During this time, the issue of the game's suspension has once again attracted attention.
On April 17, women announced to the game "Food Language" that they would close their servers and launch a "companion version", and on the night the news was released, a number of related topics appeared on Weibo's hot search.
Not long ago, Ubisoft's buyout game "The Crew 1", which requires full Internet access, also announced the closure of the game, a decision that also made many players unhappy. In the UK, some players have even launched a joint petition, hoping that the government will stipulate that manufacturers cannot just shut down the game, and as of press time, more than 8,000 players have participated in the joint brand.
Most online service games will inevitably come to an end – revenue that falls short of expectations, or due to internal adjustments within the vendor, can lead to game shutdowns. However, starting from the 2022 "Yunshang Feather Coat Suspension of Service" incident, domestic players' awareness of protecting the rights of in-game digital assets has become more and more prominent, and last year's otome game "The Boss is Too Busy" also had a similar "suspension of service" situation in the call of players.
Even if it is just a bunch of code in reality, the spiritual companionship that games have placed on players over the years is undoubtedly real, especially for two-dimensional and female-oriented games that use characters as selling points and cultivate a sense of connection between virtual characters and players, so this kind of public opinion is often more likely to occur in these categories.
However, after the general game is suspended, due to maintenance costs and other considerations, players can no longer enter the game in most cases, so the contradiction between the interests of manufacturers and players has become particularly acute on this issue, and the game server can rarely be satisfied with players.
In addition to directly and "coldly" announcing the "death" of the game, some manufacturers have made a more compromise choice - "game refactoring". Compared to the former, the departure of the "refactored" game is only temporary, and it will be re-served in a newer appearance in the near future, but the player's previous data will still be cleared, and it will be replaced by the compensation of game resources after the re-launch.
The "City of Cats" of Fantang Network, which will be launched in the second half of 2022, announced this year that it would adopt such an approach, and this one has not yet resumed operation. However, generally speaking, it is difficult for a new wine in an old bottle to perform well on its debut. Last year's binary game "Leap Traveler" underwent a controversial "game refactoring", and the operation of this product is now almost at a standstill.
But in the vast server game, there are some exceptions that everyone is happy with. Last year, the card product called "Death Alice", which was participated by the well-known Japanese producer Taro Yokoo, ushered in the "end of life" moment as a two-dimensional game.
Before the game was shut down, some of the more common things were done to appease players' emotions, such as giving away a lot of game resources, making the finale of the game's plot, giving an explanation to the story, and making a single-player offline version of the game for fans to experience - these measures are not very special, such as "Catapult World Story", "Lost Dragon Covenant", "Destiny Child", "NieR Re[in]carnation" and other games, all have similar practices before the shutdown, which can be regarded as Cygames and Square The traditional craftsmanship of Enix and other manufacturers.
However, "Death Alice" does not stop there, to say how this game "ends well", it is probably to play the last feelings and IP value accumulated by the game in the banter.
"Death Alice" was officially shut down in January this year, in addition to becoming an offline version that retains user data, the name was changed to "Something that used to be Death Alice" after the game was suspended, the icon was changed to a "tombstone", and the "tomb sweeping screen" will also be loaded after entering the game.
Subsequently, this IP was also "reincarnated in the dirt" and launched a theatrical version of the animation of the same name, although the production was not excellent, but the response was quite good among the fan group.
In addition, the sales of this IP-related product are also quite impressive, and a physical Blu-ray disc will be launched in June this year on the 7th anniversary of the game's launch. Not long ago, the game character also started a linkage with another mobile game owned by SE...... The game is dead, but it's not completely dead, that's probably what it means.
The good ending of "Death Alice" may also be due to the Japanese factory's ability to dig money from IP, and the game itself has been in operation for 6 years, which is also a relatively long-term product and has accumulated a lot of popularity. But no matter what, ordinary players have been appeased, fan players have been satisfied, manufacturers have gained a good reputation, and there is a chance to dig a second pot of gold from the "dead game", which is undoubtedly the best ending that a two-dimensional product can get at the moment.
Nowadays, the awareness of players' rights and interests is getting stronger and stronger, and the public opinion of the group is forming more and more rapidly, and manufacturers should also be prepared to have more mature solutions and more active responses when the game is closed. Taking a step back, we also hope to see a game with emotional connection as a selling point, ushering in a warm exit and jointly building a healthier and healthier market.