Brave group Inc., an IP development business, announced that it has signed a business alliance agreement with Bandai Namco Arts Inc. Brave group will strengthen the content development and overseas expansion of RIOT MUSIC, which aims to become the world’s number one virtual artist production company.
Brave group recently announced the “Entertainment (IP) 3.0 Concept” which aims to “create a BIG IP from smartphones” and “create an environment that facilitates the birth of a BIG IP”.
As the third announcement following “Taiban!” and “virtualtalk”, the company concluded a business alliance agreement with Bandai Namco Arts.
Through this alliance, Brave group will be able to leverage its strengths in “planning and production techniques that have earned it the number one position in VTuber views (*June 2018 results)” and “YouTube marketing know-how”, and Bandai Namco Arts’ strengths in “comprehensive three-dimensional production capabilities in video, music, and live performances”.
Through this collaboration, they aim to create a BIG IP from smartphones in the future.
Specific initiatives will be announced as they become available.
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Noguchi Keito, President of Brave group Inc.
I had the good fortune to hear that Bandai Namco Arts was going to focus on virtual business in the future.
At the time we spoke, our virtual artist production company, RIOT MUSIC, was still in the conceptual stage, but hearing about Bandai Namco Arts’ virtual vision gave us a boost, and with the determination to create the world’s best virtual artists, we discussed it with the current producer, and RIOT MUSIC, a music agency specializing in virtual artists, was born.
RIOT MUSIC aims to be the world’s number one virtual artist production company, and 50% of the production’s total audience is overseas users. While we wanted to strengthen our communication with overseas music fans and otaku culture, we felt that our power alone was still not enough.
In this context, we are very honored to have the opportunity to work with Bandai Namco Arts, which has a proven track record in music and video production both in Japan and overseas.
Brave group is good at creating IPs such as VTubers from scratch and has established a track record despite being a latecomer.
As we move from 1 to 10, and from 10 to 100, we would like to work together in various ways with the help of Bandai Namco Arts.
In the short term, we will be working on live events and various business development projects, which are difficult to achieve on our scale. In the medium to long term, we would like to develop RIOT MUSIC overseas for the global market. Our ultimate goal is to build on our position as the world’s leading virtual artist production company, and with the help of Namco Bandai Arts, which has a wealth of experience in anime production committees, we aim to have our artists used as theme songs in anime films.
Kamiyama Kouichi , Director, Bandai Namco Arts Inc.
When Bandai Namco Arts was considering entering the virtual online business, we had a chance to talk with Brave Group, and were very attracted by their enthusiasm and commitment to their content, their operations, and their producers.
I have high hopes that Brave group, with its expertise in virtual character development, and our experience in the live entertainment business with animation and real artists, will be able to create an IP that can be used globally.
In the future, as more virtual artists are born and the virtual live platforms become more and more crowded, I believe that the number of users who do not know how to enjoy themselves will increase. Through this initiative, we will not only develop content and foster virtual artists, but also propose new ways to enjoy live platforms to such customers, and work to accelerate the virtual entertainment field as much as possible.
