In early June, Konami announced that their free-to-play multiplayer game Super Bomberman R would end support for its online services later this year. After only 18 months, this modern version of the old arcade game is coming to an end.
Officially released in 2020 as one of the Stadia exclusives, Super Bomberman R is an updated version of the classic Bomberman games that incorporates the more popular Battle Royale gameplay of recent years. Players have to fight against 63 other players in the game across 16 maps to be the last surviving combatant. In May 2021, Konami brought the game to Steam, Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo Switch and started operating it as a free-to-play game.
Although it collaborated with phenomenal games like Fall Guys, Super Bomberman R's popularity has dissipated very quickly. According to SteamBD, the game had reached around 7,000 concurrent players at the time of its launch, but by last September, the number of players online was just over 200, only enough to run three matches simultaneously - by now, the number of players online at the same time may not even be enough to start one match.
There are many reasons for the loss of players; for example, players need to pay $10 just to unlock the ability to play with friends. At the same time, the game's server is quite unstable, with loading times often much longer than the match itself.
Some players also commented that they did not like the addition of Battle Royale gameplay to the classic game, the word "boring" often appears on the review page of Steam besides the nostalgia for the former classic Bomberman.
One silver lining is that this failure has not stopped Konami from trying to redevelop old IPs; they have assured players that there will be more new content to reveal.
“The Bomberman series is moving forward with new projects,” it said. “We hope to be able to inform you of this project soon. Thank you for your continued support of the Bomberman series.”
source: SteamDB