Arnaud Muller, Bandai Namco Europe's CEO, recently sat down with gamesindustry.biz to discuss the company's various business strategies during such a rapidly-changing era of the industry; among these was the commitment to remain "platform agnostic." Muller was first asked about Elden Ring and was unsurprisingly enthusiastic about its results. He explained that, though they expected Elden Ring to be a very high-quality title, for it to have reached such a large audience was something they were very pleased about.
The FromSoftware-developed title Elden Ring was released earlier this year, and yet, its sales already surpass 16 million units, currently placing it as 2022's best-selling game. It was a critical success as much as it was a commercial one, with many critics and gamers quickly labeling it one of the best open-world games of all time.
Elden Ring's success was doubly rewarding for Bandai Namco, as it marked an exemplary triumph of their recent plans to push further into the western market. Though they aren't new to global successes, as Muller aptly pointed out with Tekken, Elden Ring is a big part of the robust western portfolio they want to have. Muller mentions Park Beyond, an upcoming theme park managing simulator from German studio, Limbic Entertainment, as well as The Devil In Me, which is the next entry in Supermassive's The Dark Pictures Anthology series.
Supermassive was recently acquired by Nordisk, a Danish company mainly focused on film, but, as Supermassive stated, Muller confirms that this acquisition won't affect the partnership. This shifted the conversation towards the recent trend of acquisitions and how that may affect Bandai Namco's strategies.
"What I find is that we have to secure the IPs that we create with the studios we partner with," says Muller, this is to prevent them from investing in an IP for the developer to then get gobbled up by a larger publisher. Muller expresses confidence that Bandai Namco has "the financial means to secure these partnerships," with measures such as "first option rights, IP ownership," and "minority stakes in those studios."
When asked about Xbox's current plans to acquire Activision and their massive Call of Duty franchise, Muller digressed to state that Bandai Namco has always been "platform agnostic," and so they will remain, since the publisher wishes to have as many players as possible playing its games. With the recent purchases of FromSoftware shares by Sony and Tencent, some fans have expressed concern about a potential acquisition, but it would seem Bandai Namco has put the proper measures in place to ensure Elden Ring's hypothetical sequel, if there ever is one at all, remains multi-platform.