Bandai Namco Studios Lays Off Over 100 Employees

Bandai Namco Studios, developer of the Tekken franchise, has reportedly seen a staff reduction of over 100 employees between April 2024 and February 2025. 

This information comes from the Japan Pension Service database, which tracks the number of employees enrolled in social insurance across various businesses.

According to the most recent update from the database, as of February 4, 2025, Bandai Namco Studios, which previously employed 1,294 people as of April 2024, now has 1,177 employees. This marks a loss of 117 staff members in less than a year, despite the recent success of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero.

In October 2024, Bloomberg revealed that up to 200 employees were allegedly placed in “oidashibeya” (expulsion rooms) to pressure them into resigning voluntarily. Although the company denied these claims, calling them “unfounded,” insiders had pointed to canceled projects, including one for Nintendo.

Also, Bandai Namco Holdings recently announced that Bandai Namco Online, a subsidiary responsible for several of the company’s online games, including Blue Protocol, reported a net loss of ¥8.2 billion (over $51 million) in the fiscal year ending March 2024 and will be dissolved and merged into Bandai Namco Entertainment as of April 2025.

As of February 6, 2025, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. has a market capitalization of approximately ¥2.52 trillion (about $18.84 billion).