Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Touring Japan's Gundam Factory With Armored Core's Chief Producer
Earlier this summer, amid an incoming typhoon, Game Informer visited the Bandai Hobby Center Shinkan, the 132,000-square-foot factory where the entertainment company manufactures its iconic Gundam model kits. If you purchase a new Gundam model kit at your local store today, it originated in this facility in Shizuoka, Japan. The factory contains 35 plastic color-molding machines – 25 electric and 10 hydraulic – all helping produce millions of models yearly.
Bandai Spirits employee Miyuki Nakagiri, the subject matter expert on how exactly the factory operates, escorts us through the building. Our translator during this tour is Atsuo Yoshimura, a video game production manager who’s worked at Bandai Namco for the last 17 years. Notably, Yoshimura worked on last year’s Elden Ring – Game Informer’s 2022 Game of the Year, and most recently, Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon. Additionally, Yoshimura was instrumental in helping to coordinate Game Informer’s recent Armored Core VI cover story trip.
Watch Us Tour Japan's Gundam Factory:
Products In This Article
Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon
Blake Hester contributed to this article.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
