Bandai Namco Holdings has decided to dissolve and liquidate Reflector Entertainment, the Montreal studio behind the 2024 action-adventure game Unknown 9: Awakening.
The Japanese company's board of directors passed the resolution at a meeting on November 10th, according to a notice filed with investors the same day. "After comprehensively considering future business plans, necessary additional investment, and the possibility of profitability and business continuation, the Company has decided to discontinue Reflector's business, dissolve and liquidate it," the notice reads.
Bandai Namco said liquidation will be complete once the necessary procedures under Canadian law are finished, but added that "a concrete schedule is undecided as of now." The company expects to post an extraordinary loss of around 21 million euros (approximately 3.5 billion yen) in its consolidated results for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31st 2027 and beyond, though it said the final amount and timing are still under review.
Reflector's short run under Bandai Namco
Reflector Entertainment was founded in December 2015 and became part of the group in 2020, when Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe acquired 100% of its shares. Japanese outlet Gamebiz noted that Bandai Namco was aiming at the time to develop half of its content outside Japan, and saw Reflector as a way to build up development for Western markets.
The studio's only release, Unknown 9: Awakening, launched on October 18th 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC to mostly weak reviews. According to Gamebiz, Reflector cut around 18% of its staff in November 2024, then decided in January 2025 not to move forward with a new project that was in the concept stage, along with further layoffs.
The financial figures in Bandai Namco's notice show the scale of the problem. Reflector reported net sales of 47.8 million Canadian dollars and an operating loss of 18.5 million Canadian dollars in the year to March 2025. In the year to March 2026, net sales fell to 14.7 million Canadian dollars, and the studio posted a small operating profit but a net loss of 2 million Canadian dollars. Its net assets stood at minus 89.5 million Canadian dollars at the end of March 2026.
