$25 million MMO gets shut down only 4 months after launch
The ambitious anime MMORPG Gran Saga is shutting down after just four months. Developer NPIXEL officially announced that the servers will close on April 30, 2025, citing "difficulties in providing a continuous and stable service for users" as the reason. However, for many players, the game's closure comes as little surprise.
Solid foundation, but lacks player engagement
Developed over four years with a reported budget of $25 million, Gran Saga launched globally on November 8, 2024, for PC and mobile devices. The MMO featured cinematic production, cross-play support and full voice acting. It was praised for its soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura and its Final Fantasy-inspired art design. However, despite these strengths, Gran Saga struggled to establish a stable player base for several reasons.
One of the main reasons for Gran Saga's poor reception was its automated gameplay, which left little room for real player interaction. Frustration also grew due to poor balancing – story bosses were excessively strong and progression stalled around level 50. On top of that, expensive microtransactions and technical issues further alienated players. According to SteamDB, the game peaked at just 547 concurrent players shortly after release and numbers steadily declined. By February, Gran Saga struggled to surpass 200 players, an alarmingly low figure for an MMORPG. In comparison, Final Fantasy XIV regularly sees over 15,000 concurrent players on Steam. With such dwindling numbers, the developers had little choice but to shut the game down early.
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Image source: Steam
