Following earlier reports of a fiscal year net loss of ¥29.08 billion ($316.14 million), Namco Bandai announced in August this year it would be merging its two US business arms--Namco Bandai Games America and Namco Networks America--in order to create a greater synergy between its console, mobile, and casual products. Namco COO Kenji Hisatsune told GameSpot at the time that the merger would see greater emphasis placed on social networks and making games that appeal to a wider audience.

This week Namco Bandai took its first step towards social gaming, announcing its plans to supply full-scale game content to the Facebook social network beginning this month. As reported by Japanese news site Andria Sang, the publisher is readying two English-only titles to debut on Facebook: City of Football and Treasure Abyss.

City of Football is a fantasy soccer game that uses official data from the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Liga Espanola, and UEFA Champions League. The game allows players to manage their own team, as well as pick and train their virtual players using a stock market-like system.

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