Bandai surpasses Sony to become Japan’s leading patent holder in gaming and entertainment

In an article published by Patent Result on Nov. 5, 2025, the company determined that Bandai, the company behind Pac-Man and Tekken, is the leading patent holder in gaming and entertainment in Japan, snatching the position from Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Patent Result also had something called a patent score, which records just how strong the patents of a company are. They calculate this through factors like the frequency of their patent being a basis to reject another company’s patent, as well as the frequency of the attempts by competitors to restrain the patent applicant.

The company has also ranked Bandai as the top company. Here are the top 10 companies in Japan ranked based on their patent scores:

• Bandai – 8,565.2 points
• Sony Interactive Entertainment – 6,631 points
• Gree Holdings – 5,121.9 points
• COLOPL – 4,979 points
• MIXI – 4,664.8 points
• Nintendo – 4,210.8 points
• Cygames – 3,633.3 points
• Sega – 2,763.2 points
• Pokémon – 2,377.3 points
• Bandai Namco Amusement – 2,021.6 points

Considering how much Nintendo has been in courts fighting copyright infringement, the company only ranked sixth.

Regarding the majority of Bandai’s patents, they’re mostly on toys, with one of its notable patents being “a highly interesting toy with a target object resembling a flower that can change color with temperature.”