Blue Protocol, the anime-inspired MMO by Bandai Namco Online, will no longer release here in the West, and its Japanese servers will officially shut down January 2025.
In a post on the Blue Protocol website, the company announced that the servers will shutter on January 18th, 2025, bringing the anime MMO to an swift end. As a result, the MMO will no longer be published in the West by Amazon Games.
"We regret to inform you that the Japanese version of Blue Protocol will be discontinued on Saturday, January 18, 2025," the statement reads. It continues:
"As a result, we have also canceled our plans to released a Western version of the game in collaboration with Amazon Games. 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."
In a separate statement on the official Steam page, the developers share in the disappointment of players who were looking forward to jumping into Blue Protocol when it was finally released here, stating that Amazon was "excited to welcome players around the world into Regnas."
Please read this message regarding the future of BLUE PROTOCOL.?? https://t.co/HowQ5SIaTS pic.twitter.com/uADVc0jYrE
— BLUE PROTOCOL (@BLUEPROTOCOL) August 28, 2024
"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."
The two companies have been silent to this point on Blue Protocol's status here in the West, and Bandai Namco Online has also struggled, with the company stating it was insolvent back in June. The MMO was, at that point, still supposed to release here in the West at some point this year, but it was starting to look less likely the more the radio silence went on.
While Blue Protocol started strong when it launched in Japan, that strong showing didn't last very long, and it seems the current plans of fixing and expanding what they were calling the "new Blue Protocol" weren't enough to save it.
We were able to go hands-on at Summer Game Fest 2023, and I enjoyed what I played. To be frank, it's disappointing to see this news, as this was my personal most anticipated MMO to be coming out in the coming years. It's a shame that we won't ever see that come to fruition.
We have reached out to Amazon Games for a comment on this story, as well as to find out what the future will hold for the Western team that was working on bringing the MMO to our shores. Since this news broke outside of normal working hours here in the States, we likely will not have an update till tomorrow morning, but we'll be sure to update this reporting once we hear back.
