Blue Protocol developers talk about what went wrong with the MMORPG 

As Blue Protocol celebrates its first anniversary, the MMORPG’s developers have addressed its difficult situation, reflecting on some of the game’s main issues and the improvements they need to make to win players back. Many of said problems will be addressed in the large-scale update “Beyond,” scheduled to release on June 26, which the developers are referring to as “the new Blue Protocol.” However, it seems the team still has a long road ahead of them.  

Blue Protocol, developed by Project Sky Blue (which includes members of Bandai Namco Online and Bandai Namco Studios), launched in June 2023 for players in Japan. The game’s global version, published by Amazon Games, is planned to launch sometime in 2024. While Blue Protocol generated significant interest in Japan thanks to its sleek anime-style graphics and the exciting prospect of a new a high-budget domestic MMORPG, it’s initial strong start was short-lived, as users started expressing dissatisfaction with the game and player numbers began to dwindle. 

The underperformance of Blue Protocol has been significant enough to have large financial consequences for Bandai Namco Holdings and its subsidiaries. However, it seems the developers have been constantly trying to steer the game back on course and make it more appealing to players. In a recent interview with Famitsu, Blue Protocol’s core members acknowledge that the game is currently in a difficult situation and talk about some of the main issues they have identified through user surveys, statistics and their own observations. 

Aside from Blue Protocol still having lingering problems with bugs and communication errors, a lot of players’ dissatisfaction comes from the its gameplay being too repetitive, i.e. requiring too many reruns to advance the story or complete weapon builds. The developers note that they intentionally designed the game loop so that players would have to take their time, but acknowledge that this did not work out as imagined. “The response from players is clearly not good, as the data also shows – if people don’t have a truly fun experience, they will not continue to play.”

In response to this issue, the development team is working on eliminating repetitive gameplay and anything that feels like game content “padding.” On the other hand, they note that getting rid of repetitive gameplay entirely will be difficult. They plan to make up for this by rewarding players with more excitement, such as large treasure chest drops from bosses. 

Despite being time-consuming, Blue Protocol is also criticized for its lack of content – particularly side-content and challenges to provide players with a sense of achievement outside of the main story. This is another issue the developers are aware of and working to fix – the Beyond update will add hack-and-slash and treasure hunting gameplay.  

Going forward, Blue Protocol will also include more casual ways to enjoy the game – such as playing tag, hide-and-seek and beach volleyball. The developers plan to fulfill players’ wish to simply “hang out in an anime world” (like in a metaverse) by providing them with more fun activities. They have even teased a potential housing mechanic – which users have responded extremely well to.

This point is connected to another issue Blue Protocol’s creators identify with the game – a misjudged target audience. The developers refer to themselves as “hardcore” MMO players, and admit to being surprised by the number of casual gamers Blue Protocol attracted. This made some of the hardcore mechanics (such as repetitive gameplay and low drop rates) that they brought over from their favorite MMOs overbearing for the average player.

Reflecting on this point, the team is working on identifying where players are getting stuck and abandoning the game. By improving the user-friendliness of these areas to make progression smoother, they hope to retain a higher percentage of players. Efforts include adding guides as well as making maps and fast travel easier to use. 

While admitting that “it’s difficult to solve everything at once” the developers seem confident that the current Blue Protocol is already very different from what it was 2-3 months ago, and that the upcoming Ver. 1.06.000 update will be “a new Blue Protocol.” 

News on Blue Protocol’s global release may be scarce, but the developers’ self-awareness of what has gone wrong and what needs to be addressed may mean that international players will get to play the game in a far more complete state. 

Blue Protocol is planned to launch in 2024 for the PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.