Bandai Namco has officially placed an obituary notice for its troubled MMORPG, announcing that it will discontinue service in January 2025.
The statement implies that server shutdown could lead to the game’s demise, but a more intriguing aspect is the demise of Blue Protocol’s international port, handled by Amazon Games, also being announced. The rollout of that particular sports model was effectively stalled from the start, with its initially slated summer 2024 debut being pushed to an uncertain 2024 timeframe in the preceding year.
The sport’s underwhelming performance marked an unfortunate conclusion, falling short of the expected revenue target set by Bandai Namco. The company’s financial report subtly alluded to the underwhelming performance of the sports team, only to refrain from making any explicit references to it in subsequent reports. Amazon Game Studios, the driving force behind the delayed Western release, has maintained an eerie silence regarding the game for nearly a year now. The initial focus of the sport was centered around establishing a definitive launch window for immediate release. Nonetheless, it was discreetly resubmitted, only to be decisively shelved.
Two unaddressed attention-grabbing factors lie beneath the surface of Bandai Namco’s statement. It’s puzzling that the sport has received such a lukewarm response. With overwhelmingly positive reception in its preview stages and a substantial player base established, the game demonstrated a promising start. Despite these factors, the sport struggled to yield a substantial revenue stream. We spoke with Mike Zadorojny, franchise lead at Amazon Games, about the monetization aspects of their game during its final 12 months, which were intended to make the experience more appealing to Western audiences. However, it appears that even the most aggressive revenue-generating features failed to yield sufficient results.
The second half is undoubtedly where Amazon’s video game efforts appear to lose momentum. Amazon’s successful localization of Mabinogi Heroes, a large-scale massively multiplayer online role-playing game, demonstrates the significant efforts made by its development team to tailor the experience for Western audiences. The writer refined the monetization strategy, collaborating with QA testers, a translation team, and a residential crew throughout different stages of development. Amazon invested heavily in Lost Ark, leading to a significant dip in profits and revenue due to the substantial financial outlay.
Associations with similar protocols were already established for Blue Protocol. At the time we executed the project last year, the translation work had already been completed, with Zadorojny serving as one of the key senior leads overseeing the entire team involved in its development. The game would have received the same treatment as Lost Ark, but was inexplicably pulled back from its release date. Why did Bandai delay the release window when they were in dire need of funds and Amazon stood to gain from a timely sale? Although Amazon has faced challenges in developing a successful game like New World, which required numerous patches and a significant amount of effort to reach its current state? It’s unclear what drove Blue Protocol’s sudden and unexplained decline in popularity.
Pouring a virtual toast to the disgruntled Western players of Blue Protocol on the Reddit community, currently perturbed by the recent developments. What’s the fate of a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that was shut down before it ever had a chance to launch and gain traction with players? That is tragic.
Were you eagerly anticipating the release of Blue Protocol? Tell us beneath, in addition to why you reckon it did not do nicely.