In a year flush with video-game-company layoffs and restructuring, Bandai Namco has reportedly canceled several titles including games featuring One Piece and Naruto licenses. In addition to those games, there was reportedly an unnamed contract project with Nintendo that has been shuttered as well.
In a report by Bloomberg, coinciding with the projects being terminated, it’s stated that the company is taking a traditional “Japanese approach to reduce staff and sending workers to rooms where they are given nothing to do, putting pressure on them to leave voluntarily” so they don’t receive any form of severance. The method is commonly referred to as oidashibeya, meaning “expulsion room.” The result has led to almost 100 resignations, but the company insists there is no such tactic in place.
“Our decisions to discontinue games are based on comprehensive assessments of the situation,” a Bandai Namco representative said. “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.”
Over the summer, the company further shuttered its long-running Tales of the Rays mobile game and said it would take down its MMO game Blue Protoco starting in January. “We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Amazon Games throughout the development of Blue Protocol,” Bandai Namco said in a statement. “Both of our teams are disappointed that we will not be able to deliver the game to players around the world.”
Bandai Namcon’s latest release, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero saw strong initial sales. The game, developed by Spike Chunsoft, sold more than 3 million units worldwide within its first 24 hours after its launch.
