Just a bit over two years after its worldwide launch, Crunchyroll announced that the global English version of Princess Connect! Re:Dive is shutting down at the end of April.
The announcement was made via an official statement on Crunchyroll’s website which detailed information about what players can expect in the weeks leading up to the game’s shutdown date.
Crunchyroll Announces Princess Connect! Re:Dive Shutdown
Princess Connect! Re:Dive is an RPG with gacha elements from Cygames, the studio behind games such as Shadowverse and Uma Musume: Pretty Derby. The game was initially released in Japan back in February 2018.
After its Japanese launch, Princess Connect! was subsequently released in other regions in Asia, including Korea, China, Taiwan, and Thailand between 2018 and 2020.
It took a while longer, but the game was picked up by Crunchyroll and subsequently released worldwide in English in January 2021.
While it has gotten some buzz following its launch (thanks in part to the two-season anime adaptation), it seems that the game hasn’t been successful enough for Crunchyroll as it will be shut down on April 30, 2023, UTC.
Following the shutdown announcement, the in-game shop has been closed while all in-game purchases are now unavailable. Though fans can still log in and use their accrued Jewels now until the 30th.
However, after April 30, players will no longer be able to log in to their accounts.
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Fans Are Furious at Crunchyroll’s Decision to Close Princess Connect! Re:Dive
Crunchyroll did not mention a specific reason for the gacha game's shutdown. Instead, Crunchyroll simply thanked fans for playing and supporting the game during the two years it was available.
Though it seems that the announcement blindsided many fans who are still actively playing Princess Connect. In response, many took to Twitter to express their frustration.
Some are even calling for Crunchyroll boycotts while others are hoping that Japanese publishers don’t partner with Crunchyroll for future game releases given the recent events.
Sadly, it seems there’s no way for players of the English version to transfer their game data to another server, meaning they’ll have to permanently say goodbye to their accounts at the end of the month.
From the looks of it though, the game’s Japanese version that's published directly by Cygames, and the other Asian releases are unaffected by the English version’s shutdown.
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