Bandai Namco reveals it recently cancelled five games, saying it plans stricter quality control

Bandai Namco has confirmed that it recently cancelled at least five games in development, and said it plans to have stricter quality control going forward.

For its third fiscal quarter ended in December, the publisher said that its digital division (which mainly includes video games) saw an 8.9% drop in net sales compared to the same period last year, and a 96.5% drop in income.

In a statement about the figures, the publisher noted that while Dragon Ball and One Piece games remain stable in Japan and overseas, and while Armored Core 6 was “popular”, one of the main reasons for the large drop in profit was that Elden Ring sold a lot of copies during the last fiscal year and that hasn’t been replicated by another title this year.

It also noted that a review of its development process led to a “loss on disposal”, suggesting some projects had been cancelled.

“In the digital business, in addition to valuation losses related to new online game titles and other titles introduced this fiscal year, we recorded a loss on disposal due to a review of title organization with a view to the next mid-term plan,” it said.

“In the future, we will build an optimal and well-balanced title portfolio, examine our development system carefully, and strengthen development with an emphasis on quality.”

In a Q&A following the financial results briefing, a Bandai Namco representative shed more light on this, confirming that games had been cancelled.

“Disposal of work-in-progress was decided in accordance with internal rules regarding evaluation, and the online games and other products subject to this disposal were also implemented in accordance with these rules,” they explained.

“We have also decided to discontinue the development of at least five other titles under development and have recorded a loss on disposal.

“In addition, since the second half of the previous fiscal year, we have changed our development structure, setting stricter standards for proceeding with development, narrowing down titles, and changing the method of recording development expenses. The associated technical research expenses for this were higher than expected at the beginning of the year.

“Due to the longer development period for games, the time from investment to payback is also lengthening. In addition to narrowing down titles, we are considering the best way to optimise our titles by classification, such as strategic worldwide titles and casual titles for light users.”

Despite the large drop in profits, the studio did at least note that Tekken 8 has proved to be a success, selling more than two million copies since its release.

“Tekken 8, which is already on sale, is also ahead of expenses for this fiscal year, but it has been well received by fans and is expected to contribute to repeat sales in the next fiscal year,” it said.

“As for the lineup of titles under development, we are preparing large-scale downloadable content for Elden Ring, and a new Dragon Ball game, so please look forward to these titles.”