New Gacha Game Shutting Down Just Months After Release

Free-to-play games with a gacha mechanic have become increasingly popular in recent years. With HoYoverse games like Genshin Impact standing the test of time alongside newer releases in popular franchises like Infinity Nikki, there’s no shortage of live service games with rotating paid pulls. For all their popularity, gacha games are an investment, as it takes time and often money to keep up with new content, not to mention constant work from developers to keep it going. Now, one recently launched live service game has announced it’s shutting down just a few months after joining the fray.

The game in question is Tribe Nine, which released on February 18th for iPhone, Android, and PC from Akatsuki Games. The game is set in Neo Tokyo and features a cyberpunk RPG vibe. Alongside a focus on crafting a compelling narrative, Tribe Nine offers challenging combat. Alas, the story is coming to a close sooner than expected with the recent announcement that the game will no longer be supported.

Unfortunately for gamers who’ve been enjoying this latest free-to-play action RPG, Akatsuki Games has released a statement informing players that service for Tribe Nine will end on November 27th. The exact reasoning behind the shutdown isn’t stated, except to say that “after careful consideration, [Akatsuki] have made the difficult decision to end the game’s service.” The exact reasoning behind the decision has not been revealed, so it’s unclear what ultimately caused Akatsuki Games to shutter its gacha game so shortly after release.

While you might initially suspect the shutdown is related to poor reception, the game actually has a Mostly Positive rating on Steam with over 4,300 reviews to date. Reviews on the Google Play Store are similarly positive, with a 4.6/5 star rating from over 10,575 users. While Tribe Nine never quite soared to high concurrent player numbers like those of Steam’s most popular games, it seems that those who played the game did enjoy it well enough. No doubt, that makes the cancellation disappointing news.

What the Tribe Nine Shutdown Means for Players

For those who’ve been enjoying the game, this announcement no doubt brings up some questions about what’s next. The game is ending service, meaning it will no longer be accessible at all, in November. But what happens until then? From the statement, it looks like the game will be available but more or less dormant.

Tribe Nine previously announced new content and characters for Chapter 4 of the game’s story. The new post clarifies that this content has also been cancelled, adding an apology for the “sudden nature of this announcement to our players.” None of the new features or bug fixes that have previously been in the works will be added, either.

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So, while the full termination of service isn’t happening until November, it looks like no further updates will be made to Tribe Nine starting with the May 15th announcement. Players will still be able to access the game until November 27th, but in-game purchases for Enigma Entities and Daily Passes will no longer be available, effective immediately. Players can still use their current Enigma Entities through the end of the game’s service.

As the end-of-service date approaches, Tribe Nine players can look for updates about the service termination schedule and other notes via in-game notices and updates on the official website.