Visions of Mana has only been out for a day, but its developer has reportedly lost most of its staff and is at risk of shutdown

Ouka Studios has reportedly been hit with layoffs

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The latest installment in the Mana series, Visions of Mana, finally released yesterday, but it’s been reported that developer Ouka Studios has lost most of its staff, and is at risk of shutting down altogether.

This comes froma report from Bloomberg’sTakashi Mochizuki, who claims that, according to sources familiar with the situation, Ouka Studios owner NetEase has cut most jobs at the studio, leaving only a few behind. Reportedly, these remaining few will oversee the studio’s final games before it winds down for good, as NetEase apparently plans to shut Ouka’s doors. It’s claimed that this comes as both NetEase and Tencent are considering scaling back their investments in Japanese studios following a lack of successful games, amid a comeback for the Chinese market.

Mochizuki adds on Twitterthat the situation at Ouka hasn’t happened overnight, as reportedly, NetEase has been making staff cuts at the studio since at least this spring. Neither the studio nor its owner have released a public statement about this, however, with the latter telling Bloomberg that it had “nothing to announce” about the matter.

If this is accurate, then it’s a huge shock – Ouka only opened its doors in 2020, and Visions of Mana has been one of the most hyped-up action RPGs of the year. It’s worth noting that critic responses to it have been somewhat mixed – in our ownVisions of Mana review, we gave it two and a half stars out of five – althoughits average score on Metacriticis currently ‘generally positive’ at 76. Even so, if it’s true that NetEase has been making cuts at Ouka for some time, then you wouldn’t think that this reception could have anything to do with the situation at the studio.

Layoffs in the games industry have sadly been rife for some time now, with the likes ofDestiny 2 developer Bungieand prominentindie game publisher Humble Gamesbeing just two of the recent workforces affected.

Baldur’s Gate 3 boss tells layoff-happy publishers to stop trying to “double” their money and instead “respect the people making the games.”

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I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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