The China subsidiary of Japanese developer XFlag, itself a subsidiary of mixi, recently announced the closure of Monster Strike in China for the second time. The mobile game was first closed in China under Tencent Games back in August 2015, with parent company mixi then deciding to open an office in China to directly operate the game in 2017. Despite lofty ambitions, Monster Strike did not manage to click with local gamers in both runs.
The official game closure date is set on 20 February 2020. Interestingly, XFlag China does not have any other games running, hence the former players of Monster Strike are simply being “let go” without a substitute. I am guessing XFlag will eventually shut down its office in China. Monster Strike is one of Japan’s top grossing mobile games ever, but it never did connect with both the English and Chinese audience despite many localization attempts.
Note: The Taiwanese server of Monster Strike is still alive, but it still does not hold a candle to how much popularity and profit earned in Japan.
