The developers behind Sword Art Online Variant Showdown announced that the game will be temporarily shut down for a year until various issues have been fixed.

As announced via an official Twitter post, Sword Art Online Variant Showdown will be temporarily shut down and going on extended maintenance to fix all its bugs and issues starting on 28 September 2023, 5 PM (UTC) until Summer 2024.

In the announcement post, the developers note that the main goal of the extended maintenance period is for the team to redevelop and improve upon the game’s underlying systems that cause frequent issues occurrences.

The developers stated that they will also be developing new content that aims to increase Sword Art Online Variant Showdown’s lifespan, and adjusts all parts of the game that players considered unenjoyable or unclear such as game rules and character balance.

Data Transfer & Sales Suspension 

Bandai Namco Entertainment assured that players who already have data in the game can still carry over their data once maintenance ends and the team ensured that they will not negate any time and effort that players have spent.

They also recommended that players perform a data transfer in the Accounts tab on the Settings screen of the game to a Bandai Namco ID in advance before it starts its extended maintenance period.

As part of the extended maintenance period, sales of various in-game microtransaction items will also be temporarily suspended, including all Variant Crystals, Beginner’s Training Pack, Fire-Elemental Training Pack, and Boost Pass.

The sales suspension date is scheduled to start on the 31st of August, 2023, at 5 PM (UTC), ahead of the extended maintenance period.

Note that players who have purchased the Boost Passes before the sales suspension can still use the item until maintenance begins but depending on when the item was bought, it may expire during the maintenance period.

Statement from the Developers

As Sword Art Online Variant Showdown will be temporarily shut down and undergo extended maintenance, the developers of the game have gone on to apologize to the players and explained their decisions.

“Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused by the various issues that have persisted since the app’s launch.” said Takeuchi-san, the game’s producer.

“Although we have tried to handle all issues as they arise, due to the frequency with which new issues are occurring, after careful consideration we have decided to temporarily suspend the service and carry out extensive maintenance to fix the underlying problems.”

“Doing so will require some time, but we hope that it will enable us to provide a more stable app experience for all our users.”

The developers also mentioned that during the maintenance period, they plan to regularly update players with the current development process through their official social media such as Twitter.

The team behind Sword Art Online Variant Showdown promised that they will provide post-development updates for their at a rate of around once every month until the maintenance period ends.

As mentioned, Sword Art Online Variant Showdown will temporarily shut down its servers and undergo extended maintenance from 28 September 2023, 5 PM (UTC) until Summer 2024.