Another Japanese giant is looking to carve a bigger place in the Western gaming sphere. While we already knew about Square Enix’s desires to increase their Western presence and status (even if it means buying their way in), today Namco Bandai has revealed that they too want a piece.
The plan will start with the formation of a brand new studio and label, SURGE. According to Bandai’s press release, SURGE will be “dedicated to providing cutting-edge, genre-defining games that are targeted at satiating the appetite of western gamers.”
The first game to be published under the new label will be Afro Samurai, an already-near-completion action title based on the Samuel L Jackson anime of the same name.
With the increase in the Western game market and the decrease in Japan’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw other publishers and developers opening (or trying to open) US, Europe, or Canada branches in the next year. And for those primarily Japanese companies who do have Western development locations, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw less localization, and more Western-oriented development.
Will we ever see Koei attempt to put out a US Civil War Warriors game? Probably not, but these days you never know. The idea of a ponytailed Robert E Lee fighting off Union soldiers with a spear while Lincoln singlehandedly destroys a Confederate base with his Super Spinning Hat Attack sounds like quite the game…
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