FUSION OF JAPANESE AND VANCOUVER GAME INDUSTRIES TO 
CREATE NEW MOBILE EXPERIENCE

VANCOUVER, BC – December 5th, 2014 – BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc., the development arm of the iconic BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc., and Vancouver-based Roadhouse Interactive Limited, today announced the development of a soon-to-be disclosed game project.

BANDAI NAMCO Studios is the powerhouse games company behind such legendary games as Pacman, Tekken, and SoulCalibur, and recent Japanese top-ten grossing mobile hits such as Drift Spirits and the Tales series of mobile games.

Roadhouse has been enjoying a string of successful mobile game launches, including Red Bull Air Race, an exhilarating arcade racing game with more than 5 million downloads in the two months since release, Food Battle, an action RPG built in conjunction with the hugely popular comedy-duo SMOSH (20 million subscribers on YouTube) and Warhammer 40,000: Carnage, a #1 action RPG recently nominated for Canadian Video Game of the Year.

Atsuo Nakayama, Executive Vice President of BANDAI NAMCO Studios Vancouver Inc., and the author of two best-selling books on free-to-play game design, said “We decided to work with Roadhouse as part of our ongoing expansion into Western game markets because they have a great understanding of building quality mobile games, as well as a great track-record in creating new IP. This project is innovative in that it blends the deep monetization design that has been proving so successful in our projects in Japan, with a whole new story and IP crafted here in Vancouver.”

Roadhouse’s CEO, James Hursthouse, commented, “We are very pleased to be working closely with BANDAI NAMCO on this project. With a collocated team and a willingness to learn from each other, we feel that we have the opportunity to create something very exciting and successful. I spent the first ten years of my career in Japan, so it is personally fulfilling to be involved in this project where we are blending the expertise of both teams and cultures.”

Hajime Nakatani, CEO of BANDAI NAMCO Studios said, “The combination of great talent, location and incentives has made Vancouver an important part of our global expansion – both directly and in partnership with local companies such as Roadhouse.”

The game is a character-based builder-battle RPG set in an entirely new fictional universe, and is being created at one of Roadhouse’s Vancouver studios by a blended team of BANDAI NAMCO and Roadhouse developers. Further details will be forthcoming over the next few months. Nakayama and Hursthouse will also be jointly presenting at various games conferences in the New Year talking about the opportunities and challenges associated with this type of joint project, with the first appearance planned for Mobile Game Forum London in January 2015.

About BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc.

BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc., part of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a leading global developer of interactive content – including for all major video game consoles, iOS, mobile and online. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with studios in Singapore and Vancouver. It has enjoyed recent success with mobile social games, with a number of its titles reaching the top ten grossing charts in Japan and overseas. More information about the company and its products can be found at :

  • bandainamcostudios.com
  • www.bandainamcogames.co.jp
  • namcobandaigames.com
  • bandainamco.co.jp
  • bandainamcostudios.com/vancouver

About Roadhouse Interactive Limited

Roadhouse Interactive Limited is a Vancouver based developer and publisher of games for smartphones and tablets. Roadhouse’s leadership team is responsible for some of the most well-known game franchises of the past twenty five years and continues to build upon industry-leading production, development and live game operations expertise at Roadhouse. The company is working on a varied portfolio of projects across a range of genres, including Warhammer® 40,000™ Carnage, an action RPG set in the Warhammer® 40,000™ universe, Food Battle: The Game, an action RPG in partnership with the immensely popular YouTube comedy duo, SMOSH, FRS Ski Cross™, #1 sports and racing game in Europe, and Red Bull Air Race: The Game, an arcade racing game based around the fastest motorsport on earth that did over 5M downloads in its first two months of release. Find us online at www.roadhouseinteractive.com

Press Contacts

BANDAI NAMCO STUDIOS

Daisuke Hattori

ROADHOUSE INTERACTIVE LIMITED
Nick Malaperiman