Fans of the Symphogear franchise like to say “Watch Symphogear,” to everyone who’ll listen, but unfortunately, it seems they couldn’t get enough people to play Symphogear. According to an announcement posted in-game and relayed via the official Twitter account, Symphogear XD Unlimited will end service on July 31, 2020, barely five months after it launched on Valentine’s Day. Purchase of Song Stones, the game’s premium currency, was suspended as of May 1, 2020. Players with unused Song Stones by the end of service will be allowed to request a refund.
However, Symphogear XD Unlimited will maintain its event schedule, allowing players to play until the very end. Pokelabo, the developer and publisher of Symphogear XD Unlimited, announced that the following events and updates would occur on-schedule:
- Innocent Sister story campaign – Early May 2020
- Maid Gear gacha event – Mid-May 2020
- Symphogear AXZ Main Quest update – Early June
- Alchemist gacha event – Mid-June
- Valkyries’ Summer event – Late June
- The Sirius of Zwei Wing event – Mid-July
Given the short lifespan of the game, it’s likely that Symphogear XD Unlimited was unable to build a critical mass of players needed to keep the game cost-effective to maintain. Free-to-play and gacha titles typically need a large player count to operate in the long term, with the large majority of free players essentially subsidized by the activity of a small number of paying players.
Symphogear XD Unlimited will be available for Apple iOS and Android devices until July 31, 2020. Pokelabo is also preparing to launch a different free-to-play mobile RPG, SINoALICE, on July 1, 2020.
