HTC VIVEPORT Partners With BANDAI NAMCO Pictures To Bring Its Famous Anime To Life In VR

TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VIVEPORT, HTC's pioneering VR app store and subscription service platform, today announced a strategic alliance with BANDAI NAMCO Pictures (BN Pictures), the leading animation studio and production company, to bring BN Pictures' well-known animated content to a new dimension in virtual reality (VR).

Over the next few months, new services will be made available on Viveport enabling users from hard-core players to casual viewers to enjoy new immersive animations and virtual social interactions. Known for producing original animation series with strong merchandising potential, such as the 'Aikatsu!' series, the 'Battle Spirits' series and the 'Tiger & Bunny' series, BN Pictures also creates animations based on hit comic titles such as the 'Gintama' series and 'Sergeant Keroro' series. Viveport and BN Pictures will work closely together to create and evolve the VR ecosystem, to allow access to a wide range of virtual experiences for consumers.

VR is changing people's behavior - in design, marketing, education, training, socializing and entertainment. Viveport has been an essential part of HTC's position as a global pioneer in VR, providing a well-rounded content platform for a wide variety of VR experiences, and continually seeks new opportunities to serve up the best, immersive experience in the fields of games, entertainment, events, exploration, education and more. This partnership with BN Pictures enables HTC to expand its intellectual property (IP) portfolio, while for BN Pictures, this partnership vastly broadens access to its content for users around the world.

"The future of virtual reality is about delivering experiences and exploring infinite possibilities to be realized," said Joseph Lin, President of VIVEPORT. "We are honored to become BN Pictures' first VR partner. Through this collaboration, we can bring animation content to a higher level and push the frontiers to unlock the full potential of virtual reality. In the next few months, anime content will be available on Viveport and more virtual experiences will be delivered to our audience. Please stay tuned – more exciting things are on the way!"

OZAKI Masayuki, President and CEO of BANDAI NAMCO Pictures said, "We at BANDAI NAMCO Pictures are an animation production company that has produced and owned numerous TV series, OVAs, Web animations, and theatrical films, and in particular, we continue to actively produce original works. By combining the original animation planning and production know-how that we have cultivated over the years with HTC's advanced technological capabilities and strength as a communications platform, we will be able to create an environment where fans can enjoy experiences together, transcending physical limitations, as if they were diving directly into the world of our creations from anywhere in the world. We are very much looking forward to evolving this newly born space together with our fans."

This partnership will initially focus on the integration of animation content, development and distribution resources from both companies, ongoing collaborations on new animation and IP development, and robust exploration of new business opportunities.  Through the collaboration with BN Pictures, Viveport will continue to enrich and diversify the content for mobile and social VR platforms – creating new and fun virtual entertainment.

About HTC
HTC Corporation aims to bring brilliance to life. As a global innovator in smart mobile devices and technology, HTC has produced award-winning products and industry firsts since its inception in 1997, including the critically acclaimed HTC U and Desire lines of smartphones. The pursuit of brilliance is at the heart of everything we do, inspiring best-in-class design and game-changing mobile and virtual reality experiences for consumers around the world. HTC is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 2498). www.htc.com.

About VIVEPORT
VIVEPORT is a global platform, VR subscription service and app store operating in more than 70 countries. Customers can experience over thousands of VR apps and games while content creators have the most ways to distribute and monetize their content. VIVEPORT supports a wide range of virtual reality headsets including PC, standalone and mobile devices. VIVEPORT Infinity launched as the world's first unlimited VR subscription service in 2019.

For more information on VIVEPORT, please visit: https://www.viveport.com/

About BANDAI NAMCO PICTURES
Head offices in Nerima, Tokyo, headed by OZAKI Masayuki (President and CEO). The company was established in April 2015 as a spin-off company of Sunrise Inc, and operates under the banner name "BN Pictures". Known for producing original animation series with strong merchandising potential such as 'Aikatsu!' series, 'Battle Spirits' series and the 'TIGER & BUNNY' series. Additionally, BANDAI NAMCO Pictures also produces animations based on hit comic titles such as the 'Gintama' series, and 'Sergeant Keroro' series. https://www.bn-pictures.co.jp 

HTC, VIVEPORT, and the VIVEPORT logo are the trademarks or registered trademarks of HTC Corporation. All other names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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SOURCE HTC VIVE