KLab, Japanese mobile game developer behind titles like Bleach: Brave Souls and Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team, recently disclosed the results of a voluntary resignation program it ran in the face of financial struggles. As reported by GameBiz, only 47 employees agreed to buyouts, which is less than half of the company’s original target.
Back in May, KLab announced that that it would be asking around 100 full-time employees to accept voluntary redundancy between May 23 and June 6. As the company counted 389 employees at the time, they were looking to let go of more than a quarter of their workforce, which is a significant downsizing. The 47 employees who agreed to the terms officially left the company as of June 30, receiving special severance packages.
However, as KLab was unable to meet its target of 100 voluntary redundancies, the company says it will continue to push towards its original cost reduction plan through natural attrition, restricting new hires, and reassigning employees.
Although the developer has actually seen revenue from mobile games increase year-on-year, it has been unable to turn a profit due to ongoing development projects getting prolonged. In particular, the delay of EA Sports FC Tactical’s global release has resulted in significant financial strain. As a result, KLab has been in the red for the past three fiscal years.
Apart from downsizing its workforce, the company announced that it will be shifting its focus toward projects with a higher likelihood of success, upskilling its workforce, and introducing generative AI tools into its day-to-day business operations in an attempt to boost productivity.
KLab is currently developing Haikyuu!! FLY HIGH a sports-themed card game based on the Haikyuu!! anime series. The global launch is slated for July 31.
Although mass layoffs are rampant in the US game industry lately, Japan’s labor laws make it difficult to one-sidedly let go off full-time employees, which is likely why we are seeing cases of buyouts. Last year, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius developer Gumi let go off 80 employees in this way, and web3 game developer Enish asked an undisclosed number of staff to resign. Bandai Namco Studios also reduced staff by over 100 people, although the circumstances are unknown.
