Date A Live Mobile Game Studio Daliangshan Officially Axes Staff — Copied Genshin's Homework in 'Remake' and Killed Their Own Game, But Somehow Still Finished Anime S5 Before Flatlining

The Date A Live mobile gacha game is officially on its deathbed. Developer Daliangshan Studio has laid off all non-essential staff, putting the game into bare-minimum maintenance mode. They're reportedly considering launching a nostalgia server at a jaw-dropping 99% discount so veteran players can relive the pre-remake glory days. In a last-ditch effort before flatlining, the studio managed to push out the fifth season of the Date A Live anime. The team even published a retrospective on their years of running the game — a rare and honestly touching farewell from a small indie studio.

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Let's be real — the gacha game's monetization was pretty predatory after launch. But as one player put it bluntly, at least Daliangshan was 'better than those ungrateful studios in Shanghai' because they actually reinvested game revenue back into anime production. Thanks to their efforts, the beloved Date A Live IP got multiple anime seasons, and the studio even credited players in the end credits of each episode — something almost unheard of in the gacha space.

The cause of death is crystal clear though. According to veteran players, Daliangshan nuked their own game when they launched the 'remake' version — wiping all player progression and copying Genshin Impact's build system wholesale. This spectacular self-sabotage drove away the core playerbase in droves. One highly upvoted reply summed it up perfectly: 'Every single change in the remake was like they were deliberately trying to kill the game. Any one of those moves would be bigger drama than half the threads on the front page right now. The game deserved to die — but credit where it's due, they really did keep making Date A Live content.'

The comment section is a rollercoaster of complicated emotions. One whale who spent thousands of yuan reminisced about dropping the game after the Yoshino arc, calling it a 'classic small-studio title carried purely by IP loyalty.' Another player was brutally honest: 'The game was trash — it dying anytime would've surprised nobody — but at least they finished the anime before bowing out. That's a dignified exit.' Meanwhile, an emotional fan wrote: 'This is the most sincere IP-based gacha I've ever seen. I always bring it up whenever friends talk about anime adaptation games.'

So was the Date A Live gacha a success or a failure? Honestly, both. In an era of disposable gacha cash-grabs that die within a year, keeping an IP alive for this long and delivering five anime seasons is genuinely impressive. But the predatory monetization, brain-dead remake decisions, and Genshin-clone pivot that killed the game are equally undeniable. As one commenter brilliantly put it: 'They would've made more money just putting up a donation button instead of gutting the game and watching revenue plummet.' With Season 5 shaping up to be the final chapter, this bittersweet ending might actually be the best farewell a gacha game has ever gotten.