Namco Bandai secures Dragon Ball rights for 5 years
Deal begins in 2010, but publisher will also release three titles this year
Publisher Namco Bandai has secured the US publishing rights for the Dragon Ball Z franchise for five years.
The agreement is for all major consoles and handheld systems, beginning in January 2010, but the publisher has also secured rights to release three Dragon Ball Z games by the end of this year.
"We are very excited to have signed this long term agreement with Toei Animation and FUNimation Entertainment, which grants Namco Bandai Games North American multiplatform rights to the testosterone-driven, action-packed world of Dragon Ball," commented Makoto Iwai, COO of Namco Bandai.
"This move reunites Namco Bandai with the Dragon Ball series in North America which will considerably increase our ability to develop titles that perfectly capture every nuance of what makes the Dragon Ball world exciting to the consumer."
The deal supersedes agreements in place with Atari, as Namco Bandai continues to pursue its stake in the troubled publisher.