After seven years of service, the veteran CCG Shadowverse just got hit with what players are calling a 'death sentence' — from its own producer.
Shadowverse is a digital card game (CCG, not TCG — the community is very particular about this) published by Cygames, running strong for seven years. On December 10th, producer Yuito Kimura (aka KMR) officially announced the sequel: Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond (abbreviated as 'BYD' in the Chinese community), complete with a flashy PV trailer.
The new game is set for a global simultaneous launch in Summer 2024. Card types and deck structures remain largely intact from the original. The big changes include a complete UI and visual effects overhaul, a new 'Super Evolution' mechanic (cards evolve again after a certain number of turns with upgraded effects), and the merger of two original classes — Necromancer and Bloodcraft — into a single class called 'Nightmare.'
On top of that, the sequel throws in a bunch of mini-games like fishing and Japanese mahjong. One player quipped: 'Judging by that PV, I'm starting to think the card game is just a side feature — there are more mini-games than actual gameplay.' Others pointed out these features were just copy-pasted from Cygames' own Granblue Fantasy Versus and the Switch version.
What really set the community on fire was the esports announcement. KMR revealed a revived global tournament starting 2025 with a ¥10 million JPY prize pool — but here's the kicker: the tournament will be played entirely on the new game, not the original. This made it crystal clear that all operational focus is shifting to the sequel, effectively writing the original's death warrant. Players were blunt: 'Not optimistic? More like flatlined!' Many compared the situation to the Overwatch 2 fiasco — except even OW2 carried over all skins from the original, while Shadowverse's asset transfer situation is still a big question mark.
Making things worse, the original had just run a crossover gacha with Spy x Family mere months before the announcement — a banner with four limited-rate-up characters and no pity system. One player vented: 'Horror story: two months ago they dropped a quad-limited, no-pity crossover banner. I went full spark (guaranteed pull) and still missed one.' Whaling hard right before announcing the game is on life support? That's a one-way ticket to Rage Town.
NetEase, the Chinese publisher, dusted off their classic playbook: reuse the original game's license number (版号) for the sequel, treating it as a 'content update' to sidestep the notoriously slow new-game approval process in China.
On December 14th, KMR laid out the original game's future: the story is wrapping up, with two more card packs coming before BYD launches. But looking at the new cards revealed so far, many are just remakes of old cards — some even reuse the exact same card art. Players aren't buying it, calling it a token effort to 'fake some content' before pulling the plug.
As for the asset transfer that everyone cares about, the confirmed carryover is limited to match history and the GM card back. For skins, the official announcement used deliberately vague wording — 'in-game items' (游戏内道具) — which could mean skin vouchers, or it could just mean some gold coins and card packs.
One veteran player issued what amounted to an ultimatum: 'If KMR ends up hand-waving this away with a few commemorative card backs for everyone, I'm uninstalling every single Cygames game on my phone and trash-talking them on the Chinese internet for the rest of my days.' This sentiment resonates with many long-time spenders — those flashy animated card backs, premium profile icons, and gacha-exclusive accessories aren't just pixels; they represent years of emotional and financial investment.
From the Spy x Family cash-grab gacha, to the sequel announcement effectively killing the original, to the wishy-washy asset transfer plan, to the license number shell game — this combo has left veteran Shadowverse players feeling like their investment just went up in smoke.
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