Namco Bandai Partners

Namco Bandai Partners (NBP) is an amalgamation of several former Atari (Infogrames) offices located in PAL territories, which were acquired beginning in 2009 by Namco Bandai Holdings. The acquisitions came on the heels of Atari's financial difficulties, which had begun to snowball in 2006. Atari and Namco had long maintained a cross-publishing relationship that can be traced back to the very origins of Namco, and Atari's liquidation of regional assets was a natural opportunity for Namco Bandai to gain a PAL distribution network.

Australia

former Ozisoft corporate logo

Namco Bandai Partners Australia Pty. Ltd. is a division serving Australia and New Zealand. Originally Ozisoft Pty Ltd, it was established in 1982 in Sydney, Australia by Kevin Bermeister and partner Mark Dyne. Ozisoft was one of the first interactive multitmedia companies. In 1987, Ozisoft began representing Sega Enterprises Japan (now formally known as Sega Corporation) in Australia and New Zealand. During this period, Ozisoft released a variety of Sega consoles, including the hugely successful Sega Mega Drive. By 1990 Ozisoft was Australia's largest international software distributor. Ozisoft only managed 9 titles.

Sega-Ozisoft distributed home entertainment and educational products and software in Australia and New Zealand such as Sega products plus software for PCs, Nintendo and Sony PlayStation. Mastertronics Group, distributed Sega video games in Europe. PF Magic is another Contender. Radica Games and Jakks Pacific notwithstanding. Pactronics & Imagineering. Sega Ozisoft owns 8 percent.

On the May 6, 1992, Sega Ozisoft Pty Ltd was established by Bermeister and Dyne. Sega Ozisoft has exclusively represented in Australia and New Zealand the world's largest and most foremost publishers including Virgin, Sierra, Viacom, Ocean, Accolade, Time Warner, Acclaim, Microprose and Starwave. The Sega Ozisoft franchise is one of the most successful in the multimedia area. On the March 31, 1998, Sega relinquished its controlling share and the company reverted to the name Ozisoft Pty Ltd. On the December 15, 1998, Infogrames Entertainment SA acquired majority shareholding in Ozisoft Pty Ltd, and it was renamed Infogrames Australia Pty Ltd. On April 15, 2002, Infogrames acquired 100% ownership. On the May 8, 2003, Infogrames Australia Pty Ltd changed to its most incarnation, Atari Australia Pty Ltd. Atari Australia's head office is located in Alexandria, Sydney.

Atari Australia has released industry leading titles including Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Colin McRae Rally, Driver, Unreal Tournament and Resident Evil.

On 7 July 2009, Atari Australia was completely acquired by Namco Bandai Holdings, and is no longer a subsidiary of Atari but rather one of Namco Bandai but the new company will still distribute Atari's titles in Australia.^[1] Namco Bandai Holdings already had a 30% share in Atari's Australian subsidiary. Later in 2009 Namco Bandai Holdings acquired Atari's European operations outright in one swoop.

References

1. ^ http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/?pageid=article&t=18087

External links

• Namco Bandai Partners website
• History of Atari Australia
• Atari Australia Pty Ltd profile at MobyGames