Capcom And Bandai Namco Enter Unprecedented Cross-Licensing Deal

Following the Electronic Entertainment Expo last week, you'd think that Capcom and Bandai Namco would be bitter rivals with their forthcoming fighting games, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Dragon Ball FighterZ, going head to head against one another. But instead, the two are forming a neat little partnership that could see some big cross-promotions in the future.

The companies have announced that they have begun a cross-licensing agreement related to online matching for intellectual properties, including the Street Fighter series. While specific terms weren't revealed regarding what we'll see cross-promoted, this could be a promising move for both companies.

The purpose of the agreement, according to the press release, is to "improve the user experience" while pushing forward production of even more games and reducing development costs across the board, for both Capcom and Bandai Namco titles. They also look to utilize patents even better than before, which will allow them to "deliver even more exciting content" in the products to come.

Despite the fresh competition in fighting games, both Capcom and Bandai Namco have worked well in the past, with games that include Street Fighter x Tekken and the Project X Zone games, which also featured Sega characters. There could be a good chance that we'll finally see Bandai Namco's take on the cross-over, Tekken X Street Fighter, somewhere down the road as a result. For now, of course, fighting fans can enjoy the presence of Street Fighter alum Akira in Tekken 7, as he's quite a formidable opponent.

This could lead to some interesting cross-overs down the road as well. Could we possibly see the Dragon Ball characters going up against Street Fighter combatants at one point? Or maybe things will really get crazy with some Marvel vs. Namco, as projected with some RPG releases in Japan in the past? Whatever the case, this cross-promotion deal provides plenty of opportunities, and it'll be exciting to see what we get out of it.

For now, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is still set to arrive on September 19th, while Dragon Ball FighterZ will debut early next year. Both games will release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.