Mobile spinoff Nier Reincarnation is shutting down in April

Nier Reincarnation promotional artwork.
(Image credit: Square Enix)

The free-to-play mobile spinoff Nier Reincarnation, which is set in the same universe as the hugely popular Nier: Automata, is set to end after two and a half years.

Released in July 2021, Nier Reincarnation is a role-playing game (RPG) for iOS and Android with a story centered around characters who have been suddenly transported to The Cage - a mysterious alternate dimension filled with dungeons. 

The game follows set story arcs, with players engaging in free exploration and combat with waves of enemies to unlock new story content. Although much of the story can be experienced for free, the game also features a gacha style mechanic that allows players to unlock new weapons, characters, and equipment.

Despite a fairly successful launch, publisher Square Enix has confirmed in a new blog post that Nier Reincarnation will be ending service on April 29, 2024. This will be roughly a month after the release of the game’s final chapter which is set to release on March 28 and will conclude the ongoing ‘The People and the World’ story arc.

Some live-service events are planned for the coming months despite the imminent shutdown. This includes a limited-time story completion event, a 3rd-anniversary celebration for the original Japanese release, and a final chapter countdown campaign. 

There will also be some efforts to try and reward long-term players, with the story completion countdown event granting 10 free summons per day. Once service is over, however, it appears that players will no longer be able to log in to the game. 

Although this isn’t too unusual for a free-to-play mobile title, it’s still a huge shame and makes a huge swathe of Nier content completely inaccessible in the future. It might be wishful thinking, but hopefully, some kind of offline support is on the way - like we saw with the other Square Enix mobile RPG Kingdom Hearts Dark Road which can be played without a connection to the server.

Looking for games to play? See our guides to the best indie games or the best single-player games for some top picks.

Dashiell Wood
Hardware Writer

Dash is TechRadar Gaming's Hardware Writer. Before joining TechRadar, he was a print journalist writing articles for some of the UK's biggest gaming magazines including PLAY, Edge, PC Gamer, and SFX. Now, when he's not getting his greasy little mitts on the newest hardware or gaming gadget, he can be found feverishly devouring the latest Nintendo Switch otome.