It seems
that even having extremely positive reviews doesn't save you from the corporate
guillotine. The Asian giant miHoYo has just announced the
sudden closure of the servers of BSide: Olivia Lin, its ambitious
experimental title based on artificial intelligence. The game will
be permanently removed from the Steam store this coming August
31, leaving thousands of players without its virtual companion.
The premise
of this technological gem was quite interesting. The title
functioned as a generative AI-powered companion app where you could interact directly
with Lin Li, a clever university waifu from Shanghai
specializing in piano and psychology. Users could listen to her perform live,
ask her for creative advice, exchange personalized letters, and even upload
music files for her to generate music videos. The craziest thing about it is
that the game debuted in Early Access only on July 13 and already accumulated
more than 1,500 overwhelmingly positive reviews, with an original plan that
promised to keep support active until the end of 2026.
As a kind
of apology for users who grew fond of the talented pianist, the developers
confirmed that they will release an offline version on August 27, a few days
before the total blackout. This rescue version will allow players to continue
listening to piano performances and use dynamic wallpapers on their monitors.
Unfortunately, however, all interactive features that relied on servers, such
as uploading music or writing AI-generated letters, will be completely
disabled. Those who want to keep this piece of history in their libraries will
have to download the update before the page disappears forever.
Considering
that artificial intelligence technology is advancing by leaps and bounds and
this experiment proved to be a resounding success in its reviews
