Bandai Namco Studios staff silently reduced by over 100 people
The number of staff at Bandai Namco Studios, 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 online database of Japan’s Pension Service, 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).
Bandai Namco Studios′ company overview 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.
In October last year, Bloomberg reported that Bandai Namco Holdings allegedly placed 200 employees of Bandai Namco Studios in so-called expulsion rooms (or “oidashi beya”). 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.