Bandai Namco has reportedly reduced its Japanese workforce by over 100

Bandai Namco has lost over 100 developers since high-profile cancellations last year

Bandai Namco has reportedly reduced its Japanese workforce by over 100

Following previous reports that Bandai Namco was attempting to reduce its workforce, the company appears to have seemingly let go of over 100 staff in the last year.

According to Automaton, a filing on Japan’s online pension database shows that between April 2024 and February 2025, 117 staff have left the company. This doesn’t clarify if those who left the company did so voluntarily or not.

Last year, Bloomberg reported that the company was “taking a traditionally Japanese approach to reducing staff and sending workers to rooms where they are given nothing to do, putting pressure on them to leave voluntarily.”

It was alleged that the company was engaging in the practice of Oidashi Beya, a method used by Japanese corporations to isolate employees by giving them no tasks, in an effort to get them to leave of their own volition, rather than be let go and receive severance.

It was claimed in the same report last year that Bandai had ceased production on several titles, including games featuring the One Piece and Naruto licenses, as well as a contract project with Nintendo.

Bandai Namcon’s latest release,  Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has seen strong sales. The game, developed by Spike Chunsoft, surpassed a total of 5 million units sold worldwide since launch, according to the publisher. 

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