Gundam Universal Century Development Action Announced To Bring The UC Into Reality

Bandai Namco gave a press conference today talking about the Gundam Universal Century Development Action, with various social initiatives to both strengthen the brand and take an active role in making the world a better place.

Dubbed the Gundam Conference, Chief Gundam Officer Koji Fujiwara’s presentation touched on two important points- strengthening the Gundam brand both domestically and overseas, as well turning the Gundam IP into a Social Property, giving it more value.

Gundam Universal Century Development Action

The real star of the show was the Gundam Universal Century Development Action plan (GUDA) which sees a series of pro-social steps for the Gundam brand to give back to society in line with the core values of the Gundam IP.

Fujiwara mentioned that a key goal of this was to turn the Gundam IP (Intellectual property) into an SP (Social Property), meaning he wanted it to be more than just a toy or an anime.

Ultimately, he says the goal was “preparing for a real Universal Century”, referencing the age in the Gundam anime where humanity unites on a global level.

He mentioned that many of Tomino, the creator of Gundam’s predicitions about the future were coming true, such as a rise in pollution an overcrowding. With the Universal Century Development Action, Fujiwara hopes that the Gundam brand becomes a force to move us towards Tomino’s ideals, rather than his warnings.

Part of this is the Gunpla Recycling Project, which promotes recycling the plastic runners used to make Gunpla. This reduces the amount of plastic in circulation, as the old runners can be recycled to be made into new kits. The initiative isn’t new, and was even promoted via a bizarre episode of Gundam Build Fighters Battlogue.

He also mentioned how the plants for making Gunpla practiced thermal recycling, using the excess heat from the Gunpla making process to be converted into energy again, reducing the plant’s carbon footprint.

Finally, he also talked about the Gundam Open Innovation, wherein the brand would work to foster the next generation of minds to help build their ideal future. According to Fujiwara, they want to “Think about each possibility using Gundam”- and considering the franchise is now 42 years old, it’s not hard to believe there would be people in the science and technology sectors who might have been inspired by the adventures of Amuro Ray.

 Strengthening the Gundam Brand

As previously speculated, Fujiwara confirmed that Bandai Namco Entertainment was trying to reach more fans overseas, with various strategies. One of these is the Life-Sized Statue Initiative, which sees the installation of life-sized Gundams all across the world.

These include the 1:1 Unicorn Gundam in Odaiba, Tokyo, the recently completed RX 78-2 in Yokohama, as well as the recently unveiled Freedom Gundam in Hong Kong.

Aside from that, they also have multiple film projects in the works, such as the previously-announced Live-Action film, as well as the Gundam SEED Reignited project, celebrating 20 years since the iconic Gundam SEED.

Aside from just producing more content, Fujiwara confirmed that getting the content out there is also important. He mentions one such method, which is having Netflix distribute Gundam content outside of Japan and China such as with Gundam Hathaway, the recently announced movie as well as Char’s Counterattack, a much older movie.

Fujiwara also stressed that they were looking to expand the Gundam Base shops with more branches outside of Japan. Currently, many of the ones outside of Japan are only pop-up stores, such as the North American branch.

Gundam Games

Fujiwara also said they would strengthen the brand through their gaming branch, even focusing more in esports. Currently, the Gundam brand has 3 big games: Gundam Breaker Mobile, the mobile spinoff of the build-your-own Gundam game, Gundam Battle Operation 2, the tactical squad-based shooter, as well as Gundam Extreme Vs Maxiboost On, an arena fighter.

Fujiwara said they could expect another game to be released soon with a focus on esports, but didn’t specify a title or release window.

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