Bandai Namco Silently Laid Off Over 100 Personnel

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Summary

  • Bandai Namco Entertainment’s employee count decreased by 117 between April 2024 and Feb 2025.
  • Reports of layoffs at Bandai Namco come amid the success of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero.
  • The gaming industry sees a trend of layoffs and studio closures continuing into 2025.

It appears that even gaming giants like Bandai Namco Entertainment are not exempt from the ongoing trend of layoffs and studio shutdowns in the gaming industry. Recently, they seem to have significantly decreased their staff count.

Unofficially, it seems there’s been a significant decrease in the workforce at the company.

Japan Pension Service Lists Reduced Number of Employees For Bandai Namco

Based on data from Japan’s Pension Service’s online database (which stores information about the number of employees each company enrolls in their employee social security), it shows that Bandai Namco Entertainment lost 117 workers between April 2024 and February 2025.

Bandai Namco Entertainment’s company profile indicates that as of April 1, 2024, they employed 1,294 people. However, according to the Japan Pension Service database, last updated on February 4, 2025, the current number of employees at Bandai Namco has decreased to 1,177.

Last October, a report alleged that the company had been using an unorthodox method known as “Oidashi Beya” or “forced resignations.” Essentially, this strategy seemed to involve pressuring employees to leave voluntarily rather than terminating their employment outright.

It seems peculiar that Bandai Namco would let go of a substantial number of employees given their recent announcement this week about Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero selling five million copies (not including shipments).

This trend, stemming from numerous studio closures and layoffs observed in the industry last year and persisting into 2025, has seen one of Ubisoft’s major UK studios shutter within the first month of this year. Microsoft has also been impacted, although the exact number of employees affected remains uncertain.

Lately, it’s been reported that BioWare is experiencing layoffs due to the disappointing sales of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. In a similar situation, yesterday we learned that Iron Galaxy Studios, known for creating Killer Instinct and Rumbleverse, had to let go of 66 employees in an attempt to prevent financial collapse.

It seems unfortunate that we might witness an increase in announcements about studio shutdowns over the next few weeks and months.

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2025-02-06 21:38