Bandai Namco will cease online services for Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield II on March 28, 2024. The arcade first-person shooter game will still be playable as long as arcade centers have not removed it, but it will no longer receive new content updates and gain access to online-exclusive modes after the date.
When the game enters Offline mode, players will still be able to access the single-player Score Attack mode and the 4v4 local versus. However, they will no longer be able to make payments with electronic money sources or record their progress into IC cards.
This end-of-service announcement comes in a different way that brings the arcade game series’ continuity into question. Bandai Namco first revealed the title in early 2020 and eventually launched it in July 2021; all while the original Bonds of the Battlefield was still actively ongoing. The company ensured a smooth transition to the sequel by shutting down the original game later in November 2021.
Bandai Namco did not reveal a new sequel for the series when it announced the online shutdown for Bonds of the Battlefield II. It has two other Gundam arcade games with ongoing online services, which are the Extreme Vs. series of 2v2 arena fighters and the card-based real-time strategy game Mobile Suit Gundam: Arsenal Base.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield II is still available to play in Japanese arcades.
