Remember the bubbling excitement surrounding Jump Force a few years back? Anime and brawler fans alike came together to either relive their favorite battles/fantasy fights across myriad series or embark on a new, ambitious fighting experience touting a sizable roster at release. I might not have purchased Jump Force when it launched back in 2019, but I remember throwing together A Short Bio Of Every Jump Force Character as a Game Informer intern. I was impressed with the sheer amount of licensed anime shows that were slated to appear in the game (and exhausted by the end of writing all those dossiers). However, early next year Jump Force’s digital availability and online services are coming to an end in the Americas.
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Bandai Namco US released a short statement and fact sheet on Twitter today to break the news and provide any extra details for fans that have plans to play the game after the discontinuation date, “Our sincere thanks goes out to all Jump Force players and fans for their support; but with all good things, they must come to an end,” the Tweet reads. “Jump Force’s availability through digital purchase in the Americas will end on 2/7/2022 at 5 PM PST.” This decision applies to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC regular/deluxe versions of the game.
Additionally, here’s all the content that’ll no longer be available:
- Logging in to the multiplayer lobby.
- Online Events
- Clan Functions
- Viewing the Notice Board
- Viewing the leaderboards
- Accepting Rewards from the Reward Counter
- In-game Store
- Premium Shop (Only this function will be available until 2022/8/1)
- Online Ranked Match
And here’s the content that’ll still be accessible:
- Offline content
- Online battles (Except Ranked Match)
- DLC (DLCs purchased before end of sales will still be available to use after online service ends.)
Sadly, our own Kyle Hilliard didn’t enjoy Jump Force. He gave the game a 6/10 and concluded his review stating, “For all the harm the middling presentation does to Jump Force, the fighting does have satisfying explosive moments and the online versus mode does work well. There is depth to uncover in the combat, but it never truly sang to me or made me excited to tackle the next fight. Mostly I was just happy to not have to repeat a fight when I won, even if I was performing iconic attacks from some of my favorite anime.”
If you’re an anime fan that’s always been interested in Jump Force but never found the time to grab a copy, now might be your only chance; the clock is counting down!
Are you sad to see Jump Force go? What were/are your feelings on Bandai Namco’s anime crossover fighting game?
