraging of increasingly sophisticated mobile technology.”
Namco Networks will continue to expand its comprehensive catalog of branded and original games, which already includes arcade classics like PAC-MAN®, Ms. PAC-MAN®, Galaga® and Dig Dug®. Namco Networks will also be adding 3D mobile games to their catalog, including games based on the best-selling Namco brands Time Crisis® and Ridge Racer®.
Namco Networks will continue to create and publish new games that are cutting edge, taking advantage of the networked nature of the mobile phone and other unique technologies that the mobile platform provides.
Namco Networks will also remain a provider of other exclusive mobile content based on video games to all major carriers, including ringtones of video game sounds and music, and wallpapers, which feature characters and screenshots from video games.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Scott Rubin, VP of Sales and Marketing for Namco, about the role of traditional game publishers in wireless gaming and his take on the EA acquisition of Jamdat.
Matt: Hi Scott. Let’s start this off with a discussion of how Namco is doing in the wireless space.
Scott: Namco is celebrating its 50th year in the gaming business. We are a traditional game publisher but the interesting thing there is that Telesia just ranked wireless gaming companies by market share and Jamdat was number one and Namco was number two mobile games publisher in North America. So Jamdat as number one was acquired by EA and there we are as number two. We, probably more than other traditional game publishers, see mobile as a very important part of the game industry overall. EA told the world this by acquiring Jamdat; Namco is telling the industry this by taking what was once a wireless games division and from Jan 1 on spinning off an entire company under the Namco umbrella dedicated to mobile and wireless games. We are taking wireless gaming seriously and are committed to it. This is the first mass market device that can play games and we’re making sure that we’re on top of it by providing games to the millions of people who have cell phones.
Matt: What are your thoughts on the EA acquisition of Jamdat?
Scott:We welcome it. We think that history has shown in the industry that competition helps assure quality and we have always been about putting quality games out on any platform but I think we’re known in the mobile game space especially for putting out quality games. Pac Man looks just like the arcade game on the phone; it takes 3.8 seconds to go from the bottom left to the bottom right just like the arcade version. We’re all about quality and we think that this step up in competition will only help assure quality and increase adoption of mobile games. Ninety percent of consumers don’t even know they can download and play a game. Millions of people are going to do it and they’re going to hopefully have a good experience because the quality is better and there are more games. We think it’s going to have a positive effect on the industry and clearly consolidation is a trend. In 2006, carriers are going to become more and more selective about what games they offer and who they work with so this is just a big step forward for the whole industry. When EA announced that they were buying Jamdat is just made sense to me because now they’re caught up with the market.
Matt: Could you please explain a little bit about spinning off a division at Namco?
Scott: Right now, over the last 3.5-4 years, Namco has been in the wireless space in North America as a wireless content division of Namco and starting January 1st we’re spinning off a company which is going to be called Namco Networks and it will be a separate company dedicated to the mobile game space. We are showing the industry that we’re dedicated to this space and we are setting this up so we can grow at a fast pace. My analogy is that we’re sharing an apartment with other roommates and on January 1 we’re moving out to a bigger apartment with more space to grow. We are going to be hiring. We have bigger marketing budgets. We’ll continue to expand our catalog of mobile games and we will continue to focus on supporting the carrier to educate the consumer about mobile games. We’re very excited about the spinoff.
I met with Namco Wireless a few days ago to talk about their games for cell phones and ringtones. Overall, the games look pretty good. The last time I saw a mobile game it looked pretty crappy, but on today’s phones these games can look good.
Namco’s big hits are their arcade classics like Pac Man, Dig Dug, and Galaxian. All three of these are quite playable.
They also have original content like Pac Man Bowling, PC Man Pin Ball, and PacMania 3D. The 3D games is cool because you can jump over the ghosts if you time it right.
Pool Pro was cool. You sign in and immediately someone challenges you. Then there is almost no delay between turns so the games are fast.
Particularly innovative is Time Crisis. If you recall, Time Crisis is a first person shooter. How do you create an FPS for a cell phone. Divide the screen into quadrants like the keypad, then push the number that corresponds to the quadrant to fire at it. I could see spending a lot of time if I had this one.
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