Hi everyone! Over the years we’ve been asked multiple times what our policies are regarding our Kickstarter campaigns and how we handle refunds. We know that there is a lot of misconceptions and conflicting information online on various forums so we wanted to clarify it a bit with this blog post.

1) “Sekai Project does not offer refunds!”

We do! We honor any refunds requested via our support ticket system. For more information, check out our refund policy below.

2) “You never finish any of your campaigns!”

We have! Currently, we’ve completed 10 out of 20 campaigns. We also completed 2 out of 2 IndieGoGo campaigns.

3) “But you had 22 Kickstarter campaigns!”

One campaign (WAS –The Hourglass of Lepidoptera) we had to cancel completely. We refunded all backers with the full amount that was pledged, minus the cost of digital copies of the game. The other campaign (Witch boy Magical piece) did not get funded. Which means backers were never charged for anything.

4) “You’re always late!”

Things sometimes do not go according to plan. However, we’ve had campaigns that were fulfilled relatively on time such as the campaigns for “A Light in the Dark” and “My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!?”.

5) “Still why does it take so long to get things done?”

You can think of localization in terms of a factory assembly line. Sometimes the input gets backed up which slows down progress on a project. More often than not, delays have happened when key materials, assets do not arrive in time which then causes other portions in the localization process to back up. The majority of delays lately have been in programming and image editing causing a backlog in finishing up a number of our projects.

6) “But I never received my rewards even though you said it was complete!”

Please access our support ticket system and submit a ticket so we can take a look at what went wrong. We really want you to have your reward!

7) “Why do you use Kickstarter instead of self funding a title?”

In our earlier years we did not have much access to capital or savings. However, lately we’ve been able to reinvest our profits in to localizing more titles. For example, we’ve have been doing Amatsutsumi, QUALIA ~The Path of Promise~, Kimagure Temptation, Yume to Iro de Dekiteiru, Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka, Harumade, Kururu, Sa Na Ra Ra R, and many other titles with our internal funding instead of relying on Kickstarter. Please keep in mind though, in the future it is possible that a few projects where Kickstarter is unavoidable either due to the size or scope of the title or because the licensor requests it be done as a Kickstarter for reasons not limited to capital costs.

Our Kickstarter Refund Policy:

We wanted to make it clear to backers that we refund pledges for anything not redeemed or shipped to them. So what does that mean?

• If you redeemed any digital keys related to the campaign that were sent to you via BackerKit, we will not offer refunds on those digital items.
• If you received any physical games or goods related to the campaign, we will not offer refunds on those physical items.
• If you pledged for digital and physical products and you’re still waiting on the physical product, we can offer refunds on those physical items if you do not wish to wait any longer.
• If a platform gets removed (i.e. PlayStation Vita) before completion of the campaign, we can offer an alternative or a refund on that particular version of the game product.
• If the game itself is incomplete or gets canceled after funding, which has only happened in one case which was for “WAS –The Hourglass of Lepidoptera”, we will offer refunds to the backers depending on how much was completed or not completed.
• If you are unhappy with how things are handled we may refund you by request on a case by case basis.

Refund Statistics:

• We’ve had a total of 50147 pledges across all our campaigns.
• We’ve had a total of 595 refund requests.

Changelog:

August 5th 2021 – First revision of blog post.
August 5th 2021 – Formatting changes.