Several studios and publishers are still undergoing restructuring which has led to the layoff of over 13,000 employees in the game industry this year. Bandai Namco appears to be the latest publisher seeking to cut down its workforce.
A Bloomberg report citing insider information claimed the company is, taking a traditionally Japanese approach to reducing staff and sending workers to rooms where they are given nothing to do, putting pressure on them to leave voluntarily”.
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It was alleged that Bandai Namco has moved 200 workers to such rooms and that around 100 of them have already resigned. The company’s representative told Bloomberg that their “decisions to discontinue games are based on comprehensive assessments of the situation”.
“Some employees may need to wait a certain amount of time before they are assigned their next project, but we do move forward with assignments as new projects emerge. There is no organization like an ‘oidashi beya’ at Bandai Namco Studios designed to pressure people to leave voluntarily.”
Bandai Namco has cancelled development on multiple games, including ones related to ‘ONE PIECE’ and ‘NARUTO’
They are also reducing staff through a traditional Japanese approach by “sending workers to rooms where they are given nothing to do, putting pressure on them to leave… pic.twitter.com/S4cgyoeCxY
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 15, 2024
Oidashi Beya is a gimmick used in Japanese corporations to isolate workers with no tasks, thereby putting them under pressure to voluntarily leave the company. This helps the company to save any layoff benefits that should have gone to the employee.
It was also claimed that the publisher has canceled several titles, including titles featuring Naruto and One Piece licenses. A contract project with Nintendo was also ditched by the publisher.
Death Note published by Bandai Namco has been rated by the Taiwan Committee
While the internal turmoil in Bandai Namco rages on, the publisher appears set to release a new game titled Death Note. The Taiwan Fame Rating Committee has rated a Death Note game published by Bandai Namco for PS5 and PS4.
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According to a report by the Japanese magazine Gematsu, the PG-15 title can be translated from Traditional Chinese as Death Note: Shadow Mission. However, that is about all we know about the game at the moment.
There have been several theories about what kind of game Death Note would be. While some think it would be a werewolf-like game others believe it would likely be a graphic novel. The screenshot by Gematsu shows the rating committee has categorized the genre to “Other”.
The Death Note series has birthed live-action adaptations, including the one by Netflix. Would you resign if you were taken to a room where you did nothing? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
