Bandai Namco has announced that Blue Protocol, its free-to-play MMORPG launched in June 2023, will discontinue service in Japan on January 18th, 2025. Its Western release, courtesy of Amazon Games and scheduled for this year, has also been cancelled.
“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,” the publisher said in a recent statement.
Though Blue Protocol launched to much fanfare, it also had several issues, which the development team went about addressing. The Western release was pushed back, but unfortunately, despite having “worked hard to prepare” for the same, Bandai Namco has decided “it will not be possible to provide a service that satisfies all of you.”
It’s worth noting that the main reason for the end of service could be due to the title’s underperformance. When the publisher cancelled five unannounced projects earlier this year, it was reportedly due to a 21 million yen impairment loss from an “underperforming” title assumed to be Blue Protocol. Bandai Namco didn’t explicitly confirm this, but it’s now looking more and more likely.
The publisher has other online-centric projects like the extraction shooter Synduality: Echo of Ada in development. Stay tuned for further updates in the meantime.