I don't know how many people still remember that the original source of "If miracles have color, it must be XX color" came from the "LoveLive" project, and I don't know how many people remember the "Orange Miracle" formed by tens of thousands of viewers at "Animelo Summer Live" in 14 years and the slogan "LL Dafa is good" that was shouted and ridiculed by outsiders.
All I know is that along with LoveLive! The announcement of the suspension of the "School Idol Festival", another piece of the puzzle of the youth of the old Lala people, was finally buried in the grave of memory.
《LoveLive！ The end of the life of the Gakuen Idol Festival
In fact, whether it was himself who briefly became a Lala, or the friend who is still a Lala to this day, for "LoveLive! The suspension of the Gakuen Idol Festival is not very unexpected.
Since its launch in April 2013, this mobile game, which can be called the emperor of idol planning games, has been in operation for nearly a decade, creating a lot of amazing history and opening a glorious era of cultivation planning mobile games.
The same ten years have passed, and this game has inevitably aged, gradually lagging behind the 2D graphics of the times, the old underlying design that is difficult to change, the single gameplay, the broken game value, the krypton gold point setting that does not conform to the current trend, the continuous loss of players and the arrival of the second generation of works.
All kinds of factors make the suspension of this game not surprising, it is definitely the end of life, and its IP power has never stopped diverging, but it still makes people can't help but be stunned and embarrassed.
Just like the old Lala people think that it is no coincidence that Klab and Bushiroad chose March 31 as the date for the game to be suspended, this is the most influential and widespread in the LoveLive project, and it is also the creation of "LoveLive! The day when the glorious μ's group held their final LIVE concert in 2016, μ's suspended the event indefinitely.
"μ's" Final Live Scene's "Orange Miracle"
Friends who pushed μ's group called the choice of this suspension day "gentle and cruel", making players remember and experience the end of μ's again, but also said in this way that μ's never forgotten.
Announcing LoveLive! Shortly after the news of the suspension of the Gakuen Idol Festival, "LoveLive! Gakuen Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! announced the corresponding news, and also released a lot of game information in the live broadcast on February 2.
Or the familiar nine keys, or the familiar big head standing painting, or the familiar combination and characters, the whole is not much different from the generation, very original, and the relevant data and props of the generation can be inherited.
The original taste to some Lala people began to doubt life, ten years later, the emergence of the second generation did not bring any qualitative changes, which is also too original formula.
At the same time, because of the low quality of some character card faces in the second-generation live broadcast, many players are dissatisfied, believing that the emergence of the second generation has led to the shutdown of the first generation, but it has not brought any changes in the experience to players, and even caused many players to experience the pain of stopping the service.
This is especially true for players in the national server, "LoveLive! Gakuen Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! " does not have the appearance of relevant national server agent news, even if you get an agent, the version number is also an important issue, compared to Japanese server players can also turn to the second generation after the first generation of server stops, national server players are in "LoveLive! There is really no way back for the School Idol Festival.
Klab exited Bushiroad deadlock
Mention LoveLive! The company behind the Gakuen Idol Festival is inseparable from Klab and Bushiroad, which are better known to the public for their main research and development, Klab.
But if you keep watching the "LoveLive" project game, you will find that Klab has gradually withdrawn from the "LoveLive" project. At the end of 2021, Klab completely withdrew from Love Live! All Stars, the distribution was transferred to Bushiroad, and the development and operation rights were also handed over to Mynet.
And in "LoveLive! Gakuen Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! Even Klab's own official website does not have a game display related to the "LoveLive" project, and there is only a Bushiroad-related label in the game breaking news live broadcast.
As it stands, LoveLive! The suspension of the "School Idol Festival", in addition to the end of this two-dimensional veteran product, also represents the temporary or permanent withdrawal of Klab, a company in the "LoveLive" project game.
In 2013, Klab was facing a deficit of 900 million yen, and the company was in danger, and there were even many rumors of imminent bankruptcy. It was also during this period that LoveLive! The arrival of the School Idol Festival brought a turnaround, and within a month of the game's launch, Klab turned red, and in Klab's 2013 full-year financial report, "LoveLive! The "School Idol Festival" accounts for about a quarter of its total revenue. In the years that followed, it also existed as a backbone product of Klab's revenue.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, Klab's revenue declined for the first time since entering the mobile market, and in 2016, with the discontinuation of μ's activities, LoveLive! The School Idol Festival also saw a sharp decline in revenue.
The fermentation of the new project Aqours in 2017 made Klab's financial report grow again that year, but since 2018, Klab has become a frequent loss-making customer, and even if other mobile games related to the "LoveLive" project are launched, it has not been able to save him.
And under the pressure of financial reports, Klab's operation and operation of games related to the "LoveLive" project have become more and more outrageous. The numerical inflation of the School Idol Festival is gone, and the follow-up work "Love Live! The card draw mechanic of All Stars is also more unfriendly to civilian players.
In the case of its own poor business conditions, player criticism, and unsatisfactory game revenue, Klab finally had to withdraw from the "LoveLive" project game field, as for whether it was chosen independently or forced, whether it was temporary or permanent, no one knows.
As for Lovelive! Bushiroad, another important related company of the School Idol Festival, has not been optimistic in the mobile game business in recent years.
First of all, with the impact of the epidemic in recent years, Bushiroad, which takes TCG as its main income, has also experienced a difficult period, during 2021, Bushiroad suffered serious losses, and all aspects of the business are seeking change, TCG business ushered in a new TCG physical card game "Shadow Poetry EVOLVE" cooperated by Cygames in 2022, which was widely welcomed by players after its release, driving the growth of its business, and the mobile game business continued to stagnate.
《BanG Dream！ The "Girls' Band Party" and the "LoveLive" mobile game achieved stable results, but there were also cases of declining income as the life span increased. During this period, there was continuous news that Bushiroad abused its artists and managed too high-pressure, resulting in poor perception of it by planning fans, which in turn affected game revenue.
At the same time, Bushiroad's main business is mainly TCG, mobile games mainly exist as publishers, its own mobile game research and development capabilities are not strong, very dependent on cooperative development partners, to a certain extent is also "LoveLive! Gakuen Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! One of the possible reasons why the generation has not changed much. After completely moving away from Klab, Bushiroad needed more thought in the development of the "LoveLive" project.
So far, Bushiroad is featured in LoveLive! School Idol Festival" IP products are relatively deadlocked, in the research and development capabilities to keep up, can only maintain decent product development, and these for "LoveLive! For old IPs such as "School Idol Festival" that have lasted for 10 years, there is no change and new content to join, but it continues to consume the life of the IP, which is definitely not a long-term solution.
Putting old content into old shells will not reproduce the "orange miracle" of μ's back then, let alone the original "LL Dafa good" era.