The Japanese portal Myjitsu published an article pointing out that the announced closure of the smartphone video game “ Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live! “, just a year after being released, could be an indicator that the “ Love Live! ” as a whole is no longer as popular as it used to be in the past.
« The smartphone video game “Love Live! School Idol
Festival 2: Miracle Live!” has announced the closure of its servers for next
March 31 in Japan. With this, it turns out that different video games
from the “Love Live!” have been closed one after another, so there are fears
that the franchise is becoming obsolete and fans are wondering, what will
happen to “Love Live!” in the future? ».
« “Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle
Live!” is the most recent release of the “School Festival” mobile video game
franchise, which includes the different school idols of multiple generations. It
is a rhythm video game that allows fans to participate with all the songs of
the franchise to date .
« The previous video game, titled “Love Live! School
Idol Festival” ended its service on March 31, 2023 and “School Idol Festival 2”
was announced as the immediate successor. However, less than a year
since its release on April 15, 2023, this new sequel will also cease its
activities. Another previous release, titled “Link! Like! Love Live!”,
is still in service and includes the new generation “Hasunosora Girls' High
School Idol Club”, although with a different style of play than usual .
« In other words, it is possible that the usual style of smartphone games that characterized the “Love Live!” has come to an end with “Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live!” , to give way to a new style .
« An industry expert commented on the matter:
“ Regarding the cessation of services of 'Love Live! School Idol
Festival 2: Miracle Live!', it has been pointed out that the quality of this
new video game was simply bad, and that it was embarrassing compared to the
first release. However, having said that, can't it also be said that
the popularity of 'Love Live!' Has it generally decreased over the years? The
size of the franchise as a whole has increased so much that it is difficult for
new fans to integrate, and there are also some who are 'too big'. In fact,
during a collaboration concert with “The Idolmaster” at the Tokyo Dome in
December 2023, there were some sections where a VTuber made an appearance and
was completely booed. Apparently the 'Love Live!' fanbase refuses to
allow the franchise to evolve, making it inevitable that the franchise will
decline “ ”.
« The “Love Live!” franchise will have remained
active for fourteen years in 2024. Since there are always new
developments in both events and video games, it is often said that the voice
actresses who play the characters “already have a guaranteed job for life.” However,
in recent years, the impact of live events has been declining within the anime
industry, and “Love Live!” has not been the exception. Now added to the
problems of video games for smartphones, if things continue like this the
future of the voice actresses of the “Love Live!” could be at risk ».
« Currently, the musical unit Liella! from “Love
Live! Superstar!!” has become a great success, but its popularity has focused
more on the fact that “fans adore the girls as idols” and not so much because
they are part of “Love Live!” What does the future hold for the top
school idol franchise? ».
Source: Myjitsu
