Why do people hate Bandai Namco?

[Cranesbill]

This is just a quick question, why do I see so much people talk shit about Bandai Namco, like they’re the worst video game company?

Did they do anything in the past that was like outrageous? Or are they just toxic?

 

[Kitocco]

The big one is that they LOOOOOVE artificial scarcity. P-Bandai is an ”exclusive” pre-order site where you can buy imported merch only available in a specific time window and if you miss it, it is gone. Except stuff can sell out even BEFORE the actual cutoff date.
Then there’s the Digivice Debacle of 2022. Here’s a personal retelling of the tale from someone who went through it:
Also there’s how they royally fumbled Gundam Evolution with horrendous monetization when it was a genuinely solid hero shooter.

 

[Cranesbill]

The big one is that they LOOOOOVE artificial scarcity. P-Bandai is an ”exclusive” pre-order site where you can buy imported merch only available in a specific time window and if you miss it, it is gone. Except stuff can sell out even BEFORE the actual cutoff date.
Then there’s the Digivice Debacle of 2022. Here’s a personal retelling of the tale from someone who went through it:
Also there’s how they royally fumbled Gundam Evolution with horrendous monetization when it was a genuinely solid hero shooter.

Oh so they're just greedy, alright I guess that's understandable, thanks for the info, mate

 

[Marusu]

Dunno about anyone else, but I think they're a pretty cool company.

 

[Cranesbill]

Dunno about anyone else, but I think they're a pretty cool company.

That's what I thought at first, their toys look good quality, but apparently they're not the most friendliest company out here

 

[FR0ZN]

Because they stopped making Ridge Racer

 

[Jayinem]

Because they stopped making Ridge Racer

Making what?

Oh, you mean Riiiiiiiiiidddddddddddddddggggggggggggeeeeeee Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr.

 

[Jayro]

Personally, I liked Namco before the merger, back when Bandai was just a toy company making toys of Power Rangers stuff and Namco still made good Pacman games.

 

[SylverReZ]

Namco created the Pac-Man franchise, they've created some amazing games and whatnot. I don't see anything wrong with them.

 

[Faust03]

aren't they doing some stupid shit with digimon? I don't remember

 

[Dust2dust]

Back in the PS1/PS2 era, they were absolutely great! They were just called Namco back then.

 

[Cranesbill]

aren't they doing some stupid shit with digimon? I don't remember

No idea, only time I remember them doing bullshit was when they set a precedent by making a four disc game and selling all the discs separately at full price

 

[AncientBoi]

I still have Ace Combat X and Ace Combat: Joint Assault for my PSP from them.

 

[Jayro]

Back in the PS1/PS2 era, they were absolutely great! They were just called Namco back then.

Kind of like how Squaresoft made banger games back before the Enix merger.

 

[hippy dave]

Kind of like how Squaresoft made banger games back before the Enix merger.

Coming next year in another merger - Bamco-Squeenix

 

[Jayro]

Coming next year in another merger - Bamco-Squeenix

If that happens, I will rage.

 

[Xdqwerty]

I only know latín americans hate it bc the Dragon Ball games only have voice acting in japanese and english

 

[plasturion]

I think it's one of the best brand, not only producing toys that you can get in the gatchapons, but also high-quality figures are from Bandai too, back in days it was recognized by making tamagochi. It also produced very interesting and well designed handheld - Wonderswan. So it is well known from very unique patents and projects mostly appreciated and targeted to japanese people. Actually I think it is one of the best gaming / toy entertainment brand, games are also one of the best ever made like Idolmaster series. Even if many older games has not so good quality or concepts like Nintendo have, it doesn't change fact that it has pretty wide audience.

 

[Vetusomaru]

Making what?

Oh, you mean Riiiiiiiiiidddddddddddddddggggggggggggeeeeeee Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr.

 

[Robert Newbie]

Personally, I liked Namco before the merger, back when Bandai was just a toy company making toys of Power Rangers stuff and Namco still made good Pacman games.

Back in the PS1/PS2 era, they were absolutely great! They were just called Namco back then.

Kind of like how Squaresoft made banger games back before the Enix merger.

This. I'll always miss the olden days. Namco put out solid content: Time Crisis, Ridge Racer, and Ace Combat. They did work for Nintendo with Star Fox Assault, Mario Superstar Baseball, and the Donkey Konga games. Their experimental stuff like Dead to Rights and Death by Degrees were standouts too. I happen to be a Klonoa fan, so that needs an honorable mention. Really, everyone needs to look over their 5th and 6th gen catalogs.

Since the merger was back in 2006-ish, there were far more Namco games than Namco-Bandai (now Bandai-Namco) ones. There was some real balance there, but nowadays, reception sounds very mixed.