Japanese game developer ODD No, known for the virtual idol mobile game Link! Like! Love Live!, received a bankruptcy commencement order from the Tokyo District Court on August 5 alongside two affiliate companies. This news comes less than two months after Link! Like! Love Live! ended services on June 30 (source: ITMedia).
According to a report published by credit investigation firm Tokyo Shoko Research on August 13, ODD No’s liabilities had reached a whopping 10.32 billion yen (about $64.7 million USD) as of the fiscal year ended December 2024.
Link! Like! Love Live! launched in May 2023, and while it managed to attract a significant player base, the game was burdened with heavy operational costs and other expenses, leading to a net loss of 5.6 billion yen for the fiscal year ended December 2023. This expanded the company’s liability excess to 6.8 billion yen at the time.
Financial difficulties continued in the following years, and in December 2025 and March 2026, the company’s headquarters (which also served as the CEO’s home) were subject to provisional attachment by alleged business partners. In other words, after ODD No came dangerously close to bankruptcy, their business partners likely took legal action to block the company from selling or transferring ownership of the building. This guarantees that they obtain the assets they are owed after ODD No officially goes bankrupt.
Finally, in April 2026, ODD No announced the shutdown of Link! Like! Love Live!, citing skyrocketing operational costs and lack of human resources to support the game’s “real-time calendar” feature. The feature allowed players to follow the idols’ school lives from enrollment to graduations in real time, with in-game events linked to a real-life calendar. However, according to ODD No, the operational burden was “unimaginable” and “far greater than for any typical live-service game.”
On a related note, 2026 has been quite a turbulent year for the mobile game developers, with 10 bankruptcies recorded between January and July, which far exceeded the total count of 3 developers going under throughout 2025. Adding ODD No’s bankruptcy to that list, the industry is on its way towards a new record-high number of annual bankruptcies by the end of the year.
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