Gundam as a whole is a bit of a weird franchise when it comes to localisation. The property has been ridiculously popular in its native Japan ever since the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime launched all the way back in 1979, but it's never quite amassed a huge amount of fame in the West. That said, Gundam certainly still has its overseas fanbase, and it's these fans who are always eager to see one of the franchise's many gaming adaptations get localised.
Sadly, that doesn't happen very often at all. It seems like there's a new Gundam game released every other week in Japan, but we don't hear a peep about localisation efforts. Indeed, the only recent series that's made it West has been Dynasty Warriors Gundam, and that's mainly because of Koei Tecmo's apparent insistence on bringing all of its musou titles overseas.
However, ever since the PlayStation 4 launched, Bandai Namco has grown increasingly interested in localising its properties - mainly because Sony's console is flying off the shelves. It's safe to say that the publisher is easily one of the best in the business at the minute when it comes to translating its Japanese releases and launching them in a relatively timely fashion here in the West, but we're still yet to see a new Gundam game.
That could change in the future, though, as Bandai Namco has told us that it's aware of the situation. "Indeed, we know that there is a high demand from fans for Gundam games," a representative said, adding: "Rest assured that this is something that we keep in mind."
For what it's worth, we reckon that the publisher will eventually have a crack at pushing a Gundam title overseas - but it'll probably need to be on PS4. As such, we'd assume that it's only a matter of time before we see mechs smashing each other to bits in English - we just need the property to get moving on new-gen hardware.
[ These quotes were taken from Push Square's upcoming interview with Bandai Namco on its localisation strategies, which will be published in its entirety later today. ]
Comments 8
well with the series due a DVD release over here, now would be a great time to capitalise on the franchise
I've never seen Gundam (I should though), but I'm interested in playing some of the games for sure.
This is what I have been waiting for!!!!
0 mention that they are localizing a Gundam game for Vita in Asia... I guess you can't fellate PS4 if you mention games that don't exist on it.
Yeeeeeeesss!! @ShogunRok good work getting an interview with those guys.
Love gundam. Love it!!!!
@Jaz007 DW Gundam 3 is a beast of a game. Buy that!
I would love breaker in English! Brilliant game just wish I understood the story lol
Breaker is a great game. Would love to be able to understand the story though.
Best gundam games I've ever played where the battle destiny on vita , gundam battle front online , gundam dynasty warriors series, gundam breaker 1-2 , and extreme vs series and for me the holy grail (omg) Gundam battlefeild record uc0081 (the best) ......But they where all i n Japanese sadly and while basic gameplay was solid , you just couldn't tell what was going on in the plot if was an original story.
Fyi the new gundam battle front is open now ,for free but I hear its not that great.
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