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The story
A new BanG Dream! smartphone game launched service on September 25, and despite touting more than 1 million pre-registrations, it stumbled out of the gate — sparking discussion on 5channel’s Love Live! board. It only managed #8 on the App Store free ranking and #39 on the sales (revenue) ranking, failing to beat “Touken Ranbu Puzzle de Giri,” which launched the same day. On the thread, some defended the game, arguing the server errors and maintenance right after launch were simply what dragged the numbers down, while others took a harsher view: that an IP only propped up by popularity in China just doesn’t work in Japan. Complaints also flared up over the gap between the free and paid gacha-stone exchange rates.
What people said
Hololive's game (fans call it "Horodori," playing off "BanDori") did way better
Do the same thing without self-purchasing and the sales ranking just won't climb
Re: #3 Horodori has CyberAgent involved too, that's why its sales ranking is high
Pretty obvious once you see it, right?
Launched at 8pm yesterday, then it was an error-fest until about 3am today, followed by maintenance until about 5am
How exactly is the sales ranking supposed to grow in that situation?
I already had a feeling this thing might flop
That means a million people are gonna spend money
Scared?
Even worse than the sales ranking is that with that many pre-registrations, it's currently sitting at #8 on the App Store free download ranking
For a mobile game with even a bit of name recognition, taking #1 should be automatic — but it's not even #2. In fact, the current #1 is "Touken Ranbu Puzzle de Giri," from Our Notes, which launched the same day
Wasn't it a first-anniversary celebration immediately followed by the shutdown announcement?
Bushiroad really is the worst
School Idol Festival 2 died before even reaching its first anniversary (funeral held 3/31), and "School Idol Festival Day" — which they specifically created for April 15, the release date shared by both games — was never once properly celebrated before it vanished
It hadn't even been a year, you know…
The MyGO compilation movie two years ago was so empty it dropped out of the top 25 by its third day (a Sunday) — even back then I found the whole "MyGO was a hit" narrative dubious
They've got a new Ave Mujica movie coming next month, and it'll almost certainly be just as empty
Isn't giving every character an SSR right at launch just standard practice? (boomerang straight back at School Idol Festival ALL STARS lol)
Don't trash-talk Link! Like! Love Live! — it gave every character an SSR and still turned Megu-chan-senpai into garbage
Ah, that's what you meant…
＼(^o^)／ (throwing its hands up)
They handed out SSR selector tickets and stuff, so the real sales are still to come
Too late already
With an opening like this, people get spooked about a shutdown and go cold on spending
Why are they even storming into the Love Live! board in the first place
Because affiliate-blog leeches and conflict-baiters have taken up residence here
Free stones… one gacha pull costs "200P"
Paid stones… one gacha pull costs "2000P"
Background and key points of this topic
Sales rankings (revenue rankings) swing heavily based on first-day spending, so a string of server outages and maintenance right after launch tends to produce unflattering numbers. Pre-registration counts, on the other hand, are just a free sign-up metric — they don’t guarantee actual spending or long-term retention. Opinions on the thread split between “this is an IP only being kept alive by its popularity in China” and “it’s just being unfairly judged because of the glitches,” but it’s worth remembering both are personal takes, not official analysis. There’s also history here: School Idol Festival 2 ended service before even reaching its first anniversary, which has made people quick to eye a new title from the same operator with suspicion at launch. Since rankings can still shift over the following days or weeks, judging the game purely on its opening numbers may be premature.
※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5channel (Love Live!) thread “New BanDori App — Is This an Epic Flop?“.
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