SEGA previously announced a brand new Sakura Wars game for iOS and Android in Japan called Sakura Kakumei. Sakura Kakumei followed SEGA’s excellent Sakura Wars PS4 game titled Sakura Wars in the West. Sakura Kakumei for iOS and Android, a free to play ‘dramatic’ RPG with command line battles, launched in Japan back in December and SEGA just announced that it is shutting down on June 30th which will be just over half a year since it launched. Since launch, the developers had been working towards improving the game but have decided to shut it down in June. In app purchases have already been disabled. Hopefully the next attempt (if at all) for reviving Sakura Wars ends up being better for SEGA. I’m still looking forward to potential ports or remasters of the older games but it remains to be seen whether that happens. Check out a trailer for Sakura Kakumei below:
Sakura Kakumei is set in a modern day Sakura Wars world several decades after the PS4 game takes place. I didn’t think it would shut down so soon and it is disappointing that there was no English and international release for Sakura Kakumei. If you’d like to check it out before the shutdown in June, Sakura Kakumei is available on Google Play for Android here and on the App Store for iOS here in Japan. Hopefully once the pandemic and lockdowns are sorted across the world, the Sakura Wars stage show can have actual performances internationally at least since those are a big draw for the brand. If you’ve not played a game in the series before, the PS4 entry is still worth checking out and regularly discounted. Even if you skip the game, the soundtrack is incredible including the opening theme so make sure you listen to that. Have you played any of the Sakura Wars releases so far and did you tey out Sakura Kakumei’s Japanese release?
I have been playing it everyday since release and it is sad to see it go so soon. It is not that good of a game system-wise and has been lacking content for a long time but I like the story. I really think it would fare better if it was a one time premium release instead of a gacha, or even maybe a chapter by chapter episodic release. There are a lot of story content and it is clear the team has no experience making a gacha game (even though it is supposed to be the same team behind FGO), lacking many QoL features, gacha staples, and lacking the “hooks” to make people pay money. I have enjoyed this game throughout but at no time I feel compelled to pay to pull for characters.
At least it will release the last chapters in the story and offer some closure before shutting down. The devs also said they are looking to convert this to an offline game after shutdown so those who have it before shutdown can still play it.
It is still very much worth playing to go thru the story and the event stories. They put a lot of efforts into writing and it shows. Since the announcement, they drastically increased item drop rates and also made everything cost 1 energy, essentially making it more like a console game with no energy restrictions and a lot less grindy. (Just as a comparison you used to get average 10 friendship points per stage for each participating character and now you get 800.) They said they would also give out lots of gacha material so that you can get the characters you want before shutdown.