Namco Bandai to be rebranded as Bandai Namco

The Namco Bandai name is no more: Parent company Bandai Namco Holdings is rebranding all subsidiaries that use the former name to unify everything under the name Bandai Namco, the company announced today.

The corporate parent was originally formed in September 2005 upon the merger of toy maker Bandai and video game publisher Namco as Namco Bandai Holdings, a holding company for the Bandai Namco Group. The company's video game division was thereafter known as Bandai Namco Games. But after the merger, its North American and European divisions operated under a flipped name, Namco Bandai Games, because of the primacy of the Namco name in those regions at the time. (The gaming division's logo, however, always read as "Bandai Namco Games" worldwide.)

Bandai Namco Holdings doesn't believe that distinction is necessary anymore, according to statements from the company today.

"Bandai Namco Games has grown to be one of the largest and most successful game publishers in its native Japan, the United States, Latin America and Europe," said Nobuhiro Kasahara, chief operating officer at Namco Bandai Games America, in a press release. "The Bandai Namco Games logo has now become synonymous with great gaming products and services; it's the perfect time for us to unify our corporate brand around the world and move forward together in a united front as a global company."

As of April 1, the company will only use the Bandai Namco Games name; to this point, it had released products under the Bandai, Namco and Banpresto names.