Another victim of the flood of live service / online games currently on the market, where it can take something special to really capture the market’s attention, Bandai Namco Online has announced their plans to cease development of, and close servers of their action RPG Blue Protocol, to take place on 18 February 2024.
This announcement came from executive producer Sokichi Shimooka, who expressed their apologies for the announcement. They shared that Blue Protocol aimed to immerse players in an anime-like experience, allowing each individual to enjoy the world as if they were the main protagonist of an anime adventure. However, they also shared that despite the initial excitement from fans who have been involved with the game since it entered its first Closed Alpha test in 2019, it was concluded they were unable to maintain the quality of the service.
With a fair few more months to go, the development team are committed to providing new content and a few events up until the game’s final day on 18 January 2024, sharing the below road map:
28 August 2024: Blue Protocol will stop the sale of paid currency. A variety of new content, including the Awakening Battle Imagine “B-フレアデミドラゴン” and new missions, will be added among other content.
1 September 2024: Free paid currency will be distributed monthly, and a daily free pack containing Rose Orbs will be available.
11 September 2024: The “TA・神懸の御柱2” Time Attack event will take place.
25 September 2024: The release of Ver.1.07.100 will introduce new missions, a new raid mission, and the beginning of Season Pass 10.
30 October 2024: Ver.1.07.200 update will bring further missions, a new raid boss, and the start of Season Pass 11.
27 November 2024: The Ver.1.07.300 update will feature Christmas-themed decorations, additional missions, and Season Pass 12.
18 December 2024: Ver.1.08.000 update will expand the main quest, introduce new areas and raise the level cap to 90.
25 December 2024: Season Pass 13 will commence.
26 December 2024: The monthly event “ファインド・フェーヴ” will start.
18 January 2025: Blue Protocol will terminate its services at 22:00 (JST).
18 February 2025: The official Blue Protocol website will close at 15:00 (JST).
For those hoping for an official international release of Blue Protocol, sadly that will no longer happen. In an announcement titled The future of BLUE PROTOCOL, Amazon Game Studios has has confirmed that Bandai Namco Online has “ended plans to release the game in the West in collaboration with Amazon Games”, with the company sharing the below statement:
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.
Furthermore, Amazon Game Studios shared:
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.
A shame. It would be nice if they could salvage parts of the game and re-release it as a single-player game, sans the cash shop.
