Sword Art Online Variant Showdown will end service on October 30th

• Sword Art Online Variant Showdown has generated $6.3 million since November 2022, according to AppMagic estimates.
• The title went on hiatus in September 2023 and did not return until December 2024.

Sword Art Online Variant Showdown is shutting down on October 30th, 2025, almost three years after launch.

Developer Bandai Namco Entertainment has already disabled in-app purchases of Variant Crystals, but players can continue to use the in-game currency they already possess and are encouraged to do so before end of service.

Despite being based on one of the most well-known anime series of the 2010s, which helped to popularise the Isekai genre and was itself heavily influenced by games, this mobile game adaptation of Sword Art Online has been unable to make major waves with a post-pandemic audience.

According to AppMagic estimates, Sword Art Online Variant Showdown has generated just $6.3 million since its November 2022 release. $3.5m of that was made by the end of 2022.

Development duel

Sword Art Online Variant Showdown has been a long-troubled title, having gone on hiatus in September 2023 so that the dev team could confront a series of issues and bugs within the game. That time under maintenance was also used to add new content, but Bandai Namco ultimately took over a year to relaunch the title.

The game’s return in December 2024 didn’t manage to match its original launch’s spending highs, generating just $355,000 that month between Google Play and the App Store. Monthly earnings have declined further since.

This August, the title made an estimated $45,000.

Though the original Sword Art Online web novel has spawned manga, the popular anime, multiple sequel seasons, a movie and games, the latest episode of the anime aired in September 2020 in Japan and February 2021 in the West.

Sword Art Online Variant Showdown released in something of a dry spell for the franchise, therefore, though it does feature the IP’s protagonist Kirito and a roster of familiar SAO characters like Asuna, Leafa, Lisbeth and Alice. It has a fully voiced story with a final campaign planned before end of service.

"Despite daily efforts to improve service quality since its launch on November 24th, 2022, we ultimately decided to discontinue the service after concluding that it would be difficult to continue providing a satisfying player experience," the development team said.

"We offer our deepest apologies for having to discontinue service. We would also like to take this opportunity to convey the heartfelt gratitude we felt for everyone who joined us on this journey."

Bandai Namco also intends to launch an offline edition of the game, allowing fans of Variant Showdown to continue playing a version of the title after shutdown. The migration period will last until January 29th, 2026, allowing players to transfer their progress.

Nintendo employed a similar mobile shutdown strategy with Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in 2024, charging players a one-time fee to maintain access after servers went down.