Bandai Namco might be another game company to cut costs amid the turmoil in the games market. The Japanese publisher is said to have been pressuring workers to leave voluntarily.

Blue Protocol

After canceling several video games due to “lackluster demand,” Bandai Namco has begun a cost-cutting process. This includes cutting an undisclosed number of jobs, Bloomberg reported on October 15, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Instead of laying off people directly, the publisher has been sending some of the targeted employees to so-called “oidashi beya,” special rooms where workers have no specific tasks. As a result, people are pressured to leave voluntarily. Some Japanese companies use this practice due to the country’s strict labor laws.

According to Bloomberg, Bandai Namco Studios has moved roughly 200 of its 1,300 staff members to these “expulsion rooms” since April. Nearly 100 have already resigned, with more expected to quit their positions in the coming months.

Bandai Namco, however, denied this information, saying that it doesn’t have “oidashi beya” to pressure its employees. “Our decisions to discontinue games are based on comprehensive assessments of the situation,” the company told the publication. “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.”

The Japanese firm has overhauled its video game pipeline, resulting in ¥21 billion ($141 million) in writedowns in the three quarters leading up to December 2023. This process mostly affected mobile titles, including Tales of the Rays. Bandai Namco will also shut down its MMORPG Blue Protocol in January 2025.

Despite the news, Bandai Namco had already released several successful games this year. This includes the recently launched Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO, which sold over 3 million copies globally in just 24 hours.