Bandai Namco to Dissolve Unknown 9 Developer Reflector Entertainment

Bandai Namco Holdings has resolved to dissolve and liquidate Reflector Entertainment, the Montreal studio that released Unknown 9: Awakening, following a board decision on November 10, 2026. The company estimated an extraordinary loss of approximately €21 million from the move, with both the final amount and its posting timing under review.

The loss is an estimate based on currently available information, not a finalized booked figure. Bandai Namco expects to post it on consolidated financial statements for the third quarter, meaning the nine-month reporting period, of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, and thereafter. Liquidation procedures and tax and accounting treatment could change both the amount and timing.

No completion date has been set for the liquidation. The process will follow the necessary procedures under local laws and regulations before it can be completed.

The board decided to discontinue Reflector’s business after considering its future business plans, the additional investment required, and whether the operation could become profitable and continue. That assessment forms part of the group’s continuing review of its business portfolio and internal development structure for medium- and long-term growth and corporate value.

Reflector’s Financial Record

Bandai Namco’s financial summary shows an operating improvement in Reflector’s latest year, but not a return to bottom-line profit. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, net sales were CAD 14.7 million and operating profit was CAD 2.6 million, against CAD 47.8 million in sales and a CAD 18.5 million operating loss a year earlier. Its ordinary loss was CAD 1.9 million, while the loss attributable to owners of the parent was CAD 2.0 million.

The balance-sheet figures also show a deterioration. At that fiscal year-end, net assets were negative CAD 89.5 million against total assets of CAD 13.5 million. Two years earlier, at March 31, 2024, net assets were negative CAD 38.5 million and total assets were CAD 82.3 million. Reflector’s share capital was CAD 46.03 million.

Reflector’s business covers the planning and development of entertainment content, including home-console games, and it is led by Director and CEO Hervé Hoerdt. Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe owns 100% of the studio, making Reflector an indirect consolidated subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. The company was established on December 29, 2015.

Western Development Strategy

Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe announced on September 1, 2020 that it would acquire Reflector and subsidiary Reflector Interactive Productions from Lune Rouge Innovation, subject to closing conditions including Canadian regulatory approvals. The company said the deal would build Western development capabilities and support a target of developing 50% of content outside Japan. At the time, Reflector had 120 employees developing the Unknown 9 franchise across games and other media.

On October 13, 2022, Bandai Namco Europe announced another Reflector production line based on an existing IP, saying the move reinforced the studio’s long-term strategic importance. The team then numbered more than 140 people. Hervé Hoerdt, Reflector’s CEO, said: “This is an organic and pre-planned evolution in the development of Reflector Entertainment, which has established itself as a major asset within the group.”

The acquisition was subsequently completed, and Reflector released its first game, Unknown 9: Awakening, alongside a larger narrative universe in 2024. The studio’s games page describes that release as a third-person action-adventure title and one entry point into stories spanning podcasts, comics, novels and web series. It now labels Unknown 9 a past project.

The same page presents a separate, unannounced game as in development and invites developers to work on a Bandai Namco IP. That is the central tension in the closure: Reflector had shifted its focus to video games and was still promoting a new Bandai Namco project when its owner decided that the studio’s business should not continue.