Japanese publisher Bandai Namco has decided to dissolve and liquidate its Canadian subsidiary Reflector Entertainment, ending operations at the Montreal team behind Unknown 9: Awakening. Bandai Namco passed an official resolution to shut down Reflector after concluding that future investments in its upcoming games could no longer be justified. The closure follows two years of slow sales and multiple workforce cuts that began shortly after the launch of its debut game [1].
Liquidation of Reflector Entertainment
Bandai Namco Holdings confirmed the dissolution in an official notice, stating that it “has passed a resolution to dissolve and liquidate its consolidated subsidiary Reflector Entertainment.” Bandai Namco said the decision came “after comprehensively considering future business plans, necessary additional investment, and the possibility of profitability and business continuation.” In its corporate filing, Bandai Namco said it continuously reviews its development structure and business portfolio to support long-term growth and enhance corporate value [4]. Reflector addressed the shutdown in a public message on LinkedIn, stating that Bandai Namco reviewed work on its next prototype and decided against funding the Montreal team for several more years [1].
The liquidation will take time to complete under Canadian business laws. Bandai Namco said the process will finish once necessary legal steps in Montreal wrap up, but it has not announced a concrete timetable for the final paperwork [5].
Arkane Lyon faces a similar situation in Europe, where Microsoft selected the developer for closure but French labor laws prevented an immediate shutdown without formal talks [3]. Bandai Namco faces comparable statutory procedures in Canada as it works through the legal requirements needed to dissolve Reflector.
Cost of the Studio Closure
Closing Reflector brings a steep bill for Bandai Namco. In its financial disclosure, Bandai Namco said that it expects to record an “extraordinary loss” of 21 million euros in its third-quarter results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027. That write-down accounts for unrecovered development spending on past releases and the cancellation of prototypes that were still in early planning stages. The loss shows how costly the Montreal expansion became after years of work failed to produce steady game revenue. By posting that charge in Q3, Bandai Namco absorbs the remaining costs of the unit before the next fiscal year begins [2].
In North American currency, that 21 million euro write-down equals about $23.5 million USD, or roughly 3.5 billion yen on the books of Bandai Namco Holdings [5]. Writing off that sum shows the financial gap between production expenses and retail earnings.
Industry funding cuts also led to shutdowns elsewhere, as when Nagoshi Studio dissolved after NetEase cut game funding. Closing Reflector lets Bandai Namco redirect capital away from high-risk teams toward core Japanese brands with proven sales records [4]. Bandai Namco continues to adjust its worldwide production plans to protect overall earnings.
Two Rounds of Job Cuts
The closure follows two separate rounds of job cuts carried out over the past two years. In November 2024, just one month after Unknown 9: Awakening hit stores, Reflector cut 18 percent of its staff in an initial wave of restructuring [2]. Several affected workers posted news of their layoffs on social media [4].
A second wave of job cuts arrived two months later in January 2025, when Reflector cancelled an unannounced project that had been moving through early development [2]. Reflector Chief Executive Officer Herve Hoerdt said at the time that the decision “correlates directly with the failure of the studio’s ambitious and courageous first project,” which he acknowledged “didn’t come near the company expectations” [1]. Surviving staff members were moved to work on a game tied to an existing Bandai Namco franchise [5]. Reflector also began pre-production on another concept, but the team could not regain its footing after the debut release struggled at retail [1].
Those cuts left Reflector with a much smaller staff while leadership tried to pitch viable new concepts to Bandai Namco managers in Japan [1]. By late 2026, the team could not present a business plan strong enough to win continued funding [3].
The Planned Transmedia Franchise
Bandai Namco originally envisioned Reflector as the hub for an expansive entertainment franchise. Bandai Namco first revealed Unknown 9: Awakening at Gamescom 2020, presenting the action game as the main gateway into a broader fictional world [2]. That story was designed to span multiple media formats, with Bandai Namco planning an original book trilogy, graphic comic books, and an episodic web series to build an audience [3]. By linking different media lines to one narrative world, Bandai Namco hoped to build a new fantasy brand that could compete with established Western properties in Europe and North America.
The game starred The Witcher actress Anya Chalotra as Haroona, a young protagonist who could step into an alternate dimension called the Fold. Haroona used powers drawn from that realm to battle an occult secret society in India and other settings [2]. In an early preview, PC Gamer said the game showed promise as a story-driven adventure akin to Xbox 360 releases [1].
When the game launched on October 17, 2024, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One, it failed to find a broad audience. The game holds a 59 Metascore on Metacritic and earned “Mixed” reviews on Steam [2]. Without strong game sales, the planned novels and comics lost their audience [3].
Why Reflector Entertainment Closed
The dissolution of Reflector Entertainment marks a clear shift in how Japanese publishers approach Western acquisitions. When Bandai Namco bought Reflector in September 2020, it wanted more console games made locally for players in North America and Europe [5]. But Unknown 9: Awakening was the only game Reflector released during four years under Bandai Namco [1].
Reflector had been working on a new game in pre-production, but Bandai Namco decided that full development carried too much financial risk. Bandai Namco evaluated the project’s development needs and current video game market conditions, deciding it could not justify several more years of investment [1]. With game budgets climbing, Bandai Namco chose to liquidate Reflector rather than fund another long production cycle [3]. Other major publishers have also pulled back from satellite studios to protect profit margins during industry downturns.
Reflector Entertainment was originally founded in 2015, spending nearly a decade trying to build an original fantasy world from its base in Montreal [2]. The liquidation ends that plan, adding Reflector to a list of Western teams closed after big-budget narrative games missed sales goals [3].
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- ONLINE NEWS Schofield, A. (2026, November 10). Bandai Namco is liquidating Unknown 9: Awakening studio Reflector Entertainment, following multiple previous layoffs since the game’s launch. Rock Paper Shotgun. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Harradence, M. (2026, November 10). Unknown 9: Awakening Developer Reflector Entertainment Is Shutting Down. PlayStation Universe. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Amber V. (2026, November 10). Bandai Namco to shut down Canada-based game studio Reflector Entertainment, developer of Unknown 9. AUTOMATON WEST. [Article Link]
