Report: Bandai Namco is cutting its workforce and cancelling several titles

Japanese publisher Bandai Namco is reducing the workforce in its Tokyo Office, Bloomberg reports, pressuring up to 200 employees to resign.

The publisher has also allegedly put several projects on hold, including a planned contract project with Nintendo and both a One Piece and Dragon Ball title. Thanks to strict Japanese labor laws, Bandai Namco is pushing its employees to resign voluntarily, moving 200 of its 1300 employees into rooms where they are given nothing to do.

Bandai Namco's troubles persist, despite a recent hit

Bloomberg states that nearly 100 of those employees have already resigned. The report follows Bandai Namco’s announcement yesterday that Dragon Ball Sparking Zero! sold 3 million units in 24 hours, making it the fastest selling Dragon Ball game to date.

Bandai Namco’s online subsidiary has been less successful. It was reported in June that the online game-focused subsidiary of Bandai Namco hit a net loss of 8.201 billion yen (or $51.35 million) during the 2023-2024 fiscal year. This was attributed to the disappointing performance of live service titles like Blue Protocol and Gundam Evolution.

The troubles at Bandai Namco come amidst an increase in graduate salaries at other Japanese studios, including From Software, Capcom and Atlus.