Following the closures of the short-lived Gundam Evolution and Blue Protocol, Bandai Namco is fully absorbing its online game-focused studio.
On April 1, 2025, Bandai Namco will dissolve and absorb Bandai Namco Online (BNO), its subsidiary studio focused on online games.
Bandai Namco Online was established in 2009 with the express goal of developing MMO titles based on the company's properties for PC and consoles. Over the years, the developer released titles such as Dragon Ball Z: X KeeperZ, Gundam Evolution, and the Amazon Games-backed Blue Protocol.
In its translated post, Bandai Namco explained it was absorbing BNO due to "recent changes in the environment surrounding the game business, and with the aim of strengthening the business management system of the entire digital business." Gundam Evolution shut down just a year after its 2022 release, and Blue Protocol was scrapped this past August.
Before Blue Protocol's closure, BNO was facing insolvency, in part said to be owed to ballooning development costs. The game itself was only playable in Japan before its end, and Amazon was to handle its wider global release for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S as part of its continued MMO focus alongside its internally made New World.
According to its parent company, Bandai Namco Online's current titles, such as Gundam Tryve and Idolish 7, will be run by Bandai Namco proper after the absorption is complete. Even with losing one of its studios, Bandai Namco said it still aims at "providing high-quality content and diverse entertainment that can be played for a long time."
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