{"id":43824,"date":"2025-02-06T13:19:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T04:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=43824"},"modified":"2025-02-06T17:02:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T08:02:34","slug":"bandai-namco-studios-staff-silently-reduced-by-over-100-people-japan-pension-service-database-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/bandai-namco-studios-staff-silently-reduced-by-over-100-people-japan-pension-service-database-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Bandai Namco Studios staff silently reduced by over 100 people, Japan Pension Service database shows\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The number of staff at <strong>Bandai Namco Studios<\/strong>, the developer of Tekken 8, Scarlet Nexus and Blue Protocol, has decreased by 117 between April 2024 and February 2025. This is according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.nenkin.go.jp\/do\/search_section\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">online database of Japan\u2019s Pension Service<\/a>, which contains information on the number of people each business establishment has enrolled under their employee social insurance (in other words, the number of insured employees).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1093\" height=\"451\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1093px) 100vw, 1093px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-header.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43826\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-header.jpg 1093w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-header-380x157.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-header-768x317.jpg 768w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">via <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.nenkin.go.jp\/do\/search_section\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Japan Pension Service<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Bandai Namco Studios\u2032 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bandainamcostudios.com\/en\/company\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">company overview<\/a> states that as of April 1, 2024, the developer counted 1,294 employees. On the other hand, the Japan Pension Service database (which was last updated on February 4, 2025) indicates that the number of employees is now down to 1,177.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"977\" height=\"442\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 977px) 100vw, 977px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43827\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-001.jpg 977w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-001-380x172.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-001-768x347.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In October last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2024-10-15\/bandai-namco-begins-to-cut-headcount-after-culling-game-titles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a> reported that Bandai Namco Holdings allegedly placed 200 employees of Bandai Namco Studios in so-called expulsion rooms (or \u201coidashi beya\u201d). Insiders alleged that this was done to coerce staff into resigning voluntarily. This action was reportedly a result of the discontinuation of several games run by the company, as well as the cancellation of ongoing development projects, including one for Nintendo.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time, Bandai Namco explained that their staff may have to wait for some time before they get assigned to a new project. However, they denied using expulsion rooms to pressure people to resign, or other such unsavory business practices alleged by anonymous leak site <a href=\"https:\/\/leakpress.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LeakPress<\/a>. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though insider claims about oidashi beya were refuted, it seems that staff at Bandai Namco Studios was indeed silently reduced by over 100 people during the ongoing fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1337\" height=\"755\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1337px) 100vw, 1337px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-003.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Protocol\" class=\"wp-image-43830\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-003.jpg 1337w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-003-380x215.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-003-768x434.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On a related note, Bandai Namco Holdings recently announced that its online game subsidiary Bandai Namco Online will be dissolved and <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/bandai-namco-online-developer-of-blue-protocol-to-be-absorbed-by-bandai-namco-entertainment-and-disappear\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">folded into Bandai Namco Entertainment<\/a> as of April this year. Bandai Namco Online and Bandai Namco Studios co-developed the MMORPG Blue Protocol, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/blue-protocol-to-end-service-without-making-it-to-the-west\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prematurely shut down<\/a> on January 18 and contributed to significant losses for the group.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The number of staff at Bandai Namco Studios, the developer of Tekken 8 and Blue Protocol, has decreased by 117 between April 2024 and February 2025. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":43829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-43824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bandai Namco Studios staff silently reduced by over 100 people, Japan Pension Service database shows\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The number of staff at Bandai Namco Studios, the developer of Tekken 8 and Blue Protocol, has decreased by 117 between April 2024 and February 2025.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/bandai-namco-studios-staff-silently-reduced-by-over-100-people-japan-pension-service-database-shows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bandai Namco Studios staff silently reduced by over 100 people, Japan Pension Service database shows\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The number of staff at Bandai Namco Studios, the developer of Tekken 8 and Blue Protocol, has decreased by 117 between April 2024 and February 2025.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/bandai-namco-studios-staff-silently-reduced-by-over-100-people-japan-pension-service-database-shows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T04:19:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T08:02:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43824-002.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1315\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"751\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bandai Namco Studios staff silently reduced by over 100 people, Japan Pension Service database shows\u00a0 - 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43824"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43854,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43824\/revisions\/43854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}