With a considerable number of big-name free-to-play mobile gacha games being shuttered down over the past 12 months, seeing any message from a game publisher that begins with “Thank you for always using”, いつも[…]をご利用いただきありがとうございます” or anything similar sends my heart into my stomach if it is a game I have dedicated years of my life to.
The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage, the Japan-exclusive mobile rhythm game project co-developed by CyGames and Bandai Namco Entertainment received such a message via its social media channels yesterday afternoon. While not indicating plans of shuttering down anytime soon, especially with it being a major multimedia franchise for the studio – with a cute and enjoyable anime adaptation (The Idolm@ster Cindrella Girls U149) released only this year, the message does note a change in an approach to development starting in January 2024.
Reddit user u/SnabDedraterEdave shared a brief translation of the text on my usual go-to resource, r/StarlightStage, outlining what changes are in the works, with indications of a lowering of the number of SSR characters being offered, no new SR gacha character cards, and more changes around events and other in-game activities.
Nothing to indicate the service will be stopping anytime soon, and could very well be a shuffle of what is best utilised by the community to save on resources – especially given how content rich the game has continued to be. Of course, it could also be an indication that a new project is in the works around the Cinderella Girls brand requiring more development resources.
Whatever is put out there is, of course, hypothesis… so time will tell. The popularity of the franchise in Japan, indicates there are no plans to cancel it.
The Idolm@ster Cindrella Girls: Starlight Stage is now available on iOS and Android platforms – although only available in Japanese. Despite the language difference, the game is easy to pick up, is accessible and one I highly recommend checking out.
