Bandai Namco, the Japanese video game publishing giant, has now revealed that it is working on a new development project, which could see characters and settings from Dark Souls, Dragon Ball Z and Elden Ring collide in the metaverse, in an offer to allow fans to interact on its various IP addresses through a shared interface. The Tokyo-based publisher said it would invest $130 million (about Rs 980 crore) in the project, titled “IP Metaverse,” as part of the company’s new medium-term plan, which outlines its three-year vision.

Bandai Namco made the announcement as part of its new mid-term plan spanning April 2022 through March 2025 with a document that draws a first look at what it calls its new “IP Axis Strategy” between other plans, including a new logo-inspired speech bubble.

The “IP axis strategy”, explains the publisher, is to connect fans and increase the value of its properties, with the company planning to develop a metaverse for each of its IP addresses. Each IP metaverse will then be part of an interconnected universe known as the “ALL BANDAI NAMCO concept”.

“We envision virtual spaces that will allow customers to enjoy a wide range of entertainment on an IP axis, as well as settings that leverage Bandai Namco’s distinctive strengths to merge physical products and locations with digital elements.” , the company said.

Although the document does not yet mention a specific IP address for the metaverse plan, Bandai Namco has a wide range of potential candidates, including Dark Souls, the upcoming Elden Ring, Dark Pictures anthology, Soul Calibur, Pac- Man and other arcade games. classics, plus a number of licensed manga and anime games.

This project hopes to be a “new framework for connecting with fans” as well as “maximizing mid to long-term IP value” with money going into “data foundation” and “content development”. .

It should also be noted that Bandai Namco owns the video game publishing license for many non-video game IPs, but does not own the IP itself. It is uncertain whether any of these licenses extend outside of specific games published by Bandai Namco or whether the development of an “IP metaverse” even falls under the category of a video game. Until further details about the publisher’s project are known, there’s no way to be sure just yet. If there are legal issues on the way, new agreements may need to be made with all of these IP owners before Bandai Namco can put any characters or locations into its “All Bandai Namco Concept”.