Sad news for those of you out there who were getting your gacha fix via Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story.
In an announcement posted to social media on Friday, August 28th, Aniplex revealed that the game will end service in English at 11:59 pm, Pacific, on September 29th, 2020. The gradual shutdown will begin on September 10th with players no longer being able to purchase the in-app currency after that date. You can view the announcement and final schedule of events in full below.
For more information, visit https://t.co/N73XjHZboF#MagiRecoEN pic.twitter.com/FIQIPhb8Kv
— Magia Record – English (@MagiaRecordEN) August 28, 2020
Originally launching in Japan in 2017, Aniplex made a big deal of this game becoming available in English in June 2019. I know this for a fact because I sat through that year’s Aniplex of America convention panel and listened to them hype this game up to the moon.
The story for the game is a spinoff that stars a magical girl named Iroha (played by Momo Asakura) in the city of Kamihama. She is looking for her little sister and answers to a mystery. Meanwhile, familiar faces appear who are also searching for something.
The game was popular enough around the world to get both a manga and anime adaptation in 2018 and 2020, respectively. The television anime adaptation will get a second season.
The original series that the game is based on is the hit 2011 series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which was one of the two massive hit series of the year written by Gen Urobuchi (the other being Fate/Zero). Produced by studio SHAFT and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, the series received almost universal praise from fans and critics alike upon its premiere on the airwaves and has received multiple manga spinoff series and was adapted into three movies (the first two recapped the story while the third movie, Rebellion, gave an alternate ending to the television series).
The television series is available to stream on multiple platforms including Funimation, Crunchyroll, and HBO Max.
Source: Twitter