Dragalia Lost To End Service Later This Year

This is yet another reminder of just how important the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass is. Mobile games constantly disappear such that you can't even play them anymore if you own them but with the Booster Course Pass, Mario Kart Tour will be preserved.

I played it during the Megaman crossover event. And boy was it ever a good game. The reason I ended up deleting it though was because of the insane amount of space it required. If they only they could have just better optimized it, or heck they should have put it on the Switch. If they can get away with 3 pokemon mobile games on there, there's no reason Dragalia Lost wouldn't have worked.

Yet another reason I don’t play Nintendo’s mobile games. They inevitably pull the plug and all your investment is gone. No thanks!

This is why I don't play Nintendo's mobile games... They broke my heart once with Miitomo, they broke it again with Dr Mario World, the only game they probably won't get rid of anytime soon is Fire Emblem Heroes. I've got a feeling Super Mario Run is next on the chopping block.
EDIT: Oh wait, I play Pikmin Bloom regularly. I've almost finished maxing out friendship with 40 of each Pikmin, and in all likelihood, Nintendo's gonna release the Smoky Progg and kill all 280 of them when they discontinue service.

This isn't "ending service" the game is being destroyed.

@Grumblevolcano : Not the best example as you’re citing DLC there, and that too is at risk of going up in smoke one of these days (though certainly less problematic than games that can only be played online).

If Nintendo are serious about preservation, then they’ll give us a complete physical release in late 2023 once all of the new tracks are done (and ideally when no further software updates are planned).

When a mobile game, or any service-based game, is going to close the servers, companies should work to make the game available offline and allow people to just purchase the game, turning the game into a product, no longer a service.

@DomGC A few of my friends play it, and from what I've gathered, the original writers have left, and the new writers don't know what the story is for updates that released before they were hired.

Hopefully it'll be the right time to use the ip to its full potential as a full fledged switch game

Not surprised this died and surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Cygames has multiple other more successful Gacha to maintain [Horse waifu game, GBF, Etc] and Nintendo has FE Heroes that is much more more successful.

DL just couldn’t break out of the awkward in-between barrier of “niche Gacha” and “blockbuster Gacha”.

@victordamazio Agreed. Turning a F2P game into a one-time purchase would not just be good for posterity, but it'd arguably attract a new player base that otherwise passed on (or fell off of) the original model.

This would also instill faith that time put into these games wouldnt just evaporate when the next Nintendo-published mobile game comes around and inevitably shuts down.

Sorey for the player but it never released here so I wonder what's lost

and thats another reason I don't bother with phone games. They're just killed and made impossible to play in the future

The game should be made available to play offline with no paid gambling mechanics. Why remove it entirely?

I'd like to see an enhanced/offline version of this game come to Switch, without the gatcha elements. Maybe then I'll play it

Dragalia Lost certainly won't be missed. What's with its stupidly limited availability?

4 years of plot and updates isn't too shabby. Its more than most console games get.

I think there is too much negative press surrounding the closure of service games. Even if you could keep playing them for decades at a time (Say Hi, Final Fantasy XI) the community often moves on leaving you with memories of the people you played with and a shell of a game.

I used to love playing Phantasy Star Online with the same group of people but aside from the game they were complete strangers and I'd never find them now. I have the memories and thats enough for me.

I always wondered what it might feel to have been gullible enough to have invested time and money in a mobile game that poof just vanishes one day.

And another one bites the dust..

I played a lot of games to unlock Rosalina in Dr Mario and one day they deleted her...

Wait, I thought Dragalia was doing well? Well this sucks big time. I enjoyed of what I played and could tell it was a much more than the usual lazy gatcha games. I hope it's able to come back one day on Switch in a more complete form fir people to enjoy

That sucks. This should have had a switch port.

Hmm, I wonder what the chances are this will be transitioned into a console game?

Really sad to see it go. I think this was a nice new IP for Nintendo and will be missed by the players. Hopefully, the devs can release a standalone eShop version or a sequel. But, as a mobile game for profit, it was way too generous and probably did not bring in the same revenue as FEHeroes or AC Pocket Camp. I know people who never spent a dime on the game and that was very common in the player base.

Overall you will be missed Dragalia Lost hopefully we'll see you again in the future.

@DomGC I enjoyed FE Heroes. It is a fun little time waster and nice to see some lore expanded for characters we've not seen in 15-20 years (looking at the Geneology games). But, I just did not like how gotcha it got over time. Way too many events and too expensive to keep playing. I've not touched FE Heroes in probably two-three years.

I still am baffled that after all these years, this brand new "Nintendo IP" never was given any sort of presence on their proper Switch console. That's the biggest reason why it failed in my eyes.

Where is the Dragalia Lost ReLink for Switch? Or, the IP easily could become a Genshin Impact clone. The franchise still contains a lot of potential for Nintendo, and I love the art design, so it's very disappointing to see it flounder from a complete lack of support on Nintendo's part.

Aww I don’t normally play mobile games but I put a lot of time into this one. I’d love to see it come to Switch in some form, it’s got some great characters. Sad to see it wrap up ☹️

This could and should be a switch game fully ported like for 40 or 50 dollars

From the sounds of it, this was another mobile experiment by Nintendo to see if they could make the gacha RPG formula less exploitative of its players, and still be successful. And of course they couldn't. The formula is rotten to its core, as is the market for it.

As for people wondering if it could make it to Switch in some form, I wouldn't hold my breath. The acquisitional part of a mobile game - the randomized gacha - is half the fun. The daily rewards and timed promotions keep players coming back. You remove those, and there's not much meat left on the bone.

I do think the characters and art style are appealing so it would be nice if they're seen again, beyond just cameos. Granblue has its 2nd spinoff console game in development, which was initially linked to PlatinumGames. But without a huge playerbase, doing something similar for Dragalia would be risky.

I try to be open-minded about different gameplay styles, but I really think there's not much salvageable about mobile gacha games. Whenever I try one and my screen is filled up with 8 different timed promotions and 12 different resource types, I just want to throw my phone in the ocean. It's the opposite of good game design. I think the main reason people give them the time of day is for convenience, because their phone is already on them at all times.

Well Dragalia Lost will be lost forever in indeed. Unless Nintendo decided to port the full game to 3DS I don't think we will see this game at all from now on. Next game to be shutdown should be Mario Kart Tour, once Nintendo ported all the tracks to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe through the Booster Pack I could see that game on the chopping block soon.

A proper sendoff would be if they removed the always-online requirements as the game service ended, but we all know that’s unlikely.

Even if they wanted to do so, the game has an update scheme for every mission that would require them forever to keep on hosting update servers, something that is obviously out of the question.

Ah yeah, how's that games-as-a-service treating us now?

Stack this with the other failed mobile games, Mario 35, Mii Plaza Games, Jump Rope... and not to mention many of the digital WiiWare titles.

I had some good times with this one. Probably the most generous Gatcha game I've ever played. I never paid any extra money and had just about everyone I wanted. (Which might be why it's shutting down, I suppose.)

Eventually it got to that "I'm not enjoying this. It's becoming another job and I want a game" phase that these things always come down to and I uninstalled. I might have to slip back in and see how it all ends.

Hopefully it gets a console adaptation/port/remake or a sequel. I don't recall getting to play it when it came out, I think because I had an old phone that couldn't run it. I had forgotten about it until now basically. Would anyone recommend trying to play it now or would I be too late to the party?

Never played it. I doubt I even could on my tablet or my phone. It DID have Mega Man, for a time. I can't even play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp on my Tablet OR My Phone. They're behind the times. It was also the reason the only "King's Knight" I could ever play is the NES Original. No Microtransactions, hard difficulty, and no Noctis and his friends? You call that fun?

@Paraka Jump Rope Challenge is still on the eShop for free.

Maybe I should give this game a try before it goes.

If Pokemon can have three mobile games directly ported to Switch, there's no reason this couldn't have been playable on it too. Controller support would have been great, too, especially for a game like this.

For me, this was surprising and sad, I recently started this game by finding a way to play region-locked games mobiles; and the game seemed very good and beautiful to me, and researching about characters, many of them seem pleasant to me, which is a pity that there will not be more of them in the future...

And still more sadness, the game is celebrating its 3 anniversary.., what a gift for this game....

I really enjoyed this game! Same with Dr. Mario mobile

I like most of Nintendo’s apps, but I just couldn’t get into this one. Shame for the fan base, though.

I've been through great OSTs like Xenoblade, DKC2, Chrono, but Dragalia surprised me because it's definitely up there among the greats even though it's a phone game. It was satisfying to see the side stories connect to the main story and the combat was really addicting given how unique a lot of adventures were. Their generosity put other gacha like Genshin to shame. Not to mention the awesome community having top tier memes and being really tight knit.

Really sad to see it go, I can't see myself getting into any other phone games after this. If DL does ever get revived then it'll definitely be the first time I throw cash on a gacha.

Aw man. I never played it but it’s still sad to see it go.
Hopefully Nintendo does something with the ip.
I’ve seen quite a few ip’s end up dying and never coming back.

@DomGC You are correct on it being too generous which lead to it's detriment. Anecdotally, the blame seems to be placed more on Nintendo's restrictions mostly. While OkadaP of Cygames wasn't perfect (that Battle Royal mode was something no one wanted for example), he did manage to improve the experience of the game overall even with the pitfalls.

@Paraka
werent most of the wiiware games simply digital releases rather than games as a service since you can play them as long as they are on your system even after the wii shop channel service ended, unless there were service based games.

i may be wrong but usually when i think of games as a service i think of things like gamepass or NSO where you are subscribing to a live service to access the games.
(as mentioned in another topic its why i dont really feel like investing much time into nso releases if the service is stopped then the games are outright gone regardless of whether they are on your device)

@Mgalens - The service part is broad, but mostly it's described as a company providing you access to content and support. Ultimately you're reliant on the company to provide access to the game. Digital games sort of... skirt that. Since now, if you want those games, you need to either already have it, or find it pre-installed. Of course, this is speaking from the legal methods.

@Paraka
ah i see what you mean.

I can usually tolerate digital where you can still access it providing you have it downloaded, i do naturally prefer to have physical as an option even if its limited like several indie releases, limited digital releases however im definitely not a fan of and hopefully we wont be seeing a mario all stars/original fire emblem situation again.

While im not against the idea of things like gamepass existing im really not a fan of having it as the only option on a system, its why i find NSO frustrating since there are quite a few games i would definitely buy but unlike gamepass there is no option and unlike cloud games the NSO games are running natively on the switch.

atm the only real service based game i play is FFXIV since the devs are often very transparent regarding future plans for the game.

I'm sad to see Dragalia go. I was really into it until the engame co-op got too frustrating, dropped off for a while, and eventually came back as a casual player. They've been incredibly good to their players overall, frequently responding to feedback and being insanely generous with the gacha mechanics. Even without touching some of the endgame content, and only spending like $8 through its whole runtime, I've still managed to collect ~85% of its roster, with only a couple characters I really wanted slipping through my fingers. Part of the expectation with live service games is that they'll eventually have to end, but I do wish they could at least preserve the single player content somehow. Either way, it's been a fun ride, and I'll remember it fondly.

So Dragalia will soon be... Lost.

@Mgalens - I am cautious with digital. Usually I weigh how much I would miss the game if, theoretically, they removed it next week and I can no long download it. Probably why I wait for good sales on anything digital.

I personally contest, and hate, games as a service. Mainly because it is reliant on the decisions outside your scope. Doubly so when we have an environment that has been stewing for decades (yes it's been this long, just changed topic) that can dictate "offensive" material to be removed for the good of PR. Which is entirely reliant on the current age of trends. From religious slight, to fart humor, to perceived or blatant bigotry, to whatever comes next. They have been, and will continue to be displayed as "problematic" depending on how the culture sees it at the current time.

And quite frankly, I ain't down with a company like Microsoft, Intellivision or even Nintendo deciding that Earthworm Jim or Buck Bumble is too old, too risqué, too archaic, too tone deaf, too ignored or otherwise not worth reinvestment. And poof, it's gone.

It was never released in my country Greece, and many other European countries among others. No big loss I guess, wanted to try it out though

@Grumblevolcano This is a really good point, and I didn't think about it, now I hope, we get many more stages from tour.

I didn't get to play it much.
It's one of a handful I actually WANT to be ported to switch.

I only played this during the Fire Emblem crossover events, so I'm not really sad to see it go tbh.

@YoshiAngemon Might as well give it a shot if you ask me. Great art and music, and the gameplay is solid. There's enough time left to get acquainted with Dragalia Lost and read its story if it interests you. Storage space is the only thing the game requires, as there's no need to spend money. The 3.5 anniversary celebration is beginning, so it's good time to start with all the freebies.

Sad but not surprising at all. This was inevitable.

@Fighting_Game_Loser : Not really. Among many other reasons, DL was the least performing (after the shutdown of Dr. Mario World) of Nintendo’s current mobile games.

Another one bites the dust.

Fire Emblem Heroes next, I wanna watch Ghast and Pheonix Master lose their minds

I'm surprised the subtitle wasn't "Dragalia Lost lost". Perhaps though if it is brought to Switch, they can do like Milton and call it Dragalia Regained.