Cardfight Online, the now-formerly upcoming online TCG by Bushiroad &Â DELiGHTWORKS Inc. /Â CrossGames.Inc, was recently cancelled by the owner of the Cardfight Vanguard license, Bushiroad. A post that popped up on their Facebook page along with the official website reads as follows:
Dear all,
After much deliberation, we regret to announce the difficult decision to halt the development of Cardfight!! Online.
Our team had high hopes for the release of Cardfight!! Online and wanted to widen the reach of our existing trading card game, Cardfight!! Vanguard, by providing new and veteran players with a different platform to enjoy the game.
However, the project was afflicted with multiple difficulties, hence, the decision to ultimately cancel Cardfight!! Online.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude for all the support and interest received through Cardfight!! Online and hope you will continue your support, as we focus our efforts on future Cardfight!! Vanguard projects.
More details regarding the handling of Cardfight!! Online promo codes received through various avenues will be announced in the coming months on the official website and social media channels.
Please email us at support@cardfight-online.com should you have anything you wish to ask or clarify, and we will try our best to assist you.
The reason behind the cancellation is unknown to the public, but theories range from Bushiroad looking to withdraw Cardfight Vanguard from the Western markets due to declining sales, DELiGHTWORKS Inc’s Fate/Grand Order mobile game making them a boatload of cash thus becoming a higher priority, to development issues with the card game engine progressing too slowly for the online game to catch up with the retail card game.
It’s sad to see another potential Online TCG bite the dust as there is a huge market out there for these types of games. Hearthstone continues to dominate the online TCG market with Magic The Gathering & Pokemon Trading Card Game not too far behind in popularity, along with a lot of independent card games out there too. Bushiroad already has 3 3DS games out under the Cardfight Vanguard brand which have not and will not see Western release, so this was the Wests last shot at seeing a digital version of the game.
The Outerhaven covered the beta of Cardfight Online way back in February, which you can read here.