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Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown Ends Service on October 30, Offline Version Announced

The game just can’t catch a break.

Bandai Namco has announced that Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown will end service on October 30, 2025. Despite “daily efforts to improve service quality” since the game’s launch, the team determined that they would be unable to “continue providing a satisfying player experience.”

The team provided a roadmap, announcing events from the service termination announcement to the game’s end of service:

  • August 29, after maintenance: End of Variant Crystals (premium in-app currency) sales, Festival Scout begins to allow players to obtain all previously-released characters and ability cards
  • August 29 to the second half of September: Limited-time event “Take Back the Stream!” begins, [Gem Alchemist] LLENN Event Scout begins
  • First half of September: Episodes 10-13 of Part 3 released
  • Second half of September: Late September event and Event Scout, Episodes 1-8 of Part 4 released
  • October: Finale Event and Event Scout
  • First half of October: Episodes 9-13 and final Episode of Part 4 released, Combo Boost unlocked for all characters, all stories unlocked, Sword Art Online: Integral Factor Link gift distributed
  • Second half of October: Ultimate Battle
  • October 30: Discontinuation of online service

After October 30, Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown will be playable offline if players transfer their data by updating the game to Ver 3.0.0 by January 29, 2026. Only players who completed the tutorial by the end of the online service will be eligible to transfer their data.

The Offline Edition will include the following:

  • All Main Quests released after the game’s relaunch on December 17
  • A selection of Unlimited Dungeon floors from 50F to 500F
  • All Solo and Multi Quests released
  • Battle Royal mode
  • All Main, Side, and Extra Stories
  • All features of the game’s Character Interactions
  • A Scout Simulator that allows players to view all previous Scout and SSR character cutscenes (Note: You cannot actually obtain characters here)
  • Thank You Credits, displaying the names of all players who logged in before August 29, 2025

Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown was initially released on November 24, 2022 before being taken offline for an “extended maintenance period for service improvement” on September 28, 2023. The game relaunched on December 17, 2024. In total, Sword Art Online: Variant Showdown was live for less than two years.

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