Key Notes
- Bandai Namco has approved the dissolution and liquidation of Reflector Entertainment after reviewing its future plans, investment needs and profitability prospects.
- The publisher estimates an extraordinary loss of €21 million, with the final amount and recognition timing still under review.
- The Montreal developer made Unknown 9: Awakening and has advertised another unannounced project, whose future is not addressed in the closure notice.
Bandai Namco will close Reflector Entertainment, the Montreal studio behind Unknown 9: Awakening. The publisher’s board approved its dissolution and liquidation on November 10 after reviewing its future projects, additional investment needs and prospects for profitability.
The decision ends Bandai Namco’s plans to keep operating the Canadian developer, which is wholly owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe. The company expects an extraordinary loss of approximately €21 million associated with the closure, but has not set a date for completing the process.
Liquidation Will Follow Local Procedures
Bandai Namco’s filing says Reflector’s liquidation will be completed after the necessary procedures under local laws and regulations. It gives no specific timetable or affected employee count.
The publisher presents the decision as part of its ongoing review of its development organization and business portfolio. Its stated assessment covers what Reflector would need to continue operating, including further investment and its future business plans.
We recently covered Tripwire’s second round of layoffs this year, alongside its commitment to keep developing its games. Reflector’s notice goes further: Bandai Namco has resolved to discontinue the subsidiary’s business and liquidate it.
An Estimated €21 Million Extraordinary Loss
The expected charge is approximately ¥3.5 billion, or €21 million. Bandai Namco anticipates recognizing the loss in its consolidated accounts from the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027 onward.
That accounting period is not a deadline for shutting the studio. The company says both the amount and the timing remain under review and could change as liquidation proceeds, including because of tax and accounting treatment.
The filing also supplies Reflector’s recent financial history. For the year ended March 31, 2026, the studio recorded C$14.66 million in sales and an operating profit of C$2.57 million, while its bottom line remained a C$1.98 million loss. Net assets were negative C$89.54 million.
Those figures describe Reflector’s last completed financial year. The €21 million estimate is a separate projected loss associated with the dissolution and liquidation, rather than the studio’s annual operating result or a disclosed budget for Unknown 9.
Unknown 9 and an Unannounced Project
Bandai Namco acquired Reflector in 2020. The studio’s website describes Unknown 9: Awakening as a project from its earlier transmedia period, when the game was one entry point into a universe spanning novels, comics, podcasts and web series.
Awakening arrived in October 2024 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Bandai Namco’s launch announcement introduced Haroona, played by Anya Chalotra, as a heroine drawing powers from a parallel dimension called the Fold.
Its gameplay combines combat and stealth with supernatural abilities, including taking control of enemies and channeling energy from the Fold. The game remains listed for purchase on Steam.
Reflector’s website also advertises an unannounced project based on an existing Bandai Namco franchise. The closure filing does not identify that game or explain whether the work will move to another team. Its immediate disclosure concerns the end of Reflector as an operating studio, with the legal process and final financial charge still to follow.
