New Gundam Game to Embrace Esports, Says Bandai Namco
Gundam isn’t new to the esports scene, but a new game will have a pretty major focus on the sport when it goes live. Mobile Suit Gundam, thanks to Bandai Namco brought the franchise into esports through Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost On. There have been a host of Gundam games over the years that could be considered competitive, such as the fighting game series Gundam: Battle Assault. During the first annual Gundam Conference, Koji Fujiwara (Bandai Namco’s Chief Gundam Officer) talked about the future of Gundam.
“I Can See Them; I Can See The Enemy!” – Char Aznable:
There aren’t too many things in life I love more than Mobile Suit Gundam. So when I hear “Gundam game coming to esports” I immediately get filled with hype. Koji Fujiwara discussed the future of Gundam, and what they’re doing to strengthen the franchise in general. There are so many things coming for fans of Gundam, whether they’re real-life statues, a live-action Gundam series on Netflix, but what we really want to see is the resurgence of Gundam esports.
Back in 2010, Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost On hit arcades and also found its way onto the PS4 console. It’s going to be one of the side tournaments at EVO 2021, which is already huge. There isn’t a lot of love in esports for Gundam, but that sounds like it’s going to change. During the conference, Bandai Namco revealed they are working on a new Gundam game, and it sounds like the focus is on esports. We saw a slide that said “Another esports tournament” and “New game coming soon”, so that makes us wonder what’s going to be going down.
There will be news forthcoming, but that’s all we’ve been teased with for now. Perhaps we can reach out to Bandai Namco and Fujiwara to see if we can get some teasers. What would you like to see in a Gundam esports game? Sure, a game like Extreme Vs. would be awesome where you pilot and fight in a 3D plane, but I’d also like to see a return to Mobile Suit Gundam fighting games. There’s a glut of major fighters right now, but there’s nothing that says we can’t have one more excellent one. We’ll keep you up to date as this changes.
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