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Bandai is a Japanese toy company headquartered in Taito, Tokyo, and is the owner of the Tamagotchi franchise.

History[]

Initially conceived by Naoharu Yamashina in 1947 as a division of a Kanazawa-based textile wholesaler focused on the development and distribution of merchandise, the company was later spun-off into an independent company known as "Bandai-ya", and rose to domestic fame as a successful toymaker throughout the 1950s. In July 1961, Bandai-ya was renamed to the current Bandai name. In the same decade, Bandai expanded on international distribution of its products, and has since became a global pioneer for the toy and prize machine industries, as well as taking part in video game hardware and software development from the early 1980's to the early 2000's.

Bandai released the original version of Tamagotchi in Japan on November 23rd, 1996, followed by an overseas release on May 28th, 1997. Bandai has since made numerous virtual pet follow-ups and has licensed video games, merchandise, and filmed content based on Tamagotchi, making Tamagotchi a flagship franchise for the company. Outside of Tamagotchi, Bandai also owns Digimon (a masculine counterpart of Tamagotchi), Aikatsu, Cocotama, and Mobile Suit Gundam, and holds numerous toy licenses for Japanese properties, most notably publications from Weekly Shōnen Jump (including Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece) and tokusatsu programming, including Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai (adapted overseas as Power Rangers, which Bandai also produced toys for until 2018).

On September 29th, 2005, Bandai announced plans to merge with video game developer Namco (known for Pac-Man, Tekken, Tales of, Taiko no Tatsujin, and Katamari Damacy, among other games), citing rapid advancements in technology and declining birth rates in Japan as the primary reasons behind the decision. The merger was completed on March 31st, 2006, resulting in Bandai Namco Holdings. Bandai continues its role of developing and distributing toys and prize machines as a division of the combined company.

Bandai Namco Holdings[]

Bandai Co., Ltd.[]

Bandai Co., Ltd. is a company in Japan that produces the Tamagotchi toys and games, as well as other anime/non-anime toys, and model kits. Following the merger with Namco, Bandai continues to function as the merged company's head of Toys and Hobbies. It has several business units under it which manage Tamagotchi in several different ways including:

Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America[]

Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America is responsible for distribution of Tamagotchi products in the United States and Canada. They were previously known as Bandai America until April 1st, 2022, where they merged with the collector's label Bluefin Brands. Their most notable contributions include distribution of the original toy, Tamagotchi Connection, Tamagotchi Friends, Tamagotchi On, and Tamagotchi Pix.

Bandai Namco Arts[]

Bandai Namco Arts is responsible for the home entertainment and soundtrack distribution of several anime series that aired in Japan, including Tamagotchi!. They were previously known as Bandai Visual until 2018, where they merged with the music publishing label Lantis.

Bandai Entertainment, Inc.[]

Bandai Entertainment, a division of Bandai America, was responsible for the American distribution of Bandai Visual's products. They acquired international distribution rights to Tamagotchi: The Movie, which was released alongside a special edition of Tamagotchi Music Star. They disestablished in 2012.

Carddass[]

A producer of trading card games for many anime series in Japan. Tamagotchi has its own line of Carddass trading cards that are constantly being updated as new characters and features are added.

Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.[]

Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco Bandai Games) is company's eponymous video game division that produces video games based on the various series owned by the company, as well as publishing and distributing licensed video games. Prior to the merger, Bandai attempted to produce video game hardware such as Pipp!n (with Apple), Playdia, and WonderSwan, and had their own video game software division that produced 8 Tamagotchi video games, followed by another 17 after the merger, resulting in a total of 25 Tamagotchi video games to date.

Gallery[]

Logos[]

Trivia[]

  • Bandai is the largest toy company in Japan and the third largest toy company in the world in terms of revenue, behind Mattel and Hasbro, their biggest international competitors.
  • Sometime in the late 1990's, Sega attempted to merge with Bandai. The proposed merger was rejected by Bandai due to "cultural differences" between the companies.

External Links[]

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