Sony and NAMCO form new studio!

January 24, 2007 - Sony and Namco Bandai are taking their relationship to the next level and forming a new company in order to create games for PlayStation 3, PCs, and mobile phones. The venture, called Cellius, will be creating content designed around the Cell processor, which powers the PS3.

According to Games Industry, the two companies will have joint custody of Cellius, with Namco Bandai owning 51 percent of the venture and Sony owning the remaining 49 percent. Namco Bandai has already provided some of Sony' s strongest franchises, including Ridge Racer, Tekken, and Ace Combat. Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundum were the best-selling PS3 launch titles in Japan.

Sony' s attempts to spread itself out over PCs and mobile phones may be evidence that it is trying to compete with Microsoft and Apple in cross-platform digital entertainment.

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Smart move on Sony' s part. They can' t afford to buy the so they set up a joint studio where NAMCO is the controlling partner. Genius.

EDIT: It appears that Ken Kutaragi will be running the new company. He no longer works for the Playstation Division proper and will now head this joint venture focusing on developing content for cellphones and probably PS3 games further down the line.

Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundum were the best-selling PS3 launch titles in Japan.

Thats just sad. Gundam is easily one of the worst games I have played in my entire life. I think it should be burnt, and wiped from the earth, so that we can forget such an atrocity was ever displayed on TV' s around the world.

This is great news. I heard of this merger this morning. However the source " word of mouth" said it was ban presto.
Namco Bandai is a great team so with Sony we can expect great anime series into excellent games.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Cellius? lol Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?!

It feels strange to see Namco get closer and closer to Sony though in a way.

i love Ace Combat, if they spend some heavy money on a PS3 AC that would be just sweet.