Bamco abandons Blue Protocol (jrpg MMO), cancels Western release and collaboration with Amazon

[anonpuffs]

link

Game's been in trouble for a while, and they're pulling the plug

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.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Yeah, ever since the betas, we haven't heard anything good coming from JP/Content Creators.
The more time passes and the more it seems like FFXIV will probably remain the last Great New MMO and it almost didn't actually happen, they just doubled down on remaking the game.

Making a big budget MMO in the current day, especially in the West, is probably too risky of an endeavour.
They were taking years and years to make in the 2000s and early 2010s, I can only imagine how long the production of a polished title would take nowadays and how much money would have to be sunk in it to see things through.

Riot Games has scrapped the version they had been working on since 2020/2021~ this year, so they're back to the drawing boards. Probably not seeing a sniff of the Runeterra MMO until something like 2030 at this point, and that's if things go according to plan.