Last year, Japanese publisher Bandai Namco announced that it was ditching its logo, which it had used since the two formerly separate companies merged in 2006.
“Our current logo expresses the merger of Bandai and Namco that resulted from the integration of the two companies,” it said in a statement back in September 2021, explaining why one of the world’s largest video game publishers has been in business for 16 years logo which is basically two colored blobs that have been rubbed together.
The unveiled new logo was less cooperative,”[reflecting] our new purpose” as a single company. It swapped out the blobs for a Nintendo-esque border, and the sunset color palette was replaced with black and pink.
It wasn’t well received, which perhaps explains why we’re only now seeing the logo on the company’s products, over six months later and with some modifications. The pink border has been replaced with a red one:
Which in some ways is a clearer throwback to the old Namco days and looks like a street sign in other ways. Again, what comes to mind:
But whatever! i still like it despite the amount of shit it gets from people. First, because it’s a clear improvement over the old logo, which was terribly dated and looked more like something you’d see in a model train shop (which maybe was the point given Bandai’s history in the scene!) or like the logo from a children’s series from the year 2000.
The new one is clearer, easier to scan (street signs are designed that way for a reason!) and I especially like the little “speech bubble” hook in the corner to break things up. Here’s how Bandai Namco explains this little quirk:
The new logo’s speech bubble motif, “Fukidashi” in Japanese, expresses the brand’s potential to connect with people around the world and inspire them with amazing ideas. The speech bubble also represents Japan’s manga culture which has become so popular everywhere. The logo represents our determination to communicate with fans worldwide, connect with our fans and create unique entertainment for Bandai Namco. The magenta used as the motif color not only stands for variety, but also makes a cheerful and cheerful impression and is easy to reproduce.
Like I said, despite the dated announcement, rollout is just beginning, so everyone is grabbing, say, a late copy of elden ring will see the new logo instead of the old one:
One more thing before we go: if is the official company offer not to your liking maybe this amateur recording that leans more towards the past, is:
