Jump Force is getting delisted after just 3 years

Jump Force, Bandai Namco's crossover anime fighting game, is getting delisted from online stores after just three years of activity. Support for the game's online features will also shut down within a few months.

The company didn't offer any explanation for the delisting in its blog post announcing the shutdown, but it's possibly taking place because of some combination of license wrangling and mixed critical reception. (The game only has a score of 60 on Metacritic).

After February 7, 2022 (or early February 8th if you're in Asia or Europe), Jump Force will be removed from platforms like Steam and the Xbox & PlayStation stores. Online services will shut down on August 24th. 

Players with copies still installed on their machines (or physical retail editions) will still be able to access offline single-player content, some form of online battling, and any DLC they purchased before the shutdown. 

Jump Force's quiet sunsetting is a bit surprising given the popularity of the characters involved, and the popularity of the fighting game genre ("put Goku in Smash" has been a semi-popular demand for years now). It's also another example of how online-only games can be difficult to archive and preserve for future generations.

It's also a soft warning for companies assuming that crossover brand appeal will be enough to buoy any metaverse-related products. Just because your game has two of the most popular figures in animation doesn't mean player interest will sustain it for years to come.