Support NeoGAF

[The_hunter]

The future of BLUE PROTOCOL

Bandai Namco Online announced that they have made the difficult decision to end service on BLUE PROTOCOL.

www.playblueprotocol.com

Bandai Namco Online announced that they have made the difficult decision to end service on BLUE PROTOCOL. They will shut down their Japanese BLUE PROTOCOL servers in January 2025, and have ended plans to release the game in the West in collaboration with Amazon Games.
In their statement announcing the end of service, Bandai Namco Online said, “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 this is disappointing news, and we share your disappointment. We love the world and characters of BLUE PROTOCOL, and we were excited to welcome players around the world into Regnas. We join Bandai Namco Online in expressing deep gratitude to the passionate fans who followed BLUE PROTOCOL development and participated in the Closed Technical Test.
We have great respect and appreciation for the talented team at Bandai Namco, and wish them success in their next endeavors. You can read Bandai Namco Online’s full statement about BLUE PROTOCOL here.

 

[IAmRei]

Dang... Its unfortunately...

 

[Haint]

Bombed in Japan I'm assuming? What did they dislike about it? Was it Gatcha and P2W?

 

[GHound]

A better resolution could've been had, but not with the parties involved.

 

[Utamaru1706]

Bombed in Japan I'm assuming? What did they dislike about it? Was it Gatcha and P2W?

It was mostly due to lack of contents, and the devs themselves were also pretty amateurish in handling the game, where they clearly doesn't know, nor they have any history in making an MMO game before.

I mean, the majority of Blue Protocol players were pretty much bailed out from the game after a very disastrous update livestream last year, where the devs literally doesn't know about the stuffs that they supposed to talk in the stream, which left many viewers dumbfounded, and just left the game afterwards.

Here's a vid that explains about that particular stream:

 

[Bashtee]

I'm not going to lie. This is actually funny after seeing how they want to tackle DEI in their games.

Bombed in Japan I'm assuming? What did they dislike about it? Was it Gatcha and P2W?

I'm not up to date on this game, but I remember that people were angry at the prices for the in-game shop. Also, they introduced a new class or something during a live stream and the devs didn't know what the new one could do and were just sitting there in silence. This was so freaking bad, it's actually sad.

 

[nikos]

That's what they get for deliberately not supporting ultrawide.

Seriously though, I was still looking forward to this game. Sucks that it never made it over.

 

[Sakura]

The game wasn't fun. I played it a bit when it first came out and it was obvious it wasn't going to last long.

 

[March Climber]

Upsetting but understandable. The combat system looked good but they couldn’t figure out how to craft the rest of the MMO experience properly.

 

[Natsuko]

Too bad. Despite all the controversy, I would have liked to try it out. It feels like we've been waiting ages for it to come out and now it won't even make it here. Somehow it didn't work out right from the start. It looked so promising when it was announced. But somehow things went downhill from there.

 

[.Xeno]

Wow they really stuffed up with this game, it had so much going for it before launch. It was released in Japan way to early with no real PvE end game. All they really had to do was make a anime FFXIV it would have been raking in the money.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

RIP... hardly knew you Blue Protocol.... I was actually excited for this MMO to finally release worldwide. Looks like Bamco didn't want to invest further in it and address its shortcomings.

Well at least we still have this pretty cool OP:

 

[Kasane89]

Nothing is lost. Good thing that Amazon lost money

 

[cripterion]

Japanese devs ain't got it anymore. The Chinese showing them out it's done nowadays.

 

[STARSBarry]

I see so they finally expanded the western censorship to the rest of the game and censored it out of existence.

People called me mad when I pointed out removing the jiggle physics was a slippery slope, well who's mad now?

 

[Rentahamster]

Japan is getting out-weebed by China and Korea. That's kind of hilarious.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

RIP... hardly knew you Blue Protocol.... I was actually excited for this MMO to finally release worldwide. Looks like Bamco didn't want to invest further in it and address its shortcomings.

Well at least we still have this pretty cool OP:

LMAO damn they paid for L'Arc-en-ciel I bet that didn't come cheap

I'm sure it was cheaper than Rings of Power tho lol

Amazon sure knows how to waste money

Doesn't look like Bamco had the tiniest clue how to make or run an MMO judging from how the JP version was received, too bad I guess

 

[Griffon]

Bamco grifted Amazon hard eh.

 

[Ridicululzz]

Damn was looking forward to playing this with some friends, but with how long the localization was taking the writing was on the wall.

 

[Skifi28]

 

[Peroroncino]

They should've at least try with WW release, I'd love to give it a shot.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

No point in making a different thread, so I'll just drop this Automaton West article with Japanese users' reactions to the EoS here:

Commenting on Bandai’s decision to shut down Blue Protocol’s servers, many Japanese people on social media considered the game’s genre to have been a major part of the issue. “Everyone was expecting a Japanese MMO but once it was released, no-one was calling it an MMO. It’s an action RPG.” One user opined. “So those who had been looking forward (to an MMO) soon quit and didn’t spend any money.” Others pointed out that there are many rival games on the market, including MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV and the free-to-play action RPG Zenless Zone Zero.

However, not all players were disappointed by Blue Protocol. “Even though it has been nicknamed “Protokuso” (Protoshit), for me personally, it was the most enjoyable MMO I’ve played.” One user lamented, adding that they would like to get the rest of Blue Protocol’s story, even as a follow-up novel.

A prominent sentiment was that Blue Protocol was a “wasted opportunity” with people singling out the game’s striking anime visuals and character customization as the game’s highlights- “I hope Blue Protocol’s failure can be used to make other Japanese games.”

Blue Protocol took 8 years to develop, and its polished anime-style visuals were a promising draw for many. “I think this is a “really wasteful” case that will go down in the history of games.” one commenter summed up.

Wasted opportunity indeed...