Namco Bandai Facing Extraordinary $342M Loss, Looking to Cut Workforce by 10%

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Facing "extraordinary losses" of up to 31 billion yen (~$342 million USD) for the fiscal year ending in March 2010, publisher Namco Bandai has announced a new "group restart plan" in the hopes of lowering costs and significantly reducing its global workforce.

As part of the plan, the company behind Tekken and Pac-Man will be soliciting employees for early voluntary retirement in hopes of reducing its workforce by 630 (about 10% of the current 7000) by the end of 2010. The move accounts for a loss of roughly 2 billion yen (~$22 million USD) but is expected to save 3.5 billion yen (~$38 million USD) across the next fiscal year.

In addition to "reviewing the optimum number of personnel in each business," the company will also institute several other initiatives, including a "group organizational restructuring," "improved quality in home game software," and a new branch, Namco Bandai Live, that will focus on "stage video and music live performances."

As for the reasons behind the expected "extraordinary losses," Namco blamed "weak market conditions" and "sluggish results," noting that Tekken 6 represents the only video game release of its current fiscal year to meet or perform above projections.

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
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    February 2, 2010 10:33 AM

    It would help if they released something once in a while.

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      February 2, 2010 10:38 AM

      Yeah, what did they have besides tekken?

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        February 2, 2010 10:50 AM

        I'm having trouble remembering anything they put out this year as well.

        Looking at their gamer's day back in august: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/04/29/joystiq-roundup-namco-bandai-editors-day-2009/
        Most of that wasn't released, was complete crap, or for the wii and psp. PSP is in its death throws and the Wii is where third party goes to die.

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          February 2, 2010 11:50 AM

          Yeah. I'll jump on "Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked". . . what? No. Not really. I Agree. Much of that is crap. I can see why Tekken is the only one that's selling, at least in the States.

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        February 2, 2010 11:50 AM

        Soul Caliber?

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          February 2, 2010 1:02 PM

          IMO soul calibur has been going downhill for a while gameplay wise, and the last actual fighting game, excluding I think a psp game, soul calibur 4 was in 2008, so not in this last fiscal year loss report

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        February 2, 2010 4:24 PM

        Namco Bandai 2009 releases, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Namco_Bandai_games

        Afro Samurai (360, PS3)
        Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 (PS2)
        Klonoa (Wii)
        One Piece: Unlimited Cruise (Wii)
        SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny (PSP)
        Tales of VS (PSP)
        Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion (PSP, 360, PS3, Arcade)
        Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)
        Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 (PSP)
        Tales of Graces (Wii)


        Okaaaay, I don't even know how many of those were offered in the US and European markets, and which ones were Japan exclusives. Not much stands out there.

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