Bandai Namco has disclosed its fiscal-year third quarter financial reports, and it looks like things are not going well for the developer and publisher, as its operating profit for its digital entertainment segment (aka video games) took a 8.9% hit to net sales compared to the same period last year and a 96.5% drop in income.
According to a statement from the company, most of its profit drop is being attributed to the massive sales of Elden Ring from last year not being replicated this year, even as other titles in the Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Armored Core IPs did well.
The income deficit is also causing Bamco to review its development processes, which has resulted in five in-development titles being cancelled according to a follow-up Q&A session with investors, chalking the cancelled development up to a “loss on disposal.” The fiscal report has also caused Bandai Namco to make some financial projection revisions.
Naturally this makes us wonder what is happening with Bandai Namco’s anime MMORPG Blue Protocol: A related quarterly presentation from the Japanese site does make reference to the game, which said the “new online game significantly fell short of plan” according to a fan translation on Reddit.
However, the game is still getting updated in Japan, and its executive producer is trying to project a rosy 2024, as he talked up the game’s cross-platform release to Xbox and PS5 in December, promised further adjustments based on player feedback, and looked ahead to the MMO’s first anniversary in the country. Meanwhile the western release window hasn’t (yet) shifted from Amazon’s plan for sometime this year.
