The widely beloved Gundam franchise may soon be making its way onto the esports scene, as Bandai Namco announced plans to develop a new competitive title for the series alongside a wealth of new Gundam content for fans worldwide. Bandai Namco has published several Gundam games in the past, and is looking to bring in new audiences.
The Gundam series began with the 1979 anime series Mobile Suit Gundam, and ever since has expanded out into novels and other media, notably video games. Over 80 Gundam video games have been released, some of which are spin-offs of other popular series such as Dynasty Warriors.
Bandai Namco is a prolific developer and publisher, with Namco having published many classic arcade games before merging with Bandai dating all the way back to 1978. Takashi Fujiwara, "Chief Gundam Officer," spoke at a conference on June 15 about several upcoming Gundam projects. Perhaps most exciting is a new Gundam esports title as a follow-up to Mobile Suit Gundam EXTREME VS. Maxi Boost ON, especially since the company is targeting North America as a market according to 4Gamer. That said, it could be a while before this project sees a full release.
Player-versus-player combat has been attempted in Gundam games before, such as New Gundam Breaker, but given New Gundam Breaker's "Mixed" rating on Steam at the time of writing it may be better for competitive players to wait for the new title. Some Gundam titles are in Bandai Namco's Publisher Sale this weekend, so fans who don't want to wait can jump into other giant robot action.
The Gundam series has spawned some impressive projects, both gaming and otherwise. In addition to the esports title, Fujiwara discussed progress on a live-action Gundam movie, movie-related events coming to mobile game Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, and numerous other updates. A life-sized articulated Gundam model shows how big the series is worldwide, and an esports game could bring fans into a brand-new space. Few details are known about the upcoming game at this point, so not even the genre is clear, but given the quality of past Gundam games, this could be an exciting development for esports and Gundam fans alike.
The esports space's lack of giant robots is not necessarily an issue, but the addition of the Mobile Suits to esports is sure to draw in more fans if handled correctly. Until then, mecha fans may enjoy Bandai Namco's backlog of Gundam games, or a more general selection of games featuring giant robots.
An unnamed Gundam esports game is in development.