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Bandai Namco is opening a new office in Lyon, France.
Construction is expected to commence in Spring/Q2 2019, and scheduled to complete by the end of 2020. It’s anticipated that the new facility – which has been designed "alongside key partners from across the region, focusing on delivering a world-class, cutting-edge environment to accommodate the very best talent in games industry" – will be home to 150+ staff from across 30 different nationalities. Bandai expects its European presence will "grow significantly" over the next ten years.
"Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe has been a proud resident of Lyon since 2009, and we’re delighted to continue to base our Central European teams in this fantastic city," said Naoki Katashima, President and COO of Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe. "We’re currently working with developers across Europe, including France, to create the next generation of Bandai Namco Entertainment franchises, and are committed to developing 50 per cent of our new titles outside of Japan. To this end, the decision to invest in Lyon and in our European base was a no-brainer."
The news comes just weeks after Bandai Namco announced it was closing its studios in Vancouver, Canada. The British-Columbia-based studio made Tekken Mobile, as well as other mobile games based on the Katamari and Pac-Man franchises. Tekken Mobile is set to remain available, and while future updates remain purportedly "up in the air", a skeleton crew remains in place to "maintain the game, for now".
Tekken Mobile game director and senior vice president at Bandai Namco, Landon Nguyen, made the announcement on their personal twitter account. "I’m sad to announce that as of today Bandai Namco Studios Vancouver will be shutting down," Nguyen said in a tweet. "I want to thank everyone who came with us on this journey. We shipped some awesome experiences together. Thank you to all the fans who supported our games and our studio."
