The Hourglass of Lepidoptera Is Being Removed From Steam

After a little over two months on Steam, Sekai Project announced today that WAS – The Hourglass of Lepidoptera- is being removed from Steam. In a post released on the Kickstarter page for Lepidoptera, Sekai Project noted issues with SRL, the Japanese developers, and accused SRL of violating Steam’s Terms of Service as well as their own arrangement with SP. Due to these issues, Sekai has not only terminated their agreement, but has also assured Kickstarter backers that they will be refunding them and removing the title from the Steam storefront as soon as possible.

This news marks the end of a troubled development history for the Hourglass of Lepidoptera. Originally announced in 2014, the Kickstarter campaign hit its goal of ten thousand dollars within the first day. By the end of the campaign, nearly sixty thousand dollars had been raised not only to bring the title to the West, but also to produce physical rewards for the backers. Around April 2015, the same time Sekai originally hoped to launch the title, the publisher delayed the project due to issues with translating and scheduling conflicts with the vocal talent. Lepidoptera’s Kickstarter page would only get minor updates through the majority of 2015, only for the announcement to come that it would be released before the year was out. However, it was noted to be incomplete and the publisher assured backers that the game would be continually patched until it was 100%.

After its launch in December 2015, problems still remained for the Hourglass of Lepidoptera. Not only were patches for the game were slow to come in, but there were also accusations that negative reviews and comments were being purged from the game’s storefront. Things apparently came to ahead in the recent weeks and it led to today’s announcement. The news also comes during the fallout of the fraud committed against its subsidiary Denpasoft. Between these two events, the internal situation of Sekai, and how it will affect the team with several major new releases on the horizon, remains a mystery.We have reached out to Sekai Project for comment and if or when we get an answer, we will update this story and we will continue to follow the story as it develops. In the meantime, you can read their full statement on removing the Hourglass of Lepidoptera here.

This has been JP3 with VNN.