Today word about mass layoffs at the visual novel publisher Sekai Project started surfacing on social media via Project Manager Josh Kaplan and Brand Manager Frances Delgado.

According to the tweets, the whole Los Angeles office was suddenly let go today. There is currently no information on whether the same happened to remote employees.

Further comments shared on the Visual Novel.info discord mentioned that the layoffs were suddenly communicated during a staff meeting, and no specific reason was provided to the employees affected.

More information provided by Sekai Project's Audi Sorlie on Resetera mentions that there is still staff working at the publisher, and no project has been canceled for the moment. He is still at work on the recently-announced Sekai Games console label and on Tokyo Chronos.

Recently Sekai Project made quite a few announcements at Anime Expo.

We reached out to Sekai Project for a clarification on the situation and on the future of the publisher. We'll keep you posted if we hear something relevant.

As always, our thoughts are with those affected by the layoffs and with their families.

Update: Sekai Project released a couple of official statements promising that the publisher will continue its operations, and providing updates on its current projects.