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Sekai Project Lays Off Marketing Staff
posted on by Karen Ressler
Sekai Project brand manager Frances Delgado revealed on social media that her "entire office" at Sekai Project was laid off on Monday. Studio Élan lead Josh Kaplan also tweeted to say he is no longer employed at Sekai Project.
Sekai Project CEO Christopher Ling posted an official statement on the company's website on Monday, confirming that the company has laid off "many" of its employees, mostly from marketing. He added that the staff for translation, programming, editing, and quality control are still working on projects.
Ling said the reason for the layoffs is a restructuring of the company. In an update to the company's Kickstarter campaign for the Tokyo Chronos visual novel, Ling said the restructuring is necessary "to better take on the changes in the market." He also said he would "like to assure everyone that Sekai Project will Bounce Back better than before."
Ling's statement included a list of updates on the statuses of current projects.
Sekai Project has been licensing and releasing visual novels in English since 2013. Most of its releases have been Japanese visual novels, but it has also released games from international teams, including English-language developers. Though the company has specialized in PC releases, it announced a console games initiative titled Sekai Games in June.
The company also announced plans to begin publishing manga in 2015, though it has thus far only published the first volume of the manga GATE. The company posted an apology for the delay on volume two at the beginning of August, explaining that the printers returned low quality books that are being reprinted.
Some Sekai Project releases — including World End Economica, Clannad, and Le Fruit de la Grisaia, — have been funded via Kickstarter. Sekai Project and Degica collaborated on a Kickstarter campaign to create an anime based on the adult visual novel Nekopara.
Sources: Sekai Project's website, Frances Delgado's Facebook, Twitter, Josh Kaplan's Twitter, Tokyo Chronos Kickstarter campaign
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