Publisher Arc System Works and developer Linked Brain have announced BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War is shutting down in January 2022.

While BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War is shutting down on January 31st, 2022 in Japan, the 2017-announced smartphone spinoff only just released back in February 2021 – meaning the game will be shut down before its first year anniversary.

Both companies noted the decision to shut the game down came after they found it was challenging to maintain the overall quality of the game, which has been played by over 1 million users. The chain-combo RPG has been available for both iOS (via the App Store) and Android (via the Google Play Store).

Here’s the full message from the companies regarding the shut down:

Thank you for using BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War.

We would like to inform you that BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War, which has been used by many people since its launch, will be terminated on January 31, 2022. We sincerely apologize to our customers for this sudden announcement.

The team in charge of operation and development has been discussing the continuation of the service, but has come to the conclusion that it will be difficult to continue the service from the perspective of ensuring quality in the future.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the nearly one million customers who have played the game so far, and for the words of encouragement and encouragement we have received, and we will do our utmost to provide better service to our customers.

As for the prepaid means of payment in the game, we will implement the refund procedure based on Article 20, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Settlement of Funds during the period from 0:00 on February 1, 2022 to 12:59 on May 2, 2022 (scheduled), the day after the service termination date.

This is Niche Imports. In this column, we regularly cover games that haven’t been announced for western audiences yet. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s something you want us to cover!