404 Game Re:Set to shut down in January 2024

by Josh Tolentino on 31 October, 2023

A second game associated with NieR creator Yoko Taro is shutting down operations. Not long after the announcement of SINoALICE's shutdown in Japan, Sega's much more recent 404 Game Re:Set (a.k.a. Error Game Reset) is closing up shop. The game will end service on January 5, 2024, a little more than eight months after it opened on April 25, 2023.

Commenting on the shutdown, Yoko Taro apologized to fans for his "lack of strength," and encouraged them to see the game's story through to its conclusion.

Sega didn't specify the reason why the game is being shut down. A message from the development team accompanying the announcement mentioned that the team determined that "it would be difficult" to provide "satisfying service to players in the future."

Regarding the shutdown, Sega said that outside of the game will operate as normal until it shuts down. The narrative will conclude with Chapter 10, which will be released by January 5, 2024, the day of the shutdown. Players will be able to download the game's data in advance of that day. On the day of the shutdown, an update will be launched to convert 404 Game Re:Set into an "Offline Compatible version" that will allow players to "explore their memories of the game" to that point, as well as experience the concluding Chapter 10.

Scheduled events will still happen as planned, including the introduction of new characters based on Samba de Amigo.

404 Game Re:Set was originally promoted featuring the involvement of Yoko Taro as Creative Director. Its premise was novel, even by the standards of a gacha-based mobile title. The game takes place in a world where none other than Sega itself has conquered all, turning society into a totalitarian dystopia. Players must infiltrate Sega facilities and hack into the company's servers, freeing and purifying their allies, the spirits of Sega's (and a few other companies') masterpiece video games.

The games themselves are rendered as cute anime girls, and include such luminaries as Outrun, Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, Afterburner, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Cop. Other companies' games, like Bandai Namco's Xevious and Dig Dug, and Taito's Arkanoid, also showed up.

404 Game Re:Set is still available on mobile devices in Japan. It will shut down service on January 5, 2024.