Cross Crisis Series



The Cross Crisis Series (クロスクライシスシリーズ) is a crossover series of eight collaborative games co-developed and published by either B.B. Studio (Banpresto) under Bandai Namco Entertainment's management or Arc System Works from 2019 to 2022 in cooperation with various Japanese game companies, including Capcom, Sega and Arc System Works and entertainment companies, such as Toei, Toho, and Tsuburaya.

Referring to eight "secret" projects by Japan's top publishers, Banpresto and Arc System Works signed a multi-million-yen partnership deal with the aforementioned companies to externally-develop six new AAA games together, three fighting games and three RPGs, operating as either the developer and/or publisher under each of them, with the apparent goal of boosting profits and 9th generation hardware sales and showing third-party support in an attempt to restore the popularity of console gaming and reclaim Japan's dominance over the West in the video game industry.

Titles
The following games below are canonical installments of the series released in both marketing and chronological orders.

Development
On May 30, 2018, Tatsumi Kimishima, the CEO of Nintendo, said in an interview that he felt that "the Western gaming industry is becoming more popular worldwide than Japanese gaming". He also expressed his concerns on the "decline of console gaming" in favor of the ever-growing popularity of mobile gaming and the "losings of the Japanese game market to American sources: a major turnaround since the 1983 video game crash". Also, surveys showed that as of the start of summer 2018, Western companies like Rockstar, NetherRealms, Bethesda and Ubisoft were making better and higher-quality games than Japanese-made games.

On December 21, 2018, in an interview with Sam Imbecile, a game developer who had been working in Bandai Namco Games for a year and director of Project X Zone 3, he expressed interest into expanding the story and creating a series behind the game's story. He also stated that he wished to bring the Japanese game industry, as well as console gaming itself, back to its "position of dominance in the entertainment industry in this age of social media to survive, just like the old days".

Reception
With extensive marketing and advertising, the series was an extensive success, with all the games receiving critical acclaim and selling a grand total of $5.3 billion worldwide.

Trivia

 * Each installment in the series was meant to celebrate a milestone of a certain company or franchise.
 * Namco X Capcom: Crisis was released to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Capcom and 65th anniversary of Bandai Namco.
 * Mahou Shoujo Cross All-Stars commemorates the 65th anniversary of the Nakayoshi Magazine imprint and the 15th anniversary of the Pretty Cure series.
 * Anime Complex: Cross Arena 2020 was released not only to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Bandai Namco, but also of Toei Animation and the Nakayoshi Magazine, as well as Aniplex's 25th anniversary, Kadokawa Shoten's 75th anniversary and Shuiesha's 95th anniversary.
 * The release of Super Hero Taisen XX: Lost Heroes was in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Kamen Rider, the 45th anniversary of Super Sentai, the 55th anniversary of Ultraman, the 15th anniversary of Garo and the 70th anniversary of Toei Company.
 * Super Project Cross Tag Battle features characters from Toei Animation and Kamen Rider to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Toei Animation, the 50th anniversary of Kamen Rider, 70th anniversary of Toei Company and the 10th anniversary of Trigger, the studio behind Kill la Kill.
 * Chou Super Robot Wars AE was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Super Robot Wars series.
 * Later, Chou Super Robot Wars M would celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sunrise's founding, as well as the 50th anniversary of Mazinger Z.
 * The release of Project X Zone 3: War of Infinite Worlds – Ultimate Edition was released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Project X Zone series, as well as Shogakukan's 100th anniversary.
 * Nearly all of the games in the series have "X"/"Cross" in their titles, with the exception of Chou Super Robot Wars Æ.￼
 * All of the game's theme songs are sung by various veteran Japanese singers, mostly by JAM Project.
 * In the series, only three of the eight games (Namco X Capcom: Crisis, Super Project Cross Tag Battle and Project X Zone 3) are packed with English dubs for their international release while the other five (Mahou Shoujo Cross All-Stars, Cross Arena 2020, Super Robot Wars U, Super Hero Taisen XX and Chou Super Robot Wars AE) do not.