Archeland, which once brought both surprise and confusion to players with the unprecedented move of retracting its "End of Service" (EOS) announcement, has officially declared its shutdown again. It has been about a year and a half since they resumed service, but this time, the doors are closing for good on March 25th.
High Hopes, Hard Fall
Archeland was the highly anticipated next project from Blackjack Studio, a subsidiary of ZlongGames, famously known for developing the masterpiece SRPG, Langrisser Mobile. Before its release, it carried the weight of expectations to open a new horizon for mobile SRPGs with its spectacular graphics and directing.
However, upon release, the game faced harsh criticism. The story was considered cliché and outdated, and the voice acting often felt disconnected from the characters. The final blow was a fatal error in the Business Model (BM) design that occurred just one month after launch. Disappointed users left in droves, and the game never recovered. It was originally scheduled to shut down in Korea after just a year and a half of struggle.
The Strategic "Fake" Retraction
Then, ZlongGames shocked everyone by suddenly retracting the EOS announcement in Korea.
There was a strategic reason behind this. At the time, ZlongGames was accepting pre-registrations for their new title, Mecharashi. Announcing the death of their current flagship game right before launching a new one would have destroyed user trust in the developer.
Mecharashi
After resuming service, they made some surprisingly generous moves: re-adding previously halted character dubbing, opening limited-time events permanently, and even making the paid monthly subscription free. However, there were absolutely no updates to the main story.
Kalpa of Universe
In hindsight, Archeland was merely kept on "life support" to act as a shield for the new releases. They bought time while launching Mecharashi and Kalpa of Universe sequentially. Now that these new titles have established themselves, Archeland has served its purpose and is being discarded. This time, the Japanese server is closing alongside the Korean server, confirming that this is truly the end.
A Waste of Potential and the Dilemma of ZlongGames
Looking back, the service lasted for about three years in total, but real content updates only happened during the first year. The remaining two years were spent purely on maintenance, which is a tragedy. The character illustrations and modeling were incredibly attractive, and high-quality SRPGs are rare in the mobile market, making this loss even more bitter.
Langrisser Mobile
ZlongGames now faces a dilemma. Their flagship, Langrisser Mobile, has been in service for so long that the barrier to entry for new users is too high. Their newer titles, Mecharashi and Kalpa of Universe, have very strong, distinct personalities that make them somewhat niche, making it difficult for fans of traditional fantasy SRPGs to approach them.
The Uncertainty of "Archeland RE"
Meanwhile, a Closed Beta Test (CBT) for a renewal version titled Archeland RE was held in Taiwan and Hong Kong last December.
Since it was labeled a "renewal," I played it hoping for improvements to the story, which was the game's biggest flaw. Disappointingly, the story remained exactly the same. Only the character/weapon balance and BM structure were tweaked.
The biggest barrier to entry and the main reason for its failure was the "unimmersive story." If this part doesn't change, it will be hard for the game to succeed even if they fix the systems and re-release it.
We will have to wait and see if this Archeland RE project will successfully launch and grant the IP a second chance, or if it will quietly disappear into history.
Read the original Korean post here.
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