Publisher Bandai Namco is laying off employees following the cancellation of several games, according to Bloomberg who spoke with people familiar with the matter.
The sources claim Bandai Namco is taking a traditionally Japanese approach to reduce its numbers of employees by sending them to empty rooms with nothing to do, which puts pressure on them to leave voluntarily. This this known as oidashi beya, or “expulsion rooms,” in Japan.
Bandai Namco Studios has reportedly moved 200 of about 1,300 staff to such empty rooms and nearly 100 have resigned with more expected to leave in the coming months.
Bloomberg states “employees are typically given no work-related tasks, but are left with the knowledge that their performance will give managers ammunition to cut severance when they do leave. Many employees use their time in such rooms to look for other jobs.”
A Bandai Namco representative told Bloomberg: “Our 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.”
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
Full Article – https://www.vgchartz.com/article/462760/report-bandai-namco-cancels-several-games-and-cutting-workforce/