• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Namco Has Large Losses, Blames Everything But Tekken, Cuts 10% Staff,Reveals New Plan

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
It seems Namco isn't doing as well as it hoped, getting hit the most by its video game division.

While most of their divisions didn't do that well, Namco put a large share of the blame on the sales of their major video game titles, but explicitly excluding Tekken.

Namco did share their plan for getting back on track though. It has changes to every division, but I only included the video game relevant stuff here. Their overall plan seems to be to increase quality and adapt their title slate to the changing market tastes.

dgqc84.jpg


1zzl653.jpg


2qwziv9.jpg


Namco Bandai said:
②Reasons for the Recording Extraordinary Losses and the Revision
Consolidated financial results show that the BANDAI NAMCO Group generally faced an uphill battle in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 2010 (April 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009), during which market conditions for the Group remained severe, despite steady results achieved in sales of long-established character toys in the Toys and Hobby business and arcade game machines in the Game Contents business. In the Game Contents business in particular, sales fell below projections given weak market conditions for most of major home game software titles except Tekken 6, the largest title released in the current fiscal year, leading to weak results for the segment. Moreover, both the Visual and Music Content business and the Amusement Facility business posted sluggish results; the former owing to the downsizing of the visual package software market and the latter reflecting the significant effects of a slump in personal consumption.
Click to expand...

Namco Bandai said:
・Review of the optimum personnel structure
As a part of reviewing the optimum number of personnel in each business, through the use of solicitations for voluntary retirement at NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. and the existing voluntary early retirement programs at other companies, we expect that by the end of FY2011.3, the number of employees, currently about 7000, will be decreased by about 630, equivalent to about 10% of the Group-wide workforce. This is expected to reduce consolidated personnel expenditure in the next fiscal year by approximately ¥3.5 billion.
Click to expand...

Namco Bandai said:
・Improved quality in home game software
As well as bolstering quality control in Japan to improve development quality at the Worldwide Studio (based in Japan and the United States) that was introduced in April 2009, by developing functions to organize titles and resource allocation control through a portfolio map, we will respond to the changing market environment and user preferences in a speedy fashion. In the development of home game software as well, we will restructure organizations across the Production Group and Publisher Function, and work to create and deploy content based on the overall strategy for the Content SBU.
Click to expand...

Sources:
http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/E383AAE382B9E382BFE383BCE38388E383AAE383AAE383BCE3.pdf
http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/2009E5B9B4E5BAA6EFBC93QE79FADE4BFA1E88BB1E8AA9EE78.pdf
http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/2009203Q20E8A39CE8B6B3E8B387E69699EFBC88E88BB1E789.pdf
http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/E6A5ADE7B8BEE4BA88E683B3E381AEE4BFAEE6ADA3EFBC88E8.pdf

Thanks to bttb for finding Namco's IR information.
 
X

Xanafalgue

Banned
'Tis what happens when you release el-crapo games (aside from Tales). I wonder if they'll bother releasing Tales of Vesperia for PS3 outside of Japan.
 
F

FrankT

Member
Had no idea they had 7000, but yea I read about the cuts earlier. Seems like a pretty sizable chunk in fact.
 
T

Taurus

Member
Wii - 3.765m units of sw (9 games)
PSP - 3.351m units of sw (13 games)
DS - 3.083m units of sw (26 games)

PS3 - 2.015m units of sw (5 games)
PS2 - 1.798m units of sw (4 games)
X360 - 1.256m units of sw (5 games)

Others - 0.049m (1 game)
Click to expand...
They really should blame the Wii like everyone else does. Also PS2 selling more sw than X360? Well done. :lol
 
S

ShockingAlberto

Member
Namco's been really trying to find a place in this generation, but I feel like they're mostly relying on past successes and falling to their own ineptitude.

They don't blame Tekken, but it was an exceptionally popular arcade game in Japan and the right developer could have parlayed that in to an equally popular home game. It wasn't. It just performed slightly less poorly than everything else.

They have jerked the Tales base around and put out a main series title a week before FFXII. Their DLC scheme has been ridiculous.
 
B

Brera

Banned
Namco were so awesome!

They need to start pushing the envelope again, they've been treading water this generation!
 
S

Shiggy

Member
One of the few publisher for which the Wii is most successful. I wonder why they did not blame it for their losses...
 
M

Man

Member
The last time I bought a Namco game was probably Tekken 5 on the PS Store (2007).

Last time I actually put time in a Namco game (>2hours) was Ace Combat 4 and before that I have to go back to the 90's. They have a pretty cool presence in PS Home though (Japan at least).
 
I

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
Time to import Tales of Vesperia PS3 and throw it in my backlog of games to play when I get competent enough at Japanese. :lol
 
C

CadetMahoney

Member
ClearCELL said:
Namco has been a joke this generation and will continue to be.
Click to expand...

my last chance for them to redeem themselves was for t6 to reinvigorate the franchise, turns out it isn't very good and bombed.
 
O

OutlawSamurai

Banned
Crappy sale numbers for Tales of Vesperia & Tekken and the game isn't coming to USA for PS3 from what I read. I wish they made Tales of series multiplatform.

I'm so in doubt they'll ever release a Klonoa game for 360/PS3 :(
 
A

akilshohen

Member
I wonder how many units of Vespisa sold on 360 for it to be put on the list.....because the PS3 version only came out in Japan...PAL release?
 
C

ClearCELL

Banned
CadetMahoney said:
my last chance for them to redeem themselves was for t6 to reinvigorate the franchise, turns out it isn't very good and bombed.
Click to expand...
Tekken 6 should have been out on consoles in 2008 not Q4 09 after Street Fighter IV gave the audience everything they wanted and more.
 
P

Paznos

Member
Raw64life said:
Release Vesperia on PS3 in North America already assholes.
Click to expand...
If they actually marketed the game a little, highlighted all the new content and that it's all voiced I have no doubt it would be successful for them, pack in the anime movie for a collectors edition and there will be so many people interested in it.
 
R

robotzombie

Member
akilshohen said:
I wonder how many units of Vespisa sold on 360 for it to be put on the list.....because the PS3 version only came out in Japan...PAL release?
Click to expand...


I'm guessing zero, because I never even heard of that game
 
C

careksims

Member
Raw64life said:
Release Vesperia on PS3 in North America already assholes.
Click to expand...

THIS! Serves them right for now releasing it here. I know a lot of friends wanting it. I already beat the 360 BUT I WANT THE EXTRAS! People say to get the 360, but my friends want the complete thing! I want my school uniforms!
 
A

Aru

Member
490k for Vesperia worldwide ?

I thought it did almost that in Japan alone, combining both platforms ?
 
Guileless

Guileless

Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Man said:
The last time I bought a Namco game was probably Tekken 5 on the PS Store (2007).
Click to expand...

Me too. But I also bought Ridge Racer 6 & 7 this gen. *crickets*

Hmmm, maybe Namco should get some new blood.
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
ClearCELL said:
Tekken 6 should have been out on consoles in 2008 not Q4 09 after Street Fighter IV gave the audience everything they wanted and more.
Click to expand...

Wasnt SC IV out in 08 though? Completing with yourself doesnt sound too great but it should have been out in 09.
 
Synless

Synless

Member
They deserve this for not releasing Vesperia in english on the PS3. I have no sympathy for them. Also the fact they haven't said anything about Graces in english yet makes me hate them even more.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Aru said:
490k for Vesperia worldwide ?

I thought it did almost that in Japan alone, combining both platforms ?
Click to expand...
I think they're only counting sales that happened this fiscal year.
 
M

mjc

Member
Synless said:
They deserve this for not releasing Vesperia in english on the PS3. I have no sympathy for them. Also the fact they haven't said anything about Graces in english yet makes me hate them even more.
Click to expand...
They deserve this for not putting out the DS and PSP Tales games in NA either. :(
 
O

OutlawSamurai

Banned
Guileless said:
Me too. But I also bought Ridge Racer 6 & 7 this gen. *crickets*

Hmmm, maybe Namco should get some new blood.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that... both games are so 1997

They definetly need some new franchises.

Wouldn't mind a new KLONOA game!!! but no thanks to another PAC MAN game:lol
 
C

ClearCELL

Banned
HK-47 said:
Wasnt SC IV out in 08 though? Completing with yourself doesnt sound too great but it should have been out in 09.
Click to expand...
oh yeah. I guess they need to be smart with Tekken because they are killing it.
But SCIV was awesome.

Edit: Maybe releasing it in 07- the same time as the arcade version would have been for the best in terms of sales.
 
W

wizword

Banned
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2


They have this game which I am like almost certain it will sell enormously well. I am probably going to buy it.
 
T

twinturbo2

butthurt Heat fan
Make a new Ridge Racer game and give us Americans some Virtual Console Arcade titles already in Japan. Please?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Bandai Namco records highest net sales to date in 2023. Armored Core 6, Tekken 8 and Elden Ring perform well
Sales-Age 2
53
2K
Celine replied
Bandai Namco Will Refocus Game Development on Quality Following Declining Financial Results
Business Game Dev
4
674
Shake Your Rump replied
Tekken 8 Sales Top 2 Million Units - Sales | Bandai Namco Will Refocus Game Development on Quality Following Declining Financial Results
News Sales-Age
47
3K
SantaC replied
[Schreier] Microsoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings
3 4 5 6 7
308
18K
Oddvintagechap replied
Embracer's restructuring program has cost over 900 people their jobs as of September 30 | They also mention "discontinuing a number of studios"
News Business Game Dev 2
52
3K
xrnzaaas replied
Top Bottom