UPDATE 2: An English version of the message from the Gravity Rush team can be viewed here.
UPDATE: One of the people working at SIE Studio Japan confirmed that the Ghosts of the Fallen from players other than yourself, as well as Challenge Mission rankings, will also be removed.
Original article: Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia had some bad news in store for us for Gravity Rush 2 fans today, as they announced that they will be shutting down online services for the game on its 1st anniversary (2018/01/19 05:00 UTC). In the update, the Gravity Daze 2 team clarified that the following functionality will be removed from the game:
- Receiving and sending a Challenge
- Browse ranking
- Receiving and posting Treasure Hunts
- Receiving, posting and reviewing photos
- Earning Dusty Tokens and receiving the presents linked to them
An in-game news update has also been posted in English, albeit without details on what will be removed:
The online functionality, particularly the Treasure Hunts and sharing in-game photos, was something that fans really enjoyed. Having it removed only a year after the game’s release is really disappointing, as it takes away a part of the game that connected fans all over the world. Sony did announce that from now until the closure, people will be able to earn more Dusty Tokens than usual from sharing photos, competing in challenges and completing Treasure Hunts. In practice, this means that the “Earn More Dusty Tokens” event that appeared periodically will now be running continuously until the end of the online service.
Rankings and Ghosts of the Fallen
It’s not clear if the removal of the rankings refers only to the worldwide Dusty Token ranking, or also include all the leaderboards of the in-game Challenges. Seeing the latter removed would prove even more disappointing, seeing how the older Gravity Rush Remastered still retains its online leaderboards.
Also unclear is the impact on the Delvool Trench Mines. These comprise 50 layers of difficult challenges for people to complete, and also include online functionality in the form of the “Ghosts of the Fallen”. If a player dies in the Delvool Trench Mines, they lose half of the talismans which they collected at that point. Other players can encounter their “ghosts” and collect the talismans that were dropped. Whether or not these will remain isn’t stated. However, it’s safe to assume the Delvool Trench Mines won’t be removed.
Dusty Token Presents
Incidentally, I recently looked into the number of people that have actually collected all the presents linked to Dusty Tokens. At this point, only a little over 6% of all people in the worldwide Dusty Tokens chart have acquired the necessary 6000 tokens to earn all the presents. When the services go offline, the news update suggests that people simply won’t be able to earn these presents anymore. I do hope Sony changes their mind about this. If they planned to shut down the services eventually, one would expect that Sony had the foresight to make the presents available in a different way. These presents include photo items, gestures, costumes and talismans. You can view a collection of all of the presents linked to the Dusty Tokens here:
Only a few months remain for people to use the online services and get the Dusty Token presents. The fact that the online functionality is removed this soon suggests the game’s sales didn’t live up to expectations. While we already knew this, it’s still sad to see the consequences of that already. Nonetheless, the vast majority of the game is (thankfully) single player only. My hope is that it can still gradually sell more copies over time, so that this doesn’t have to spell the end of one of Sony’s most unique franchises.
Official Press Release
End of Online Service for Gravity Rush 2
We would like to thank all our fans for their continued support of Gravity Rush 2 on PlayStation®4.
This message is to announce that our online service for the game will be ending on January 19, 2018, one year after the service was introduced on January 18 this year.
The Gravity Rush 2 online service team would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all our avid players and fans who have been so passionate about the game. Please rest assured that you will still be able to enjoy the game offline.DETAILS
End of online service
January 19, 2017 (Tue) at 2pm JSTWhat will no longer be doable after service ends
・Sending or receiving challenges
・Viewing leaderboards
・Sending or receiving Treasure Hints
・Receiving, posting, reviewing Photos
・Obtaining Dusty Tokens and associated rewardsAs a reward for all our passionate online players, we will hold the below event which will allow you to collect more Dusty Tokens than usual.
â– Dusty Token Event (with a token increase)
September 28, 2017 (Thu) 2pm JST to January 19, 2018 (Fri) until service endsPlayers will be able to receive larger amounts of Dusty Tokens online during this time.
Make sure you keep playing Photo Check, Treasure Hunt, and Challenge Missions to stock up on those tokens! You will not be able to get any more tokens once service ends so make sure you get your hands on some rewards while you still can.Once again, we would like to thank all our fans for your support and best wishes to you all who continue to enjoy and play our game.
Gravity Rush Service Team
Man, this is really sad, that was one of my favorite features of the game, and it’s even sadder that such a unique and beautiful game didn’t have the sales it deserved in my opinion, i do walkthroughs in spanish and gravity rush is definitely one of the games i’m trying my hardest to support, and luckily, people have enjoyed my guide of the first game, actively telling them if they can, they definitely should give gravity rush a try, both the first and the sequel, it’s sad that i won’t be able to show this feature once i start my play through of the second game.
I know this isn’t Sony’s biggest franchise, but i think it still need their support in order to grow, and i definitely wanna see at least a third game, because to me, this games deserve at least a trilogy. All we can do is hope for the best, and try to support this franchise as much as we can.
Thanks for supporting the game! It’s great to see fans doing their part in promoting the game in whatever way they can.
This news has me really bummed. I adored treasure hunts and spent a bit of time farming talismans endgame from Ghosts of the Fallen. The online component really helped to connect the fanbase of this niche series and make the game world feel alive. Really sad to see these features go.
Well it was sad enough that this was ps4 only. Now by the moment i can afford a ps4 and this game i wont be able to enjoy this feature.. If this was also on the vita i think that would have made all the difference..
Damn, I have yet to start collecting the Dusty Tokens…Guess what I’ll be doing for the next couple of weeks? And I still need to find out how to send challenges to friends, urgh…
I literally have no words!
Super late, but the delvool mines only go down 30 floors. Source: I’ve completed it many times and have a platinum in the game.
Oh there was more added in the DLC! My bad. I am SO going to go do that right now though.