Merging Retail and Digital Equals More Gaming Choices

Namco has merged its retail-focused arm, Namco Bandai Games America with digital-focused Namco Networks to better deliver their titles to consumers. Namco isn’t abandoning retail or console gaming, they want to work smarter, expand their audience and improve their release slate.

The company doesn’t intend to decrease packaged releases; they want to combine business models to increase opportunities and platforms. Namco intends to add social connectivity and cross-platform content while supplementing retail sales with digital purchases.

The biggest piece of news here is the merger of two audiences. Namco’s packaged games like Tekken appeal to a core gamer audience. Namco Networks has been producing digital titles for a casual audience. The merger of the two groups is a way to bring casual titles to core gamers and core licenses to a new audience and new platforms. Grow the business by making more money on properties you already own by expanding your market. They have two separate strengths, and it makes sense to bring them together to maximize profit.

Game companies all over the world are doing it—they’re combining forces to maximize their reach in the next decade of the game industry where transmedia storytelling, multi-platform gaming, digital distribution and cloud computing are factors for every game and every license.

Hideo Kojima made an appearance at Sony’s first public demonstration of the NGP… “When we launched Peace Walker for PSP, this is what I said: In the near future there will be a world of cloud computing… I really believe that you can have a portable [game]… What I’d like to realize is playing on your PS3, and when you go out, you put the game on your NGP, and when you come back home, you can once again use your PS3 and large screen TV.”

Kojima is talking about a dream of many gamers and an electronic reality that’s coming: interactive entertainment that moves with you. You can play on one device, pause, and then restart gameplay at the same spot on another device. It’s just a matter of time.

Microsoft wants to integrate its hardware with software options across platforms. Xbox Live has been a very successful digital portal for multiplayer and digital content for many years. Now it’s available on mobile so you can access your dashboard from anywhere.

“I think that our three-screen strategy will become increasingly relevant this year, which will put our products into the hands and pockets of many more people, and give our consumers the options to access content on various different platforms,” said director of Xbox and Entertainment Stephen McGill. “We’ve already seen the consumer excitement from Xbox Live integration on Windows Phone 7, and I’m looking forward to this continuing to grow throughout the year and beyond.”

Some companies think mobile is so strong, they aren’t as interested in the next generation of portables.

“The casual gamer that used to play on the PC and the hardcore gamer that used to play on a dedicated gaming portable now plays on their smartphone,” said Yuasa to MCV. “The iPhone and larger smartphone markets are extremely important to Capcom as, like no device before, smartphones have the potential to become a universal game platform. We have a lot of stuff on the horizon for both hardcore and casual gamers, so 2011 is shaping up to be huge on Capcom’s mobile front.”

Given the NGP computing power we’ve heard described and 3D on the 3DS, I’m not sure that’s really a “transmedia” way of thinking. Current generation mobile capabilities aren’t anywhere near what the NGP can do and nobody has 3D on mobile. I think game companies need to expand their offerings—bring their games to more people in more places on more platforms. Abandoning anything, especially huge sectors of the business like portables or consoles, is unwise and limiting.

I use two monitors in my office. Yesterday, I was mousing from the main monitor to the one to the left of my keyboard and started to fantasize about being able to follow that cursor off the screens. A world where the little arrow would keep moving wherever I point. I could click on my printer to check its status. I could click on a light to turn it on or off. I could click on a clock to get an audible time announcement or to set an alarm. I could even click on my pets to get a health status, pull up their records, check food supplies and who knows what else (pet them like on a DS?). Just a matter of time?

Sources:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32706/Interview_Namco_Bandais_New_US_Strategy.php
http://www.thealistdaily.com/news/kojima-praises-ngp-talks-cloud-gaming/
http://www.thealistdaily.com/news/microsoft-talks-three-screen-strategy/
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/capcom-gamers-switching-from-handhelds-to-smartphones/