Bandai Namco to withdraw from arcade game business in North America
Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. said Monday it will withdraw from its arcade game business in North America due to numerous closures of amusement facilities in the wake of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Demo units of a new arcade cabinet by Japanese video game maker Bandai Namco Games Inc. is shown on Oct. 8, 2014, at a press event in New York. (Kyodo)
The company s U.S. unit Namco USA Inc. plans to transfer its 35 directly owned stores and 760 revenue-shared locations to three companies engaged in the business of running amusement facilities on March 31.
Bandai Namco Will No Longer Handle Amusement Facilities in America
Bandai Namco Holdings published a press release stating its intent to withdraw from the amusement facility business in North America by transferring related assets to three unnamed companies. [Thanks, DenFamiNico Gamer.]
The company group made the decision to withdraw as the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted business . Its subsidiary company, Namco USA Inc, handled the group’s amusement facilities since its establishment in July 1990. It directly owned 35 stores in total, with one of them being uniquely classified as a large store. It also handled 760 locations with shared revenues.
Bandai Namco will officially transfer all of the aforementioned assets to three other companies on March 31, 2021. It will include the losses and expenses from the ailing business into the extraordinary loss of 13 billion yen at the end of the current fiscal year on the same day.