Bandai Namco Is Canceling Games and Firing Staff

Bandai Namco joins a number of game industry companies that have begun canceling games and firing staff in recent months. In a report by Bloomberg, Bandai Namco has begun to fire 200 of its 1,300 employees, with 100 resigning so far. [Thanks, Bloomberg!]

Firing began in April of 2024, following the cancellations of numerous internal Bandai Namco projects. A special note was taken of the cancellations and shifting away from mobile and PC projects. During the Summer of 2024 Bandai Namco shuttered the smartphone entry in the Tales of series Tales of the Rays and has already made plans to close out Blue Protocol in January of 2025.

Development on other titles has also been slowed, paused, or in some cases outright canceled. This includes titles based on the Naruto and One Piece IPs being cancelled or shelved indefinitely, according to Bloomberg. In addition, a title commissioned by Nintendo has also been put on ice, according to this same report.

Bandai Namco is not the first studio to announce steps back from live-service and mobile games. Square Enix announced the shut downs of several of its mobile titles, including Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia, NieR Reincarnation, and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius during the course of 2024. In addition, layoffs and employee firings have continued to hit across Western game development studios, including the likes Bungie, Activision Blizzard, and SEGA of America.

At this time, there is no information about what this means for the studios underneath Bandai Namco’s umbrella or what could happen to other games currently in development.