Bandai Namco is reportedly axing multiple games including those featuring characters from Naruto and One Piece amid a $144 million write off across its company.
A screenshot from Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (2024), Spike Chunsoft
Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki reported that these cuts are primarily hitting the company’s mobile game development, “Smartphone and online games have born the brunt of cooled sentiment, forcing Bandai Namco to overhaul its game title lineup, resulting in ¥21 billion ($141 million) in writedowns in the three quarters to December.”
He noted that the company “decided to either cancel or 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.”
With the games being cut, so are employees. Mochizuki added, “Video game publisher Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. is cutting its workforce after canceling several titles due to lackluster demand, according to people familiar with the matter.”
A screenshot of Gundam Breaker 4 (2024), CRAFTS & MEISTER Co., Ltd
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A Bandai Namco spokesman explained, “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.”
Furthermore, he specifically addressed allegations that the company was placing employees who were working on projects that are being canceled in “expulsion rooms,” where they are stationed without any work in the hope that the employees will resign. Mochizuki shared that a source informed him that 200 employees had been moved into these rooms and “nearly 100 have resigned.”
The spokesman said, “There is no organization like an ‘oidashi beya’ at Bandai Namco Studios designed to pressure people to leave voluntarily.”
Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections (2023), CyberConnect2 Co., Ltd.
Bandai Namco shut down its mobile game Tales of the Rays over the summer and its MMO Blue Protocol in January.
The company has a number of wildly successful mobile games including Dragon Ball Legends, Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle, One Piece Treasure Cruise RPG, One Piece Bounty Rush, Naruto x Boruto Ninja Voltage, My Hero Ultra Impact, Mobile Suit Gundam U.C. Engage, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, and others based on Sword Art Online and Reincarnated as Slime.
The company also found success with recent published releases such as Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO and Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. However, it looks like it has a massive flop upcoming with Unknown 9: Awakening.
A screenshot from Unknown 9: Awakening (2024), Reflector Entertainment
What do you make of Bandai Namco cutting staff and scrapping games and taking an over $140 million write off?
