Namco Bandai posts $66 million loss

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Nov 5, 2009 3:20 pm PT

Publisher maintains forecasts despite sales slump; Ben 10, Afro Samurai, Tales of Vesperia make up biggest sellers; Soulcalibur PSP falls outside company's top 10.

Namco Bandai appears to have scored a hit with the latest installment of its flagship fighting series, as evidenced by Tekken 6's having shipped 2.5 million copies worldwide in its first week. Unfortunately for the Japanese publisher, Tekken 6 didn't arrive in time for the first half of its fiscal year, which ran from April through September.

Who needs Mitsurugi vs. Kratos when you can have a year-old beat-'em-up based on a kids' cartoon license?

The publisher today released its first-half financial results, revealing a net loss of ¥6.04 billion ($66.52 million). By the same point in the previous year's campaign, Namco Bandai was running a net profit of ¥1.28 billion ($14.13 million). Overall sales were also down, as Namco Bandai took in ¥172.73 billion ($1.90 billion) for the first half, down nearly 10 percent year-over-year from ¥190.80 billion ($2.10 billion).

Despite the losses, Namco Bandai maintained its sales and net profits forecasts for the full year ending March 2010. When it reports final figures, Namco Bandai still expects revenue to be down 6.2 percent to ¥400 billion ($4.41 billion), with a net profit of ¥8.5 billion ($93.66 million).

As for specific games, Ben 10 Alien Force topped the publisher's software chart, racking up sales of 480,000 on the PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP, and Nintendo DS. Something of an evergreen title for Namco Bandai, Alien Force was released in the US last October, with a European debut in February. Another Ben 10 title, 2007's Protector of Earth, was the publisher's fourth-best seller, racking up 330,000 copies sold on the same platforms as its successor. The action series is one of Namco Bandai's biggest overall brands (including toys and hobby sales), with the publisher expecting it to rake in ¥17.5 billion ($192.86 million) this year, nearly as much as the Power Rangers brand's ¥18 billion ($198.35 million) and comfortably above Dragon Ball's ¥14 billion ($154.27 million).

Namco Bandai's second-best seller, Afro Samurai, came in with 420,000 copies sold, just above Tales of Vesperia's 410,000 games sold. Rounding out the top five was Mobile Suit Gundam: Battlefield Record U.C. 0081 for the PS3, with sales of 320,000. Notably, Namco Bandai's first PSP installment in its weapons-based fighting series, Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, failed to appear in the publisher's top 10 despite international launches in August and September.

Namco Bandai's Top 10 Games, April-September
Title--Platforms--Global unit sales
1. Ben 10: Alien Force--Wii, PS2, PSP, DS--480,000
2. Afro Samurai--360, PS3--420,000
3. Tales of Vesperia--360, PS3--410,000
4. Ben 10: Protector of Earth--Wii, PS2, PSP, DS--330,000
5. Mobile Suit Gundam: Battlefield Record U.C. 0081--PS3--320,000
6. SD Gundam G Generation Wars--PS2, Wii--310,000
7. Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden--PS2--290,000
8. We Ski & Snowboard--Wii--280,000
9. Tales of Vs.--PSP--270,000
10. Active Life: Outdoor Challenge--Wii--240,000

53 Comments

  • BLuFAlc0n

    Posted Nov 15, 2009 10:01 am PT

    What Namco needs to do is to release Tekken 6 for the Wii, that would sort them out!

  • peewizzle

    Posted Nov 10, 2009 10:56 am PT

    wow...ben 10 is their top seller? its like video game crack to these kids huh??

    i have tekken 6 and tales of vesperia and those are great i say find out what the kids will most likely will spend their parents' money and on and milk the hell out of that title

  • method115

    Posted Nov 10, 2009 4:01 am PT

    @Midnightshade29

    Hey I understand your PS3 owner so for you Namco doing that kind of stuff is great and a good move by Sony. I on the other hand am not a PS3 owner (I used to have one but the games were as interesting to me as what 360 was offering). So essentially this company is screwing me over and the only way I can fight back is with my wallet. I have no problems with Sony it's actually a smart move, Namco on the other hand screwed me over a little.

  • Xtatic324

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 8:32 am PT

    Tales of Vesperia was awesome.

  • ffviiifreak

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 10:15 pm PT

    par que!

  • Jag-T1000

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 9:22 pm PT

    I saw Afro Samurai at Toys R Us for $15.00. Should I buy it? I'm going to think about it.

  • Ranma_X_basic

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 6:18 pm PT

    only namco games i really cared about was mostly soul caliber,Tekken,Afro samura and tales of vesperia. oh! and Eternal Sonata

  • rgsniper1

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 8:25 am PT

    Looking at there game line up I can understand how they are coming up short.

  • pikaby

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 5:22 am PT

    Okay, release Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 2 and watch your sales climb. Count the days to November 19...

  • BLADE7715

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 11:06 pm PT

    Some companies now are desperate for money and never take the time to "actually" work on the games. Plus they get lazy and use either the same game or take the same idea from a T.V show like Ben 10.

    If they want t boost up sales...they have to make another game and take TIME TO MAKE IT!

  • Zerobeam

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 2:11 pm PT

    The kids do love that Ben 10...based on that list, I would wonder if NamcoBandai would do games that weren't based off of anime. Perhaps a new IP could breathe some life into this company

  • fritigoerd

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 11:03 am PT

    When namco , when? When will you understand that what gamers want is the continuation of the Xenosaga series?????? Is that hard?

  • Midnightshade29

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 9:11 am PT

    @method115 - what crap are you talking about... Tales of Vesperia hasn't made it to the west on ps3 yet... I can't wait till it does like Star ocean 4... You say your a ps3 owner, then why wouldn't you want more content? I want my bluray filled with more content...Sony is doing it right, if they accept bribes by M$ and then want to put the same game out on PS3, a year later, damn right they better be putting more content in there. Sony is doing right by it's consumers. sorry if a butthurt 360 owner is mad that the ps3 game is getting more content. Sorry that you should of waited and bought the game on a real rpg system. Seriously everygame that gets released later will cost the same... to people like myself who don't own the rrod machine, the game is a new game. When I get my copy of star ocean 4 international it will be a new game to me as I have never had a chance to play it...understand my logic there? I only own a gaming Pc and PS3 for consoles (psp,ds,ipod for mobile) I really don't need a 360 and never will.... I am glad they are relasing games that were bribed by m$ over to ps3 when the contract runs out, and am very glad Sony stippulates a more content clause... if they didn't you better believe Namco would be selling that same game without the extra content for the same price....you know they would... easy money.. sony is protecting Ps3 owners by making them make extra content.

  • Glade_Gnarr

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 10:45 pm PT

    You know you're doing domething wrong when ben 10 is your top selling game.

  • Lisandro_v22

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 9:01 pm PT

    I hope they bring ToS soon

  • zacho26

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 5:35 pm PT

    those games suck, its no suprise to me they are losing money.

  • Trogeton

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 5:22 pm PT

    Wow I was not expecting this

  • shavedballbag

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 4:29 pm PT

    That's a pretty weak catalog of games.

  • ChidoriBoyU

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 12:55 pm PT

    sadly for NB they make some great games

    but i gotta say

    YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ToV SOLD WELL ))))))))))))))) (i know 420000 isn't so much but it's still no.3 in their list)

    i still want Tales of VS to be localized though

  • raahsnavj

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 12:21 pm PT

    I like some of the RPG's they put out but they have been keeping a lot of the features I don't like and throwing out the ones I like. I don't like to see any company fail, but I know what they are making just doesn't appeal to me much...

Ben 10: Protector of Earth Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Images | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $15 – 20.99

Amazon.com $15 SHOP ›
eBay $20.99 SHOP ›
advertisement
advertisement
Click Here
Ben 10: Protector of Earth Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Ben 10: Protector of Earth

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement