Bandai Namco have announced Blue Protocol will end service in January 2025, and canceled its western launch.
The official Blue Protocol website gave its first news post since November 2023. While titled “The Future of BLUE PROTOCOL,” the anime live service MMORPG had none. It linked to the full statement on the Bandai Namco website, along with offering sympathies to fans.
Bandai Namco stated, “We regret to inform you that the Japanese version of Blue Protocol will be discontinued on Saturday January 18, 2025.”
“As a result, we have also canceled our plans to release a Western version of the game in collaboration with Amazon Games. We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Amazon Games throughout the development of Blue Protocol, and both of our teams are disappointed that we will not be able to deliver the game to players around the world.”
“We know there has been great anticipation for Blue Protocol since the first announcement of the game. We wanted to deliver an experience that is like stepping into the world of anime, and we have been challenging ourselves to create a world where each and every player can enjoy adventures as the main character of the anime,” Bandai Namco insisted.
“We have worked hard to prepare for the release; however, we have come to the conclusion that it will not be possible to provide a service that satisfies all of you. We deeply apologize for the sudden announcement.”
Speaking further in a Japanese announcement video (translated by PC Gamer), players who bought the Rose Orb premium currency would not be refunded. Instead, they would be getting 5,000 Rose Orbs per month for free, along with a complementary recently released battle pass.
Announced back in 2019, the Japanese launch of Blue Protocol was originally aimed for Spring 2023 and worldwide in the second half of that year. This was later refined to June 14th in Japan, and May 2023 in the west, then delayed to 2024. The game then subsequently launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on December 13th in Japan.
Automaton Media reported in June, alongside the game’s first anniversary and “Beyond” update, that initial success was soon met with players leaving over the game’s issues. These include bugs, repetitive gameplay needing to advance the story or grind, and a lack of content. The developer intended to fix these and other issues in the aforementioned update.
Player surveys also seemed to indicate players wanted more challenge, yet also wanted casual fun content.
June 2024 also saw Bandai Namco taking an ¥8.2 billion JPY loss ($56.1 million USD), and net negative income. Blue Protocol was the only game they had launched that fiscal year, and the company had previously alluded to a new online game falling shy of predictions.
To make matters worse, Blue Protocol may have have had yet more uphill battles in the west. While Bandai Namco praised their “strong relationship” with Amazon Games, the latter’s reputation could have blemished the game they were tasked with localizing.
They censored Lost Ark to avoid lewd outfits and “better fit western norms,” and have come across as desperate to have a hit MMO under their belt after New World was met with middling reception. Their next effort seems to be an MMO based on The Lord of the Rings.
What secured Blue Protocol‘s reputation in the west was that Amazon Games were likely to censor once again. Dataminers went through the game’s pre-release benchmark test, uncovering that female character models had censored midriffs and legs, despite the original outfits not being sexualized.
As fans discussed whether this would reflect the final release, they quickly discovered these censored models in western trailers. Amazon Games’ Blue Protocol franchise lead Mike Zadorojny had stated back in 2022 that “there will be a few minor differences,” in order to secure the game’s T for Teen rating.
While censorship was not the main reason for the game’s downfall, it seems we’ll see more of it from Bandai Namco. In a presentation by their QA department, Bandai Namco discussed the importance of DEI initiatives (the source of censorship and poor creative choices at the source for over the last decade).
Hoping to expand their operation and potential audiences, a QA representative explained how a lack of representation can be harmful to an audience. She even experienced a Blue Protocol player complaining there was a lack of black hair-styles in the character creator.
“[I realized] That’s what diversity means!” Okuma Mirai added. “Not being represented not only means that the demand for self-expression cannot be met, but it also means that we may not be able to imagine the identities of the many players.” Now Blue Protocol is facing closure, it seems Bandai Namco really couldn’t imagine their players’ identities.