Nintendo Buys Bandai Shares, Prompts Merger Speculation

Thanks to Reuters for their story that Nintendo have purchased over 1 million Bandai shares, making them one of Gundam creator and toy/game/film company Bandai's top 10 shareholders. A spokesman "...said Nintendo, the maker of GameCube home video consoles, which did not own any shares in Bandai as of March, has no intention of acquiring the toymaker", but GamesAreFun relay Japanese tabloid rumors that "a full-on merger between the two groups could take place sometime in the future." But it may be more likely, Video-Fenky points out, that "it's a move on Nintendo's part to win Bandai closer to their side and get them to release Gundam and Super Robot Taisen games... on their machine."

Comments

the biggest Japanese toy franchises

[L-Train8]

Bandai makes toys for most of the biggest Japanese licenses. Not just Gundam, but Ultraman, Power Rangers, Digimon, Ultimate Muscle, Hello Kitty, and a lot more. They make DVD's of tons of popular anime, including various Gundam series and Cowboy Bebop. While most of this stuff isn't so big in the US, outside of the otaku community, it is giant in Japan. If Nintendo is able to leverage their ownership into more licensed games for the Japanese market, it could help them sell a lot of consoles and gain back some market share from Sony. I don't think it will have much effect in the US, however.