Bandai Namco Reportedly Cancels Nintendo-Commissioned Project

Oidashibeya is a disgusting practice. Google it.

I'm expecting Pac Man World 2 Repac and SoulCalibur 7 were two others that got gutted. I wouldn't even entertain the possibility of another Klonoa getting greenlit to be cancelled.

@axelhander Very true. More cruel than just firing someone, you just make them feel worthless and isolated at work until they can't take it anymore and leave of their own accord, all so the company can say they didn't fire you - you resigned!

@Orpheus79V : Sums up how I "resigned" from my last job. Awful, awful company.

Seems an odd move to cancel a Nintendo commissioned project, I'd imagine most Nintendo projects are mostly profitable these days especially if Nintendo is part financing anyway, but have nowhere near enough knowledge of the industry to know how true that is or how games are financed really.

It's likely just Metroid Prime 4 Vapor that they cancelled. Remember Nintendo pulled Bandai Namco off the MP4 project a while back and had Retro Studios return to restart the project from scrap afterwards. Bandai Namco is probably cancelling their version of the game which make sense since Nintendo isn't approaching them or going forward with that one anyways since we got Metroid Prime 4 Beyond to look forward to now.

@axelhander just had a read, it does sound terrible!

If I was in a pressure room, I would probably play Switch all days long. Thank you boss for giving me free time, and paying me for that XD

@axelhander @Orpheus79V

"you just make them feel worthless and isolated at work until they can't take it anymore and leave of their own accord, all so the company can say they didn't fire you - you resigned!"

this is so normal and common in the US that we don't even have a word for it, that I'm aware of.

reason being, that if you quit without being fired you automatically get NO benefits, unemployment, NOTHING, and the employer is off the hook (at least in Oklahoma where we are currently having bibles forced into public schools, and women dying in hospitals unable to get emergency operations during pregnancy due to new abortion laws.)

@axelhander yeah, I remember Konami doing that to Kojima and other employees.
But… can’t you just sleep or take a nap while you’re secluded? I mean, if I get paid to sleep then we’ll see who gives up first

Is EVERY company awful, ffs??

Come on!

I'm trying to remember what games they made for Nintendo. Xenoblade? Bayonetta?

@Yoshi3 If I had a computer with internet, or even without internet, I'd keep myself occupied with personal projects.

The practice is still disgusting; it's filthy rich corporations getting out of legally compensating the people they want to let go.

@-wc- Same here in Canada. Getting terminated with cause (aka, fired) also means no EI/UI (though sometimes you can plead your case to the government and they'll side with you).

I feel like we’ve been waiting so long to see that 3D remaster and now it’s gone. Sad to see this happen to Namco, hope for the best for the people effected

@axelhander it’s the same here in Mexico btw. So I guess the only difference is that Japan has a name for it 😅

@Gryffin none of those. Xenoblade is Monolith. Bayonetta is Platinum.

Most likely that 2022-reported 3D action game. Personally I almost can't imagine it being anything other then Kid Icarus.
Regardless of what Nintendo IP & project it was, RiP.

As for the canned Bandai Namco works, it wouldn't surprise me (but still feel depressing all the same) if a new Soulcalibur game was among those projects.
This is of course all sad news in general.😞

So Nintendo wasn't the one who pulled the plug on the project? I imagine they wouldn't be happy about that...

I think people are being too quick to assume that it had to be their 3D action game remaster project, since that would probably have been finished already or close to completion if they were hiring in 2022. It probably wouldn't be another Pokemon project, though, because I think The Pokemon Company would've had to commission that instead. It could've been something else entirely - there's been talk of Mario Baseball returning for a while, and Monolith Soft has seemingly been pushing for something to happen with Xenosaga again...
No matter what, this is horrible news. I can only hope that it was simply "put on hold" and not outright cancelled. If it was, and without it being at Nintendo's discretion...between this and Prime 4, I think Nintendo might slowly sever their ties with Bandai Namco. Outside of Smash, anyways.

@Yoshi3 lol my memory is failing me. 20 years ago, I had every single game memorized. There are too many games to remember all of them now, of course, but I'm still sort of losing it haha.

@Orpheus79V I sure as hell hope it wouldn’t be Soul Calibur VII! That’s probably the only game I’d actually look forward to.

Kinda odd to me. From my perspective, I’m not a hardcore gamer by any means, Bandai Nanci seems like one of time five game companies. Are sales doing poorly when nobody wants to buy “fad anime number 3”? I get that One Piece, Naruto, and of course Dragon Ball are popular and would sell great. But some of these other games they’ve released lately…That said, does anyone know how well Gundam Breakers 4 sold?

"with the company cancelling the Western release of its MMORPG Blue Protocol just last month."

Let me guess, this is probably the cause or one of them at least? If only Amazon didn't had their hands on the publishing rights, and Bandai just published it to the west, I wonder if this wouldn't have happen.

@LavenderShroud If it was anything Soul Calibur, it would have been a port of VI rather than VII. My guess is it's a new IP that didn't quite make it off of the drawing board.

Wouldn't they, as contracted developers under Nintendo, be in breach of contract if they just stopped working on a project without Nintendo's say-so? Plus, little to no Bamco employees actually work on the Anime games: those are always subcontracted out to the likes of Gambreon and CyberConnect2. The only Bamco staff on those are producers and marketing people: the types game journalist sites normally throw under the bus if a game is bad.

@Gryffin Smash Bros, Pokken, Mario Kart

Why are people assuming it was a game that was cancelled a long time ago? This sounds like it was a new project. I wonder if Bandai Namco will assist Nintendo again with the next Smash Bros, they should be the logical answer for a development team, but after this cancellation, Nintendo probably wouldn't want to work with them directly.

@IceEarthGuard It has more to do with the game EoS-ing after failing to catch on in Japan. Of course, not publishing the game themselves probably didn't help matters.

This is really unfortunate to hear. I've been a big supporter of Namco this generation; they're probably the best first-party publisher, imo. If this means a remake of Pac-Man World 2 has been shelved, I'll be gutted. I know layoffs have been hitting the industry a lot lately, but Namco seemed to be doing just fine--or so I thought.

And Nintendo is like the most profitable gaming company there is, so canceling a project with them seems very shortsighted. If that "remake of a 3D action game" they were supposed to have been working on was Kid Icarus Uprising and now that's shelved too, talk about a two-punch whammie right in the face for me personally.

Of course, this most impacts the staff being let go, so hopefully they're able to find other work relatively easily. I don't know how big the company is, but 200 is a significantly smaller cut than I'm used to seeing from these layoffs. Like Iwata always said though, this sort of thing won't be good for employee morale moving forward.

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster for me as someone whose three things he most wants on Switch are GameCube NSO, Pac-Man World 2, and Kid Icarus Uprising, lol. I feel like I've been monkey's-pawed.

Edit: I don't know the legality of this, but I hope Nintendo is able to take the assets Namco has already created for this project and find a new partner to finish it. Maybe they can still include those developers in the credits for what they did up to that point. Would be better than having to completely restart from scratch. I feel like this is just gonna sour Nintendo's great relationship with Namco though. It would certainly leave a bad taste in my mouth and make me unsure if I can trust them moving forward after all these years of collaboration.

We now know ActiVision also pulled this stuff with the open-world 3D Donkey Kong game, and it's just frustrating. It's like when Nintendo dropped their partnership with Sony in the early 90's, and look what that did for their relationship. At least Nintendo is constructing new buildings for their HQ and are continuing to staff more employees. Hopefully they can do a lot more of these games internally instead of having to do so much outsourcing in the years ahead.

The history of Nintendo, Bandai and Namco working together goes beyond the mentioned examples. I'm also including things like announcements and notable releases for some more context. Sorry if the post is longer than intended.

1979:
-A Nintendo-published version fo Bomb Bee (Toru Iwatani's debut game) is released, called Bomb Bee-N.

2000:
-Ridge Racer 64, developed by Nintendo Software Technology Corporation and published by Nintendo. Unreleased in Japan.

2002:
-Triforce arcade board announced, which is a collaboration between Nintendo, SEGA and Namco.

2003:
-Link playable in Soul Calibur II GC
-Donkey Konga
-Pac-Man VS., designed by Miyamoto for Namco and featuring Mario/Charles Martinet as the announcer.
-Chibi-Robo! is announced, with Nintendo acquiring the rights later on, making the titular character go from being a Bandai/Skip character to one owned by Nintendo/Bandai/Skip.

2004:
-Donkey Konga 2
-Ridge Racer DS, a DS version of Ridge Racer 64. Once again developed by Nintendo Software Technology Corporation, but published by Namco and featuring cars with Nintendo characters. Once again, unreleased in Japan.

2005:
-Star Fox Assault, which includes Xevious and Star Luster (JP-ver only) as minigames.
-Donkey Konga 3 (JP-only)
-Mario Superstar Baseball, the first baseball game in the Mario series, seemingly based on Famista 2003.
-Mario Kart Arcade GP (the first ever crossover of Mario and Pac-Man).

2006:
-Baten Kaitos Origins, published by Nintendo. Possibly being partially Nintendo-owned, particularly on the Japanese copyright of Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster mentioning Nintendo.

2007:
-Flash Focus
-Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (now it's a crossover between Mario, Pac-Man and Tamagotchi).
-Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrol
-Pac-Man VS. included in Namco Museum DS.

2008:
-Mario Super Sluggers.

2009:
-Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji! (JP-only)
-Wii de Asobu Chibi-Robo!

@-wc- In the United States, making someone’s job so unpleasant or humiliating that they feel they have no choice but to quit is termed “constructive dismissal” and is illegal.

I honestly wouldn't mind being in a room by myself 8 hours a day if I'm still getting paid. However I'm not Japanese and do not look at co-workers the same. I like all of my colleagues, but would also like plenty of time to think and relax. Even better if I can play games while there.

(part 2 of my comment since there's also a max character limit)

2012:
-Bandai Namco announced as the developer of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.
-Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition released as a Wii U launch title, featuring Nintendo costumes and a mode with Super Mushrooms, Poison Mushrooms and Stars from Mario, complete with Tekken-ized versions of music from Super Mario Bros.

2012-2013:
Project X Zone, a follow-up to Namco X Capcom, this time featuring SEGA as well. Published by Bandai Namco and developed by Monolith Soft, former Namco studio and current Nintendo first-party studio.

2013:
-Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, this time Mametchi from Tamagotchi is removed in favor of Don-chan from Taiko no Tatsujin and Pac-Man has his 2010s design (the one from Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures).

2013-2014:
-Wii Sports Club (they assisted on the development)
-Chibi-Robo!: Photo Finder

2014:
-Mario Kart 8
-Pac-Man announced as playable in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U in a private event at E3 2014.
-Pokkén Tournament announced.
-Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U are relased, in addition to Pac-Man, the Boss Galaga and Special Flag appear as items, plus other cameos and references to Namco properties.
-amiibo released, with Nintendo characters having compatibility on Bandai Namco games such as One Piece: Super Grand Battle X (allows the Straw Hats to dress like Nintendo characters) and Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble + (allows for aircrafts to have paint jobs based on Nintendo characters plus Pac-Man)

2015:
-DLC for Smash Bros. includes Mii Fighters costumes based on Bandai Namco characters, namely Kazuya Mishima, Lloyd Irving and Gilgamesh.
-The Pac-Man amiibo is released, having compatibility on Nintendo games.
-Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash along with the Chibi-Robo amiibo, which has the disclaimer of "© Nintendo / BANDAI / BNEI / SKIP" regarding the rights of Chibi-Robo as a character.
-Pokkén Tournament (Arcade ver.) released.

2015-2016:
-Project X Zone 2, featuring Lucina, Chrom and Fiora. Also made by Monolith Soft.

2016:
-Pokkén Tournament (Wii U ver.) released.

(TBC)

(part 3)

2017:
-Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, retaining the Pac-Man amiibo compatibility.
-Pac-Man VS. (GC ver.) slightly remastered for Namco Museum (Switch) and its 2018 physical relase (Namco Museum Arcade Pac), still featuring Mario/Charles Martinet.
-Pokken Tournament DX on Switch released.

2018:
-Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, being a continuation of Bandai Namco's work on "for" and featuring Pac-Man and most of the previous cameos and references and the Mii Fighters costumes returning as DLC.
-Go Vacation gets a Switch remaster with Nintendo mentioned on the copyright, they weren't on the copyright of the Wii original.

2021:
-New Pokémon Snap (thanks @PikaPhantom)
-Kazuya Mishima from Tekken added to Smash Bros. Ultimate via DLC.

2022:
-News of Bandai Namco remastering a 3D action game for Nintendo surface

2023:
-Kazuya amiibo released.
-Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster released on Switch (with a Steam version in 2024), Nintendo mentioned on the Japanese copyright.
-Bandai Namco announces the studio for commisioned projects, with Nintendo seemingly being on board.

2024:
-Bandai Namco seemingly cancels the project commisioned by Nintendo.

Throughout the years, Nintendo songs have also been included in the different releases of Taiko no Tatsujin.
I didn't include the cancelled version of Metroid Prime 4 because even if reports seem to indicate Bandai Namco were working on it, there's no concrete proof of it. I'm also not including merchandise beyond amiibo, as that's far too much to list.

Given the history they have, I'm tempted to say Namco specifically is the third-party Nintendo has worked the most with.
If this turns out to be true, I hope it doesn't sour their decades-long relationship and those affected can recover soon.

@Samalik Oh I didn't realize it was EoS-ing in Japan. Or I forgot somehow. Well that's unfortunate.

I wonder if that game took a big toll to their funding for other games, and that why they are canceling other games?

Obviously Namco was translating Mother 3 for maximum secrecy. Unfortunately Reggie still found out somehow and flew over to Japan to give them all wedgies until they canceled it.

They do that "pressure room" stuff in American tech too. I know Microsoft is notorious for it

@SoIDecidedTo and yet companies like Microsoft do it anyway, although in a manner similar to the japanese (being given no work, to languish and be discouraged from staying, rather than actively tortured, so to speak)

@HammerGalladeBro Soul Calibur II for GameCube, Donkey Konga, Donkey Konga 2 & Star Fox Assault are my favorite Nintendo/Namco GameCube games that I own to this day, especially Assault. Kinda bummed that a Nintendo-commissioned project was canceled by Bandai Namco.

@HammerGalladeBro I hope it wasn’t Chibi-Robo. 😢

Learned about Oidashibeya from Aggretsuko of all things, the off kilter animated sitcom from the Sanrio company with Netflix.
Sucks for anyone going through that...
Selfishly hoping that the scrapped project was a port of something not on Nintendo platforms yet rather than a remake or continuation of Kid Icarus.

@IceEarthGuard Unfortunately, it's more likely that Namco Bandai has gotten too big to properly manage everything with proper quality and they are looking to downsize. After all, they are currently a company that kind of controls a large chunk of Japan's entertainment and even surpass Nintendo in that regard.

@-wc- The number of times I experienced this practice to get rid of me because I have autism is astounding. The fact that it's also a thing in Japan is beyond disgusting as well as heartbreaking.

Disappointing. Whatever it was, Blue Protocol ended, Pacman World Re-pac went codes really quick so you bet I wasn't buying it glad got Klonoa collection physical with the cart when I did.

That aside why do they continue with the 'room for you do do nothing in', firing is one thing but keeping them around to do nothing is just hmm. I mean in the west we'd go sweet nothing to do and get paid or whatever (I can't remember if do or it's just they leave you on the rosters and things, I don't remember enough) or be annoyed we are being treated that way if they are dedicated, maybe, but to them it's obviously different.

Either way Agresuko or IRL examples or other stuff is pretty clear of what it means and how not great it is then just firing them.

I myself go eh, I mean living on your own is something but at your job well yeah the meaning is there then doing the work. But if people find being on their own hard and are very community/lonely easily or don't like the mundane tasks/singled out (then those that don't care whether singled out or not and still do fine) then the nothing at all then well it's not that hard but they have to 'make people break' I guess?

If Re-Pac 2 didn't then what is Now Productions working on then? (Know of them from Practical Intelligence Quotient 1 & 2 on PSP, they have made fair stuff but don't remember what they were).

Whatever this project was of Bandai Namco's IPs and whoever was let go or changed happened or whatever the case and a Nintendo one whatever it could have been who knows but if they couldn't (or whoever) could get Prime 4 to be what it could be, I don't have high hopes for others.

Anime games and certain series will keep them going but it isn't worth the wait or the disappointment of other titles.

I guess it's Nintendo against the world.

@Serpenterror That's what I thought, that Nintendo cancelled and rebooted Metroid Prime 4 and Bandai Namco was developing it. Now is being made by Retro, which makes sense since they made Metroid Prime 1, 2 and 3.

Unfortunate to hear. They’ve been good partners for a long time, hopefully a move like this doesn’t hurt their relationship too much.

Also sad to hear how they are treating their employees. I hope they will end up well.

This is unfortunate and the practice used to force people out is disgusting, but in terms of the scaling back, from a business perspective, its unfortunate but understandable in todays gaming landscape.

The reality is that this current trend of 5-8 year development cycle per game is simply unsustainable for any business to maintain. I can see going forward, the entire industry downsizing, technology regression back to the 8th generation and projects being scaled back from 5-8 years to to develop a single AAA video game, down to 2-3 years (which is what it should be).

I think in the coming months, we're going to see other companies doing similar things, scaling projects back, downsizing their workforce and scaling their technology back one generation.

As many have said, we are in the era of diminishing returns. Companies now have to scale back if they want to survive this new era.

@AmyTheBrawler I still love Star Fox Assault

@HammerGalladeBro New Pokemon Snap also launched in 2021!

@PikaPhantom Completely forgot about that one. Added to the list.

Thanks a lot.

@Gryffin same here, still love it to this day & hope to see it return.