A mobile anime game has announced its upcoming English language release date - in the exact same post as the same game's closure just a few months later.
Love Live! Is a Japanese multimedia franchise focusing on a number of schoolgirls who become 'idols' in their free time. The franchise has seen multiple anime series, as well as film, novel, and manga adaptations. It's also been adapted into several games, including the rhythm game Love Live! School Idol Festival. That title launched on mobile in 2013, and features several characters from across the franchise.
In 2022, a sequel was announced, arriving in Japan in April 2023. A global version to include English, Korean, and Chinese language support was also supposed to be released last year, but changes to the Japanese version pushed that release back to February 2024.
【Global Launch Notice】We are excited to break the news to you that the global version of Love Live! School idol festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! is launching soon in February 2024.However, we also want to inform you that, the Global Version will close its doors on May 31, 2024, and… pic.twitter.com/0LYQ6YnD61January 25, 2024
And that brings us to today, where the game's developers announced that they had made the decision to close down the Japanese version of the game at the end of March. Accordingly, the global version will shut down in May, forcing the social media staff working on the global release to announce the game's closure before it's even released.
In a tweet, the game's official account reiterated the February 2024 release date, but says that, "We also want to inform you that the Global Version will close its doors on May 31 and cease in-app purchase accordingly." That means that, assuming School Idol Festival 2 drops on February 1, players will get a total of four months with the game. Optimistically, the developers have "committed to making these last few months an unforgettable moment," but that's a tricky pill to swallow when those 'last few months' are also the 'first few months.'
The reaction below that announcement is a mix of disappointment and disbelief. Sentiments along the lines of "Why would you even launch it?' abound, as do those pointing out the bizarre nature of announcing the launch and end of a game in the same tweet. There's a third undercurrent to the responses, which suggests that Love Live! Games rarely tend to be long for this world, but even that doesn't really explain a lifespan quite as short as this one.
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