Today, Bushiroad International announced the global release date for Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live via Twitter. That same post announcing the news also revealed that the game will be shutting down in just a few months in what might be the most bizarre game announcement I’ve seen in a long time.
Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live is an anime-themed “rhythm action and adventure” game and the sequel to Love Live! School Idol Festival. Before the original game shut down in March 2023, players were able to transfer their songs and cards into the Japanese version of Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live that launched in April 2023. However, the international version of the rhythm game sequel was delayed, according to Touch Arcade.
But good news: It’s finally coming out in February for everyone else. Bad news: It will be dead and gone by the end of May.
On January 25, the official Love Live! series Twitter/X/whatever account posted an announcement that the global version of the sequel would launch in February, though no specific date was provided. And in that same tweet, just a few sentences after announcing the big launch window, the company also confirmed that the game will be shut down permanently on May 31. This is the same day LLSIF2ML is shutting down in Japan, too. But over there it will have been around for about a year before the Grim Reaper comes for its digital soul.
Reaction to the news was split between frustration and confusion. Many folks wondered why the company behind this upcoming sequel was still planning to release it for such a short amount of time. Even weirder, the game will still support microtransactions, so you can toss your money into a game that will be dead in a few months. Why would anyone do that? I don’t know.
On the one hand, this is very strange and frustrating for fans who waited for months to play this game. On the other hand, it’s very efficient for game companies to start announcing launch dates and shut down dates in one tweet. It saves us all some time.
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