Utano☆Princesama Shining Live Announces Global Service Shutdown December 2022

Well, this is the sort of news I would never like to open up the morning with, but KLab has announced that after five long years, the English and Traditional Chinese version of the Utano☆Princesama Shining Live mobile rhythm game will be shutting down on December 26, 2022. The developer also shared the plans going forward until the service’s termination.

Starting from October 26, The Shining Live Pass subscription will no longer be available for purchase. Players who currently have the pass active will receive a cancellation e-mail from Google Play and will not be able to renew it after the date. Following this, on November 30, Prisms and other limited-time items will also no longer be able to be purchased, prompting a connection error if you attempt to do so after that.

Lastly, all Photos released up until August 2022, with the exception of the Smiling Stage set from the Sanrio collaboration event, will all be added to the Memorial Bangle shop on December 19. Players can buy all cards for just 1 Memorial Bangle (For reference, it usually costs 30,000 Memorial Bangles for one card). The lineup includes both Special Event and Photo Shoot gacha photos.

This news shocks me as an avid fan of the series because, like it or hate it, the mobile game was the only medium outside the anime that was officially translated semi-regularly. But at the same time, the writing was sort of creeping up on the wall because of the dwindling player count on the special events. I truly hope that this doesn’t spell the end of any ounce of a chance to make the UtaPri franchise mainstream in the West. (Oh, please do well, Jack Jeanne…)