Today Square Enix announced that its mobile game Dragon Quest Tact will shut down soon, at least for the Western market.
The announcement, made on the support website, doesn’t have an equivalent for the Japanese version of the game which seems to be going on with business as usual.
Players won’t even get much time to enjoy the game before it permanently shuts down, as the servers will go dark in two months, on February 29.
Today Square Enix is also terminating the sale of gems, metal cards, and passports. Automatic renewal of the passport has also been discontinued yesterday.
The message mentions the usual reason for the shutdown, with the developers trying their best to provide an enjoyable gaming experience but realizing that this isn’t sustainable in the future. As such, they have taken the difficult decision to close the game.
Dragon Quest Tact was launched on July 26, 2020, in Japan, with the Western releases following in January 2021, when the Japanese version had already accrued 10 million downloads.
At least, players will have enjoyed the game for a good three years when the servers go down, unlike other mobile games that survive just a few months as they don’t have what it takes to compete in an increasingly brutal free-to-play market.
This isn’t the only mobile game by Square Enix to close on February 29. Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia is also meeting its end on the same day, as the publisher is likely trimming the fat ahead of the end of the fiscal year.
That being said, Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia enjoyed a much longer run, having launched all the way back at the beginning of 2017 in Japan and 2018 in the West.
I suppose fans of Square Enix will have to content themselves with playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which also releases on the same day, February 29.
