Bandai Namco announced mobile action RPG Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown will end service on October 30. All sales of premium in-app currency (Variant Crystals) in Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown will end on August 29 at 02:00 (UTC), and any remaining currency may be used before service ends.
A finale campaign will be held in Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown leading into the shutdown date with various events. Moreover, Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown Offline Edition (version 3.0.0) will be released, and fans can migrate their data over between October 1, 2025 and January 29, 2026.
“Despite daily efforts to improve service quality since its launch on 11/24/2022, we ultimately decided to discontinue the service after concluding that it would be difficult to continue providing a satisfying player experience,” Bandai Namco said on the game’s official website. “Once again, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported the app over the years, along with our sincere apologies for this unfortunate outcome.”
Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown launched on November 22, 2022 for Android via Google Play Store and iOS via App Store. The action RPG features a story set after the events of the Alicization arc. Kirito and his friends decide to investigate the VR game known as “Cross Edge” after hearing that players may lose their memories after fighting a suspicious character. Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown’s gameplay is driven by the use of Ability Cards, which grant special buffs to characters. Lastly, players may bring up to 3 characters into battle with various Ability Cards.
