February 16^th, 2005 (12:06pm) - Namco has announced that Stan and Jan Berenstain have awarded Namco the exclusive worldwide interactive entertainment publishing rights to the classic children’s entertainment property, Berenstain Bears. The agreement allows Namco to create videogames based on the adored Berenstain Bears characters for all game systems.

“We are honored to work with a cherished property such as the Berenstain Bears,” said Jeff Lujan, Business Director, Namco Hometek Inc. “The combination of Namco’s game development expertise and the appeal of the Berenstain characters is a winning proposition.”

The Berenstain Bears have appeared regularly on television in more than 50 overseas markets including Hong Kong, U.K., Mexico, France and Spain. Books have also been published in nearly 20 territories and current and previously licensed Berenstain Bears merchandise includes children’s apparel, footwear, backpacks, bedding and bath accessories, toys, DVDs and home videos.

Responsible for all videogame product development, marketing and publishing, Namco will join the impressive list of Berenstain Bears licensing partners such as Fisher-Price, Columbia Tri-Star and Kelly Toys.

“Knowing Namco’s high quality reputation in the video games space, we couldn’t have chosen a better partner to make the Berenstain Bears video games a reality,” said Stan Berenstain, creator of the Berenstain Bears. “The Berenstain Bears family has been a part of the lives of so many people for more than four decades—we are proud to work with Namco to bring them to the interactive entertainment world.”