Sakura Kakumei to shut down in June

After a mere four months or so of service, Sakura Kakumei: Hanasaku Otome-tachi will shut down its servers on 30 June 2021. The notice can be found via its official website here. In-app purchases have since been disabled, while Sakura Kakumei will officially shut down 13:00 JST on 30 June 2021. The usual refunds can be requested, with the method to do so to be announced at a later date.

The game is inaccessible to players outside of Japan without VPNs, though this wouldn’t normally be considered a factor in the game shutting down so quickly. Comments suggest that there were little to no plans with regards to events for the title, namely, no content. Some would even allege it’s the director’s fault the game turn out this way, but obviously, take such accusations with a grain of salt.

For a decently known IP to falter in such a way, this can probably be taken as a cautionary tale for other franchises intending to enter a highly saturated mobile gaming market. If you want a Sakura Wars game to fall back on, Shin Sakura Wars is available for the Playstation 4, being a soft reboot of the original with a new cast of characters with the older ones in more support roles.