Bandai Namco has started cutting its headcount and paused or cancelled some of its games due to lackluster demand.
That’s according to a new report from Bloomberg, which has revealed that Bandai Namco has seen employees shuffled about since April 2024. According to Bloomberg, it’s a result of the company canceling and pausing some of its projects due to “lackluster demand”.
Bloomberg reports that Bandai Namco has moved some of its employees to “rooms where they are given nothing to do” in an apparent attempt to make them voluntarily leave the company. According to its sources, the move has already seen nearly 100 people resign since April, with another 100 expected to resign in the coming months.
Japanese companies commonly use “Expulsion rooms,” known as “oi dashi beya” in Japanese, to get staff to leave voluntarily due to the country’s strict labor-protection laws. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company said, “Our decisions to discontinue games are based on comprehensive assessments of the situation. Some employees may need to wait a certain amount of time before they are assigned their next project, but we do move forward with assignments as new projects emerge.”
It continued, “There is no organization like an ‘oidashi beya’ at Bandai Namco Studios designed to pressure people to leave voluntarily.”
According to Bloomberg’s sources, Bandai Namco canceled the smartphone game Tales of the Rays and said it would take down big-budget online game Blue Protocol in January. In addition, it has also decided to “cancel pause development of several games, including ones that feature characters from animes Naruto and One Piece, as well as a project commissioned by Nintendo Co,” said Bloomberg.
What do you think of Bandai Namco’s practices in getting employees to leave? Let us know on the Insider Gaming forum.
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They cancelled titles earlier in the year or last year what did they cancel? They better still be making a follow up to Jump Force packed with every Shonen Jump franchise especially since Death Note is getting a game and Bleach is getting a game. The Arc System Works game too they need to update on what franchise is getting the fighting game. If anything I say invest more there instead of in Tekken since it seems like Tekken 8 won’t meet expectations thanks to bad decisions by Harada and others. Also they could do well with Sparking Zero DLC in the long term like just pack that game with characters like another 200 through DLC the missing characters and Super Dragon Ball Heroes.
They cancelled One Piece and Naruto games but Bleach and Death Note got games?!! Sword Art Online had a game from Dimps recently and Cursed Clash is still getting support. Pull the plug on Tekken! We better get a Jump Force 2/ follow up or else I swear this will get worse for Bandai. How stupid are they! The Arc System Shonen Jump game better happen if it’s One Piece that’s fine or a big crossover either works. Just end Tekken 8 support now before it gets worse and fire that team you see what sells its Sparking Zero. What Shonen Jump games unannounced are still happening outside Death Note?
We better still be getting a Shonen Jump crossover game! They better park that like they need Sparking Zero and then some like 200+ characters. Is Tekken 8 living up to expectations? It doesn’t seem so I’d say pull the plug there, everyone seems upset with the DLC and it doesn’t seem to have sold well. What was Bandai making for Nintendo? Pokken 2? Are they making the next Smash? Hopefully it has the same roster and Subspace.
Cancel Tekken don’t cancel Jump Force 2 or whatever it’s called!
Instead of doing this cancel future DLC for Tekken 8 and pull the world tour it’s a waste of money.