Jakks Pacific, Namco Extend TV Game Partnership

Ahead of its April 26th Q1 earnings call, standalone 'TV Games' manufacturer Jakks Pacific Inc. has announced that its partnership with Namco Bandai has been extended, giving Jakks full rights to continue development of TV Games based on Namco properties like Pac-Man. Namco Bandai and Jakks' partnership has continued for the past four years and, though still somewhat a periphery to the main games industry, have proven quite popular with a mass audience, with Jakks senior VP of marketing John Ardell noting, "To date we have sold more than 15 million units based on Namco’s top-selling franchise and look forward to at least another three year-run with the titles." According to earlier reports from 2005, The NPD Group found that 20 percent of adults aged 17 to 54 live in a household where at least one "plug & play" TV console game is present. Said Namco Bandai America VP and COO Makoto Iwai, “Jakks Pacific has done a fantastic job of packaging classic games in its simple to use TV Games format for fans of Pac-Man and other Namco titles around the world. The introduction of Jakks’ new upcoming Namco units is an incredible value that will entice gamers of all ages.”