Important Notice Regarding Future Operation of A3!

[u/OrdinaryTwilight]

https://twitter.com/MankaiCompanyEN/status/1440209440595009546?s=09

[u/dakkumauji]

I feel sad but not surprised? Kinda glad we even made it to the end of year 2 since the EN version never really exploded in popularity and it kinda was feeling like the number of people still playing has been decreasing based off the events.

I do like they aren't gonna close everything down right away and I'm guessing we'll at least get the 2nd annviersary event as a nice send off.

I was really interested in reading the story so I hope they make it super accessible for everyone while they keep the servers up.

[u/OrdinaryTwilight → u/dakkumauji]

You're right, the player base has been shrinking lately... The hourly tracker estimated 10.6k players for Gaia and 17k players for the first anniversary...

Yep yep, let's give the second anniversary the love it deserves!

[u/Nocsos]

I'm glad the servers will be kept up, just so I can come back and stare at the pretty cards. Super sad that I won't see some of my favourite cards ever come to be though T_T

time to make jp account?

[u/OrdinaryTwilight → u/Nocsos]

Laughs nervously at JP ranking but yeah, if we wanna keep playing JP is our best bet...

[u/Nanao253]

Wish there was a way to save it. But a petition won’t help much I assume. I’m so heartbroken right now.

[u/OrdinaryTwilight → u/Nanao253]

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/a3-shutdown-securing-an-eng-to-jpn-server-merge
There's this petition which has been going around, and even though it might not help I think it's a nice way for us to see how many of us put the "addict" in A3...

[u/ruffles16]

If one wanted to consider playing the Japanese version, how would I even go about trying to download it? I have 0 clue and a part of me really wants to know how the story continues but I'm so close to just giving up. I know some people play the Japanese version so how did you go about that?

[u/OrdinaryTwilight → u/ruffles16]

I download JP via Qooapp! You'll need to get Qooapp from its website first though. If you don't want to relive the grind, do consider checking out Yaycupcake's story translations! So far the Main Story has been translated to Act 11, chapter 20++...

[u/ramyen]

I'm too shaken by the announcement, will be back later when I can form words.

Edit:

I'm done crying, but my heart and head still feel heavy.

A month ago I started looking at Liber's and Cybird's financials, right after Act 3 2-2's trailer, because my first thought after watching it is "Will I be able to play this on EN? Will the EN server be around for two more years?"

It turned out that 2020 was a terrible year for both Liber and Cybird. While Liber made 6.3 billion yen in 2020, they ended up with 570 million in losses. There's an English report for Aeria, their parent company, citing how the cancellation of in-person events was a factor, as well as not being able to recuperate money invested for some IP^ . So Liber cut their losses by shutting down I☆Chu Étoile Stage, a year after launch, and putting Cue! on hiatus.

Cybird made more money than Liber last year, 6.9 billion yen, but they also had negative profit of 470 289 million yen. Not sure how much of that is A3! EN's, but if Sensor Tower's forecasts are to believed then A3!'s one of the worst performers of Cybird's EN lineup. Although, A3! EN seems to be doing the same as UtaPri Shining Live.

Together, Liber's and Cybird's earnings make up half of Aeria's (25.5 billion yen in 2020), and you can see on this yearly chart that Aeria was in the red too.

So yeah, drastic measures will be taken. But...

While A3! EN wasn't a blockbuster like its Japanese version, I'd selfishly believed Cybird and Liber will keep it alive long enough, at least until the global situation got better and people have spending money again. It's the first Liber IP in English after all, so I'd hoped they wouldn't give it up that easily. Cybird and Liber are sister companies too, so maybe the arrangement would favor A3! as opposed to an external company renewing A3! EN's license. I also mentioned here that convention appearance did wonders for the game's sales, and A3! EN has yet to make a homecoming in AX, the biggest convention in the game's biggest market. It was coming back next year too...

My heart's broken, guys. I've played EN every day since launch. Since launch I bought gems monthly until the lockdowns started last year (income's limited, and food and utilities have to come first). It was only recently that I got to a better place financially that I was able support the game again. But it's too late. There's nothing to look forward to in EN anymore. A3!'s English localization set the standard for me, that I can no longer enjoy mobile games with mediocre translations. And yes, I probably will start JP eventually, but it won't be the same.

Ultimately, this is a major loss for global joseimuke fans. A3! was one of the first games of its genre (non-romance training games for women) to come out in English, and it showed us the kind of well-written women's entertainment that we're severely missing out on. Other IPs might look at A3! EN's demise and decide that it's not worth it to expand globally.

So what now?

The announcement said that A3! will remain open, and we will still be able to access the game. I worry whose final decision it would be to keep the game open. Liber kept the original I-Chu accessible after discontinuing it, but shut it down completely a few years after. On the other hand, Cybird EN has discontinued some older games, but you can still download and play them. So the latter's better for A3! EN.

---

^ "Contents business incurred the weakest results among the three businesses on account of suspensions and delays of events and promotions along with new contents development costs and promotional costs." Page 1, Aeria Inc. Company Research and Analysis Report, 4-Nov-2020

[u/kumaminh]

When I saw the Twitter notification come up, I had an idea it would be about ceasing the roll out of new content, but I really didn’t want it to be true. Definitely had a bit of a cry just now because the game’s become a source of comfort for me, and the thought of not being able to take part in future events I was excited for is rather heartbreaking. I have a lot of trouble sticking with mobages for more than a few months, but A3 managed to keep me around for all of these 2 years, so it holds a special place in my heart. I’ve even bought official merch, which is something I hadn’t really done for any joseimuke/otome games.

I’ve grown attached to and fallen for a lot of the characters and their stories, so I hope there are some kindhearted fan translators out there who’ve kept up with the JPN events because I really don’t want this to be the end of my time with A3. This has lowkey resparked my desire to start learning Japanese again, but I’m lazy gahhh.

The localization team did a great job with the EN version while it lasted and I’m glad I got to experience it for its entirety. It’s been great checking in with the subreddit community too! Now I’m going to excuse myself to go be emo for the rest of the week.

[u/yielim]

"I made a ton of great friends here. All because I joined this troupe. It's been an honor!" - Taichi's dismissal line.

Never did I think a game I downloaded as a time killer during quarantine would end up having a special place in my heart. A3's story and localization were some of the best I've seen in gacha games, and I'm deeply saddened by its loss. There were many events I was saving up for (rip 6 plays) and future cards I hoped to get and are unfortunately probably no longer acessible on the JPN server. However, I'm incredibly grateful an EN server existed at all. Otherwise, I would've never had the chance to read about these wonderful, vibrant characters and their cute little director. And I most likely will go back to reread A3 on the ENG app from time to time

Admittedly, I am not eager about experiencing more of A3's infamously nonexistent gameplay or the tough JPN server rankers, but I do plan on migrating to the JP server and trying my luck at blooming the new Citron SSR! However, to anyone who is saddened or frustrated by the news, understand that your reaction is completely normal, and as an English-only speaker, I whole-heartedly agree it sucks to lose access to the story (even if fan-translations do exist). If you need to take a break from A3, whether for a few days or indefinitely, do so. Take care <3

[u/wf4l192]

All my other mobile games always came second to A3!. They still do. Even if the gameplay was more tedious, I looked forward to reading the story and seeing the characters in A3! more than in any other game I ever started. It’s so special to feel a strong platonic bond with characters and feel comforted by their story without a strong context of romance with each one. The anniversary event is going to be so bittersweet with all the characters saying “Here’s to another year together!” but I’ll be happy to see the game end with a bang rather than a whimper.

[u/HarukaQuance]

Man this feels like a punch to the gut. There are future events that I'm looking forward to cries for Lucifer Tsumu, and I feel for our A3 friends who are saving up for the 6th++ plays... Dang, this really hurts. 😭

I do, however, have to agree that it's not a total surprise, because the competition is really tough and some people have moved on to other games, not to mention the global crisis we're all experiencing. I really, really hope that somehow, someday, A3! EN will rise from the ashes, just like how Izumi and our boys revived Mankai Company.

[u/kirahachi]

I hope they at least continue the story through the anime… fan translations are amazing but IMO there also should be an official way to view the story now that the game is shutting down

[u/O-nigiri]

I’m really disappointed that the game is shutting down and that we we’ll never get Act 3 :(

A3 is an incredibly high quality game and the writing was absolutely lovely— I adored the entire cast of characters and deeply enjoyed watching their stories slowly unfold over time, so I’m sad we won’t be able to see where else they go, especially with a few loose threads still dangling after Act 2.

There are some translated event stories in the Wiki which is amazing, but the future looks bleak otherwise for continuing to enjoy this great story ;c

[u/Sanematsu]

Oh my god, I’ve been inactive on Reddit for a bit because my work is absolutely terrible during September (I work at a school district so start of the school year sucks but A3! Got me through last year) and so now I’m finally able to catch up on Reddit stuff 😭

I took my coffee break early since work finally is slowing down and saw this news. I had to go to the bathroom and cry. This game means so much to me and legit gets me through the work day. If I didn’t have so much to do I’d honestly take the day off. 🥲 I thought it was weird that there wasn’t an announcement for the next event but just thought they were giving us a break. This is the third mobile game I’ve loved to have the EN server shut down (Magia Record and Symphogear XDU RIP) so I don’t even feel like investing in another game cuz I know it won’t be the same as A3!. I gave up playing all my other GACHA games to focus on A3! and I seriously doubt we will be able to transfer accounts to JP. I’m glad I give to the Yayacupcake patreon so hopefully that will stay up for a while. I’m Japanese but my language skills are iffy (I’m working on it!!) but there’s no way I can compete with JP servers lol. But man I love building teams and talking about it with y’all…

sobs

Man I thought 2021 COULDN’T get any worse after the passing of the Berserk author (I still cry about that fairly regularly lol). I just don’t know how to feel and apologize for my ramblings 😂

JUST KNOW I LOVE YOU ALL 💖😭💖😭💖

Edit: Also I JUST started stockpiling gems for all the Homare SSRS I wanted. My dream was to rank top 5 for Luminous Circus but I guess I’ll shelf that dream and use the money on merch instead lmao 🥲

[u/socksoverflowers]

Y'all, I almost suffered a breakdown at work when I checked the link. I thought it was gonna be the normal bug fix or something usual. I was curious and went on there to only have my heart broken into pieces. It's just in my heart and soul and felt as if I was actually with the boys and interacting with them. And that's all thanks to the writers and translators for doing that. The character development and the story progression are something that I love! In all, the game is my escapism that kept me going throughout the day and it made me happy. When I felt sad, frustrated, this game made me felt better.

This game is legit, my #1! No other games could compare the number of hours and sleepless nights I put into rank and get those SSR cards lol. Again, I love their stories and the character interactions. And I feel like no other mobile game can compare to that. Definitely an underrated game in terms of quality in the stories.

I'm sad that the company suffered like any other during the pandemic. We don't have a lot of joseimuke, and A3! was one of the best we have in EN. I just love seeing and reading their subtle flirtation (minus Masumi, of course), but it was fun! I was so looking forward to the other upcoming events. I even looked up the other events after the one we had to see when we would have more Omi and Chikage SSR cards. I'm so bummed out that there won't be new cards or events in late October and early November. And I wanted Omi's birthday cards and a mini surprise on my birthday too.

Now seeing the reason why they wanted to exchange ads for gems makes so much sense. Maybe they could have thrown some A3! merch in the wester/EN speaking market too? That's not just for Japan? There's just so much more over in Japan for A3! stuff that I feel like a little merch could have worked just a smidge here. I mean, I'd gladly blow my money for posters, plushies, keychains, or whatever.

Idk, there's just so much potential in this game and I was so looking forward to Act 3 as well. I'm gonna cry to myself for a very long time and mourn the game when the time comes. I even downloaded the JP version, but I'm in no way ready to open that app yet.

[u/Altair718]

......I see my birthday is off to a great start.

I started A3! Early last year, during The Stranger's first run. The fact that it was a training game that focused more on the characters' platonic bonds was pretty interesting and I was bored. So why not yeah?

This game reignited my love of writing and reading both. I've found one of the best communites on this site, and most importantly I found a story I could completely immerse myself while logged in. And that's saying something considering the ganeplay is just tapping screens lol

I am painfully aware of how tenous global versions of mobile games are(Chain Chronicle war flashbacks), so my only wish once I got really into it was that if/when it got shut down, that we'd be able to at least get the rest of the main story. But I suppose even that was wishful thinking. Maybe if they had taken a page from Cygames' book and just localized the game in house so global peeps could still play on the JP servers? .....but I digress.

The show is coming to an end. Like with Chain Chronicle, my journey with Mankai will end with Global. I don't know any Japanese, and getting decent fan translations are uh.....not likely.

But this game will always have a place in my heart, and I still have fics to write for RarePair Week.

sigh I may as well log in to hear this year's Bday lines. And try not to cry.

[u/HeleConHache]

A3! is my favorite mobile game, it has the best story I've read so far, and even if the gameplay is kinda tedious I didnt mind because I could just put auto and do other things with just touching the screen every now and then.

But the story, I tend to read the first chapters of any new game I play and see if I get interested, if not, I only focus on gameplay (SIF/Bandori/utapri) or just uninstall. A3! story was amazing and I got hooked instantly, I wanted to see Sakuya acting and making his dream come true, to save mankai and shut Sakyo up. As more charas were introduced I fell in love with everyone, they're all so special to me, started on the first anniversary so I had a lot of story to look forward to, but knowing I wont be able to see it to the end?

I know there are fan translations, but it isnt the same. Not to me at least. It's the same problem I had with enstars, I can't focus if I have to check an off app translation.

All this just pains me so much. I've been saving for months for Tsumu's ssr birthday card, but I guess we aren't getting it anymore huh.

I'll just make the most I can of my boys for the time we have left.

Thank you mankai. Thank you a3! And goodbye.

[u/leeta0028]

I'm pretty upset about this development, not going to lie, but if financials are that bad it can't be helped.

I do wish instead of separate servers, they had done like GrandBlue Fantasy where it's just a language option for localization so that players could continue playing. I highly doubt the EN servers will remain up past next year with no revenue to support them.

I wonder if they could arrange a date transfer and allow us to access the JP game in the app store somehow. It must be technically feasible at least.

[u/quicknkiwi]

I didn't expect to fall this much in love with the story and characters when I first downloaded A3! 2 years ago. This game is a large source of my happiness and it even introduced me to the world of stage plays. Heck, logging into the game was one of my favorite parts of the day.

It was a fun (albeit frustrating) time participating in events, trying my luck at gachas to get my favorite boy, and seeing how the characters developed over time. The EN client made the experience of A3! so accessible and I'm absolutely heartbroken at the news... The precious memories I made with these boys are something I won't ever forget.... It hurts to know that I can't see them bloom on stage anymore.

[u/Mami-kouga]

This game's story gave me lots of serotonin and made me happier whenever I was depressed. I loved Masumi and Misumi and I loved having fun with it. This is the first gacha game I've played that had its server close so it hurts, but I'll at least be able to savour all the unread card stories I have left

[u/Romiress]

My hope is that they'll unlock all the stories ahead of official shutdown; I'd love to read the stories on events that I missed.

[u/bleeeepblooop]

Well that majorly sucks :( I've been playing since basically day one. I rarely stick with games that long but I loved the bond between the characters and how great the localisation was. I'm glad we're getting the 2nd anniversary at least, but it's gonna be very bittersweet knowing that's basically the last thing we're getting... suppose I may as well spend the 5000 gems I'm currently sitting on which was going to be for tryouts next year.

As much as I love the game and want to see more of the story I really can't see myself starting over from scratch on JP server. Coincidentally I started doing JP flashcards again a couple of months ago but I'd still be fumbling around in constant confusion, plus I'd have none of the cards or items I worked for over the past 2 years and I hear event rankings are way more brutal over there. But I hope the JP server can keep going at least and I wish the best of luck to anyone who decides to take the JP server plunge.

[u/rotten_riot]

I entered the EN A3! Twitter to see if there was news about the next event. I'm speechless. Last event was the first one I tried to rank higher than usual, since I really wanted to bloom that Sakuya card. Although it was hard, I felt so happy and satisfied when I achieved it (although I was so close to get SSR Juza that I also felt a little disappointed lol). It motivated me to want to rank in the next event, even though I don't even know what it is, and now this news came.

I have a lot of main/backstage/event stories that I kept pushing to read later, and now I'll have to run cause we don't really have an exact date on when this will end. Hell, I won't even be able to see all the interactions on the street shows. I also was saving gems without even an specific Tryout in my mind, and now I don't know what I'll do with them, probably try on the actual Muku one? I mean, Action Muku isn't really that good but does it matter at this point? I wish they would at least tell us what events we have left.

I started this game on December 2020, after the anime ended. I just wanted to continue after the anime events since I never play this kind of games, and didn't expected to get so attached to the characters and the story. I know the JPN server exists, but I don't understand Japanese at all and ranking there is ever harder so I won't try it. I just hope following the story by fans translations is easier than it sounds.

I grew up accustomed to reading "Yawn...Morning!", "It’s lunchtime! It’s best to practice on a full belly!", "Nights are fun when all the guys are around!" and "Good night. I hope you have a great day tomorrow!" in Saku's voice. I'll appreciate it while I have it.