Bandai Namco’s ill-fated MMORPG Blue Protocol has formally had a tombstone ordered on its behalf, as the corporate has introduced it’s going to be ceasing service in January 2025.
What which means in fundamental phrases is that the servers will likely be shut down and the sport will die, however what’s notably fascinating right here is that Bandai Namco has additionally introduced that the worldwide port of Blue Protocol – which was being dealt with by Amazon Video games – can be lifeless. That model of the sport was by no means truly launched, quietly shifting its summer season 2024 launch date to a obscure 2024 window earlier this 12 months.
It is a unhappy finish for a recreation that sadly did not convey within the anticipated income Bandai Namco was searching for. In a monetary report, the corporate vaguely hinted in direction of the sport’s lacklustre efficiency, earlier than promptly by no means mentioning it in such a capability in future studies. Amazon Video games, which was behind that deliberate western launch, has been completely silent in regards to the recreation for practically a 12 months. As talked about above, the sport was initially concentrating on a launch window for… now. Nonetheless, it was quietly pushed again, and now’s firmly cancelled.
There are two fascinating factors right here that are not lined by Bandai Namco’s assertion. The primary is that the sport’s subpar reception is peculiar. It proved common in previews, and had a decently-sized playerbase. It appears that evidently, despite this, the sport simply did not generate the income. We interviewed franchise lead Mike Zadorojny at Amazon Video games final 12 months in regards to the monetisation – part of the sport Amazon was tinkering with to make it extra palatable for a Western viewers – but it surely seems to be like even the nastier money-generating components did not generate sufficient!
The second half is…Amazon Video games seems to probably have had the rug pulled out from beneath it a bit right here. If we take a look at Misplaced Ark – the final massive MMO Amazon ported over for a Western launch – it is clear that the group did some severe work on that recreation. The writer tweaked the monetisation, and had QA testers, a translation group, and a reside group all engaged on it at varied phases. Amazon Video games as an organization invested assets into Misplaced Ark, which is why it clearly took a lower from gross sales and transactions for it.
An analogous association was probably in place for Blue Protocol. By the point we performed it final 12 months, it had had translation work carried out on it, and Zadorojny was one senior lead of a complete group engaged on it. It might have obtained the identical remedy as Misplaced Ark, however was mysteriously pushed again from its launch window. If Bandai wished extra cash, and Amazon clearly wished to receives a commission, why push the discharge window again? Amazon hasn’t shied away from releasing video games in want of labor – New World took a whole lot of patches and elbow grease to get into the nice place it’s in at present. So why was Blue Protocol quietly swept beneath the carpet?
Placing all of that to the aspect, pour one out for the Western followers on the Blue Protocol Reddit, who’re at present fairly unhappy about the entire affair. It is one factor to have an MMO you have performed shut down, however an MMO that did not even come out? That is tragic.
Had been you excited for Blue Protocol? Tell us beneath, in addition to why you reckon it did not do nicely.
