Bandai Namco Online and Bandai Namco Studios record losses(primarily due to Blue Protocol)

[Oregano]

Gamebiz reported this but Automaton Media now has English language articles up. Bandai Namco Online and Bandai Namco Studios have reported their financials for the last FY and have made fairly significant losses, with Bandai Namco Online becoming insolvent. Whilst the primary culprit is Blue Protocol BNS also had some cancellations and restructuring which have been written down.

BNO

Bandai Namco Online in state of insolvency due to 8.2 billion yen loss and negative net income - AUTOMATON WEST

Bandai Namco's online game subsidiary becomes insolvent after 8.2 billion loss and two-year consecutive deficit.

automaton-media.com

BNS

Bandai Namco Studios, developer of Tekken 8, sees negative annual income for the first time since founding - AUTOMATON WEST

Bandai Namco Studios, subsidiary of Bandai Namco Entertainment, reports 3.9 billion yen loss and a negative annual net income.

automaton-media.com

 

[MegaXZero]

Staggering losses for the studio. Its surprising more hasn’t come out of this.

 

[BoktaiFan]

This is what I fear for most studios chasing GAAS/AAA.

If your one big game fails what then?

 

[Joseki]

Jesus this is a bloodbath for both studios.

I'm curious to see if this major losses will become a main topic of focus for Bandai Namco's shareholder, who regularly focused more on the brand's other ventures.

 

[Vena]

This is what I fear for most studios chasing GAAS/AAA.

If your one big game fails what then?

This is true for all of them, not most. Even MHY would suffer staggering losses if a game of their flopped given the money they spend on making and advertising it.

This is also why ShiftUp was denied IPO first due to uncertain stability for a company with just gacha success.

The GAAS market is also seeing a lot of pretty significant saturation, particularly on mobile.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

I remember back a couple years Blue Protocol was getting hyped by every MMO youtubers.
Then we get delays and a revamp of the game from test feedback. Subsequently we get a staggered release strategy JP vs RotW(tentative release date this year.) This completely killed the momentum in marketing the game had in the west.

The game isn't even out in most of the world for it be a proper failure. That's a failure in itself.

 

[Fularu]

I wonder if this will have any impact on Harada and the « no Nintendo support » strategy that made BNS irrelevant in Japan

 

[SirArthur]

I remember seeing good press for the Blue Protocol but radio silent for a while. The staggered release did not help as well. Its a bit funny that Amazon has had rights to 2 MMOs, one burned bright but soured people in New World and Blue Protocol which I dont know if it will come to the west now.

 

[ILikeFeet]

it's crazy how much Blue Protocol faltered. that really could have been something. wonder what happened

 

[FinalLarry]

The rest of the company doing well so this kinda got swept under the rug. Haven't heard a single good thing about Blue Protocol, maybe they are trying to fix the game before global release.

 

[AruanaRiva]

Thats insane loss. Crazy that Bamco is not facing heavier scrunity there from shareholders.

This is what I fear for most studios chasing GAAS/AAA.

If your one big game fails what then?

Well thats the bet they are chasing. Big jackpot= big win. No jackpot= big lay off time.

 

[fiendcode]

Studio 3 isn't doing so hot. In addition to Blue Protocol's failure, the Abyss DLC seems like a non-factor and iM@S is dead outside mobile. It's been years since they had a successful console/PC release looking at their catalog.

 

[Fisico]

Studio 3 isn't doing so hot. In addition to Blue Protocol's failure, the Abyss DLC seems like a non-factor and iM@S is dead outside mobile. It's been years since they had a successful console/PC release looking at their catalog.

Latest Im@s mobile is high budget, high quality and and had a pretty good launch.
There's still life in that IP

 

[Uniomni]

I wonder if this will have any impact on Harada and the « no Nintendo support » strategy that made BNS irrelevant in Japan

When there's an imperative behind failing decisions, generally the pivot comes from alignment with the overall imperative.

Less verbosely; no.

 

[Golden Darkness]

Given that they seem to be propped by their toy divisions, I guess they think physical merchandise is their main way of maintaining relevance to the Japanese public.

 

[fiendcode]

Latest Im@s mobile is high budget, high quality and and had a pretty good launch.
There's still life in that IP

Potentially but not on console/PC with the approach we've seen so far. They need a total rethink outside mobile.

Tales needs a better approach too probably in terms of release and catalog planning. I wonder if Scarlet Nexus 2 happens?

 

[Person]

Wow, that's brutal. I was looking forward to the Blue Protocol release, didn't realize it already came out in Japan and that the reception was so catastrophic.

 

[fiendcode]

I wonder if Studio 3 might be in for a reorg tbh. They're the largest BNS group by far and even bigger than any of their direct subsidiaries.

Studio 1: 257 employees
Studio 2/S: 152 employees
Studio 3: 377 employees
Tech Studio: 296 employees

B.B.Studio: 155 employees
BNS Singapore: under 200 employees
BNS Malaysia: under 200 employees


More employees than Bamco Online (252) as well.

 

[Kirby]

Localizing Idolmaster would solve none of their problems, but they should do it anyway.

 

[Robjoh]

Is there anything in the pipeline for BNS this year that could improve the outlook or do we expect a follow up during next year?

BNO seems never too had a good profite margin. Do they support other parts of BN?

 

[Fisico]

Potentially but not on console/PC with the approach we've seen so far. They need a total rethink outside mobile.

Tales needs a better approach too probably in terms of release and catalog planning. I wonder if Scarlet Nexus 2 happens?

The console im@s games were poorly done so they sold poorly, they got what they deserved there, it's up to them if they want to try something with it on consoles or not (the ROI might not be that good)

As for Scarlet Nexus it's a clear no, couple interviews with its director, Anabuki, were released prior to Tales of Arise Beyond the Dawn release and he clearly indicated he was brought back to work on Tales for now and Scarlet Nexus 2 isn't happening for now.

 

[Oregano]

Is there anything in the pipeline for BNS this year that could improve the outlook or do we expect a follow up during next year?

BNO seems never too had a good profite margin. Do they support other parts of BN?

Gakuen Idolmaster seems to be a pretty solid hit for them, and comes from the same part of BNS responsible for Blue Protocol.

Because they are a development studio though they might not necessarily need a release to generate revenue. For instance if Studio 2/S is full speed ahead on Nintendo games their milestone payments may be enough to generate a profit.

 

[GodlyTrident]

This is also why ShiftUp was denied IPO first due to uncertain stability for a company with just gacha success.

Oh, so for IPO you need also to get a permission?

 

[Vena]

Oh, so for IPO you need also to get a permission?

In Korea.

 

[MMXZero]

I wonder if Studio 3 might be in for a reorg tbh. They're the largest BNS group by far and even bigger than any of their direct subsidiaries.

Studio 1: 257 employees
Studio 2/S: 152 employees
Studio 3: 377 employees
Tech Studio: 296 employees

B.B.Studio: 155 employees
BNS Singapore: under 200 employees
BNS Malaysia: under 200 employees


More employees than Bamco Online (252) as well.

I wonder how long it will take before some of Studio 3 gets rolled into Studio 2/S to ensure the games that skipped Switch don't skip the Switch 2.

 

[AruanaRiva]

I wonder how long it will take before some of Studio 3 gets rolled into Studio 2/S to ensure the games that skipped Switch don't skip the Switch 2.

I dont see that happening or at least on mass because as generation goes, they will require more bodies on Studio 3 to churn out AAA content there.

 

[KarlRemarx]

I wonder if Studio 3 might be in for a reorg tbh. They're the largest BNS group by far and even bigger than any of their direct subsidiaries.

Studio 1: 257 employees
Studio 2/S: 152 employees
Studio 3: 377 employees
Tech Studio: 296 employees

B.B.Studio: 155 employees
BNS Singapore: under 200 employees
BNS Malaysia: under 200 employees


More employees than Bamco Online (252) as well.

This is a gigantic number of staff to support I think only one international AAA release from these studios in 2 years, which was Tekken 8? They don't have anywhere near the long tail/catalog sales potential of Nintendo or Capcom to have dry years like this.

Hard not to see these results as obvious in the context of:

-Failing to consistently support or build up most of Namco's legacy franchises unless it's Tekken, Tales or Pac-Man
-Failing to localise im@s in the midst of an explosion in the popularity of anime internationally
-Tekken 8 having in my opinion an absurdly wasteful production, where Harada seems to have been given carte blanche to burn money on one-and-done story mode content which at a certain point is simply not going to generate extra sales, while the long term health of the game and DLC sales is likely going to be hindered by stuff like actively hiding the game's DLC practices until post-launch, and continuing to have among the worst netcode of its peers.

 

[fiendcode]

This is a gigantic number of staff to support I think only one international AAA release from these studios in 2 years, which was Tekken 8? They don't have anywhere near the long tail/catalog sales potential of Nintendo or Capcom to have dry years like this.

Hard not to see these results as obvious in the context of:

-Failing to consistently support or build up most of Namco's legacy franchises unless it's Tekken, Tales or Pac-Man
-Failing to localise im@s in the midst of an explosion in the popularity of anime internationally
-Tekken 8 having in my opinion an absurdly wasteful production, where Harada seems to have been given carte blanche to burn money on one-and-done story mode content which at a certain point is simply not going to generate extra sales, while the long term health of the game and DLC sales is likely going to be hindered by stuff like actively hiding the game's DLC practices until post-launch, and continuing to have among the worst netcode of its peers.

Well, Blue Protocol was intended to be a major title but that's gone down the drain. BNS Japan also has some staff unaccounted for here as their total company size is a staggering 1,294 employees.

Studio 1 will also likely be supporting Ace Combat 8 and could potentially do another Gundam Vs port, Studio 2/S will have plenty more Nintendo contracting, Studio 3 feels like the one really in jeopardy due to Blue Protocol and a lack of anything really huge in their portfolio except Tales.

edit:

Gakuen Idolmaster seems to be a pretty solid hit for them, and comes from the same part of BNS responsible for Blue Protocol.

Because they are a development studio though they might not necessarily need a release to generate revenue. For instance if Studio 2/S is full speed ahead on Nintendo games their milestone payments may be enough to generate a profit.

Gakuen isn't listed on their site, are you sure? It seems to be developed by an external studio called QualiArts and while it's the same series producer (Hidefumi Komino) I'm not sure he's actually part of BNS given he's a Bandai guy whose other work includes stuff definitely outside BNS purview like From games (Dark Souls, ACVI, ACE) or Musou (One Piece, Gundam). According this interview he's a producer at BNE, which probably makes more sense.

Maybe Studio 3 lost IM@S too then after their last bomba?

 

[P.Scoop]

I wonder if this will have any impact on Harada and the « no Nintendo support » strategy that made BNS irrelevant in Japan

I'd say it already have an impact, with surprise late ports like Ace Combat 7, and the restructuring itself having a dedicated division for Nintendo productions.

But yeah, the jury's still out for internal IPs.

 

[Fisico]

Gakuen isn't listed on their site, are you sure? It seems to be developed by an external studio called QualiArts and while it's the same series producer (Hidefumi Komino) I'm not sure he's actually part of BNS given he's a Bandai guy whose other work includes stuff definitely outside BNS purview like From games (Dark Souls, ACVI, ACE) or Musou (One Piece, Gundam). According this interview he's a producer at BNE, which probably makes more sense.

Maybe Studio 3 lost IM@S too then after their last bomba?

Gakuen Im@s was made by QualiArts who previously did Idoly Pride and is part of Cyberagent (look at the bottom of the page)

So yep, another win from Cygames in the mobile space sort of

 

[MMXZero]

I'd say it already have an impact, with surprise late ports like Ace Combat 7, and the restructuring itself having a dedicated division for Nintendo productions.

But yeah, the jury's still out for internal IPs.

I wonder if this is why he made all of those posts on Twitter about Soulcalibur. He basically can't greenlight projects that can end up losing money since they're already losing money.

 

[duvjones]

Tekken 8 having in my opinion an absurdly wasteful production, where Harada seems to have been given carte blanche to burn money on one-and-done story mode content which at a certain point is simply not going to generate extra sales, while the long term health of the game and DLC sales is likely going to be hindered by stuff like actively hiding the game's DLC practices until post-launch, and continuing to have among the worst netcode of its peers.

Honestly, all of that doesn't matter.
I think that the biggest crime that Tekken 8 has committed is not spending the money on outreach and building out the community more. It is something that they did with Tekken 7 given the long tail they had for a console/PC port, spending money on displaying at conventions and doing a roaming tournament series in places that the FGC wasn't in. That work lined Harada pockets when 7 dropped and the lack of anything similar for 8 has been something of a concern for me because I wasn't sure that those that jumped in with 7 would have stayed, grabbing 8, on top of the demands that the game places on graphics pushing it out of the reach for many (either not wanting to upgrade a rig, being limited to a old laptop or not justifying a PS5 purchase).