Phoenixx, Bandai Namco and Dentsu form partnership to assist indie developer

[Deleted User]

Phoenixx announced a partnership with Bandai Namco Entertainment and Dentsu Group to support independent developers.
The companys plan to assist in development, visualization, and game production.​

“Through the support of various creators, we have been able to expand our business both domestically and internationally, and we want to expand the scope of our development of entertainment content,” Phoenixx president and CEO Kazunori Sakamoto said in a press release.
“We’ve been working on that concept for a while now, and together with the Bandai Namco Entertainment and Dentsu Group, we are looking forward to taking a more in-depth approach.”
Since its establishment, Phoenixx has been committed to bringing “unique and high-quality” titles from independent developers to worldwide markets, while also providing support to creators in their planning, production, sales, and marketing.

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[FAST6191]

So some investment firm/group wants to feed indies some table scraps and if they look like they will pop swoop in and send it wide? Or basically be a super mercenary publisher.
That or a few companies saw what the embracer group were doing and thought they would have a bit of that.

Anyway had not heard of phoenixx
https://www.gematsu.com/2020/02/japanese-indie-games-publisher-phoenixx-established
Supposedly set up to foster indie game devs. Cynicism is my general approach here -- small setup gets made and then a few months later gets glomped by a publisher losing relevance and a PR firm... it is hard not to be.

I assume we all know Bandai Namco from back in the day, though it should be noted they pivoted into something of a pachinko machine company a while back and are considered somewhat long in the tooth with only a few old arcade games (though some legends among those) they own, a sometime collaboration with FromSoftware (Dark Souls and such games) and some anime tie ins keeping them some kind of relevant.

Dentsu Group/Dentsu inc is a long running PR and advertising firm in Japan. Not sure what they have done for games in the past right now but such people are good to have in house to call upon I guess.