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Bandai Namco Shuts Down Once-promising Studio after Colossal Failure

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Bandai Namco Shuts Down Once-promising Studio after Colossal Failure

Unknown 9: Awakening was intended to be a major franchise for Bandai

Bandai Namco Entertainment, which published 2026 hits like Ace Combat 8 and The Blood of Dawnwalker, is shutting down one of its studios. Bandai announced on Tuesday that it is dissolving Reflector Entertainment, a studio it acquired in 2020 and had high hopes for beyond just its single game release.

Reflector only developed one game, 2024's Unknown 9: Awakening, a supernatural stealth game that stars The Witcher's Anya Chalotra. It largely flew under the radar and received a very mixed response from critics; it has a 59 Metascore on Metacritic. Unknown 9: Awakening is part of Reflector's larger Unknown 9 multimedia franchise, which includes a novel, comic book series, and narrative podcast series.

"After comprehensively considering future business plans, necessary additional investment, and the possibility of profitability and business continuation, [Bandai Namco] has decided to discontinue Reflector’s business, dissolve and liquidate it," a news release states. Bandai claimed Reflector will lose €21 million (approximately $23.49 million) in the third quarter of its current fiscal year.

Reflector was already developing the Unknown 9 franchise when Bandai acquired it in 2020. After Unknown 9: Awakening failed to resonate with critics or players, 18% of Reflector's staff were laid off a month after the game came out. In early 2025, more staff were let go, and a follow-up project was canceled. "This decision correlates directly with the failure of the studio's ambitious and courageous first project," studio CEO Hervé Hoerdt said at the time.


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