A new report has alleged that Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studio has been hit by layoffs on the very day the game launched across the world.
According to Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki (who, in turn, cites the old chestnut "people familiar with the matter"), Ouka's owner NetEase has "cut all but a handful of jobs" at its Tokyo studio, with a view to eventually closing the company completely.
Mochizuki goes on to say that NetEase's plan is to "shut the Shibuya outfit" (i.e. the Tokyo branch), with a handful of employees remaining to oversee the rollout of Ouka's final games before it "winds down".
What makes this layoff report particularly cruel is the timing. Visions of Mana launched just yesterday, earning itself a very favorable review from our very own Brittany, so the studio behind the game suffering layoffs feels especially unfortunate in light of that.
It's worth noting that Ouka's owner NetEase hasn't officially confirmed these layoffs; in a statement given to Mochizuki and Bloomberg, NetEase said it had "nothing to announce" with regards to Ouka's closure.
Per the Bloomberg report, the layoffs at Ouka are part of a wider trend concerning Chinese companies pulling out of Japanese investments...
