Bandai Namco reportedly cuts over 100 jobs in the past year

Bandai Namco has reportedly shed over a hundred employees between April 2024 and February 2025.

As reported by Automation, Bandai Namco's employee count has decreased by 117, from 1,294 in its overview to 1,177, according to public data from the Japan Pension Service as of February 4, 2025.

This comes after Bloomberg reported that Bandai Namco allegedly placed 200 employees in "expulsion rooms" to pressure them into resigning, a move linked to the cancellation of several games and development projects, including one for Nintendo. 

While Bandai Namco denied these claims, saying staff may have to wait for new assignments, the company's employee count has dropped by over 100 during the fiscal year, suggesting staff reductions occurred despite the denial.

Making changes 

Last year, Bandai Namco said it would dissolve its subsidiary, Bandai Namco Online, in April 2025, with its operations absorbed by the parent company under an "absorption-type merger." 

Bandai Namco Entertainment will take over the subsidiary's business, continuing to manage titles like Idolish Seven, SD Gundam Operations, and Gundam Tryve, as well as all customer contracts and liabilities. 

The move’s impact on staff remains unclear. More recently, the company shut down the Japanese servers for Blue Protocol in January 2025 and cancelled the game's Western release.