{"id":56471,"date":"2026-02-05T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56471"},"modified":"2026-02-05T15:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T06:26:20","slug":"japanese-developer-colopl-lets-go-of-104-employees-after-number-of-voluntary-redundancy-applicants-exceeds-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-developer-colopl-lets-go-of-104-employees-after-number-of-voluntary-redundancy-applicants-exceeds-targets\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese developer COLOPL lets go of 104 employees after number\u00a0of\u00a0\u201cvoluntary redundancy\u201d applicants\u00a0exceeds\u00a0targets\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLOPL, which recently announced the release of KAZUMA KANEKO\u2019s Tsukuyomi<\/a> for the Switch, reported on February 4 that it has let go of 104 full-time employees who agreed to buyouts. Interestingly, the number of people who applied for voluntary redundancy significantly exceeds the company\u2019s initial downsizing target. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in November 2025, COLOPL announced<\/a> that it would carry out a workforce reduction after recording continued losses in its core game business. While its Square Enix-published title Dragon Quest Walk continues to perform well in Japan, newer releases, like Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter and Isekai \u221e Isekai, failed to meet revenue targets. Coincidentally, it\u2019s been announced that both games are scheduled to end services in April this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it initially planned to let go of 70 employees, COLOPL ended up receiving 104 applications for its voluntary redundancy program. Employees who had agreed to leave the company officially resigned as of January 31, 2026, receiving outplacement support and special severance packages from COLOPL. As a result of this and other related expenses, the company has recorded an extraordinary loss of 273 million yen, or approximately $1.72 million USD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dragon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

COLOPL is one of several Japanese mobile game developers who have in recent years\u00a0solicitated voluntary resignations<\/a>\u00a0to counter\u00a0financial\u00a0losses.\u00a0Since this\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a case of one-sided layoffs, though, the method\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0always work out as planned by the employer.\u00a0For example, Bleach: Brave Souls developer\u00a0KLab\u00a0did not manage to meet its downsizing target<\/a>\u00a0of 100\u00a0employees in 2025, gathering only 47\u00a0resignations.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The company has written down $1.72 million in severance and related expenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":56474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-56471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese developer COLOPL lets go of 104 employees after number\u00a0of\u00a0\u201cvoluntary redundancy\u201d applicants\u00a0exceeds\u00a0targets\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Amidst financial losses, COLOPL solicitated voluntary resignations from 70 employees, but 104 people ended up applying.\" \/>\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\/japanese-developer-colopl-lets-go-of-104-employees-after-number-of-voluntary-redundancy-applicants-exceeds-targets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese developer COLOPL lets go of 104 employees after number\u00a0of\u00a0\u201cvoluntary redundancy\u201d applicants\u00a0exceeds\u00a0targets\u00a0 - 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