The decline of SIFAS (Part 2): why KLab had to sell off SIFAS

Target over SIFAS logo

In the last post, I presented data that described Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS’ (SIFAS’) decline in revenue and player numbers and explained why SIFAS is in decline. These declines have happened in the backdrop of KLab’s precarious financial situation which have recorded losses throughout 2021. To recoup these losses, KLab has launched a recovery plan that involves releasing new games, restructuring costs and reviewing its existing games. In reviewing their existing games, KLab has viewed SIFAS as a game that will neither be popular nor profitable in the future, motivating its sell-off to MyNet Games. In this post, I will provide more background on KLab’s financial situation, how KLab has resolved financial losses in the past, and how both are linked to KLab’s decision to move on from SIFAS. 

KLab’s financial situation in 2020-21

Graph of KLab's net profit/loss in 2020-21.
The net profit/loss of KLab for each quarter from 2020-21
Graph of KLab's revenues and total costs in each quarter of 2021.
The revenues and total costs of KLab for each quarter from 2020-21

Since the 4th quarter of 2020, KLab suffered losses in each quarter of 2021. Compared to their respective quarters in 2020, quarters in 2021 had lower revenues and expenses. However, revenues declined more quickly than expenses, resulting in KLab recording a loss in each quarter of 2021. Consequently, as of the end of the 3rd quarter of 2021, KLab has recorded a loss of 1.767 billion Japanese yen in 2021, and was projected to lose around 2.3 billion Japanese yen by the end of 2021.

Graphs of revenue and profit splits between games released before 2018 and 2018 and beyond.
A comparison of revenue and profit between games released up to 2017 and 2018 and beyond

The big losses incurred by KLab in 2021 are a consequence of two things. The first is declines in revenue from KLab’s existing titles (games released up to 2017) such as Love Live! School Idol Festival (SIF). These declines in revenue are fuelled by reduced promotion towards existing games and increased competition in the mobile gaming market. In particular, the release of big-title games domestically and internationally such as Uma Musume Pretty Derby and Genshin Impact have directed mobile gamers away from KLab’s existing titles. The release of these new games have resulted in reduced revenue towards KLab’s existing games.

The second is new games released by KLab after 2017 not performing as well as expected, not contributing much to KLab’s revenue or profit. This is due to issues in the quality of these new games which have not been improved in a timely manner, leading to low player retention rates. In particular, SIFAS and Tales of Crestoria have come under intense scrutiny, being singled out in KLab’s financial reports for their weak financial performance with their revenues falling well below expectations. The lower-than-expected revenues have led to KLab recording a 1.5 billion Japanese yen impairment loss in the first quarter of 2021 for both games. The impairment losses represent KLab seeing these games as less financially valuable than what was advertised. This indicates that KLab have written off both games, resulting in a loss of confidence and low expectations towards both games even at the start of 2021. 

Currently, KLab is not in immediate financial trouble, as they had 16.6 billion Japanese yen in equities that they can use to absorb their losses in 2021. However, if KLab’s financial situation did not improve soon, KLab would be in deep financial trouble, to the point where they could become insolvent (i.e., unable to meet their financial obligations of readily paying their debts and expenses). Nevertheless, KLab has encountered massive financial losses twice in the past, and in both times they were able to resolve them. Let’s look at KLab’s past financial trends, and how they have resolved their financial losses.

KLab’s actions in resolving past financial losses

Graph of KLab's net profit/loss in 2011-21.
Net profit/loss in KLab over 2011-2021

KLab has experienced stable net income in most years. However, there were two years where KLab recorded huge financial losses. In 2013, KLab lost a total of 2.6 billion Japanese yen, while in 2016 they lost 814 million Japanese yen. These losses arose from KLab’s preceding actions. Before 2013, KLab released many mobile games that were unpopular and unprofitable, contributing to KLab’s losses. Similarly, in 2016, KLab incurred losses as a result of declining revenues from existing games and the unpopularity of games based on overseas IPs such as Age of Empires: World Domination and Glee Forever!

In both years where they had financial losses, KLab had to take drastic action. In response to the 2013 financial loss, KLab implemented a two-part recovery plan. First, KLab lowered costs by reducing the number of staff and reviewing their game development policies. Second, KLab released two games in Japan (JP) which became popular: Love Live! School Idol Festival, released in April 2013 at the height of μ’s popularity (and a month after the first Love Live! anime season ended), and BLEACH: Brave Souls, released in July 2015 while the manga was still running. These games generated a lot of revenue which restored KLab’s profits.

Similarly, in response to the 2016 financial loss, KLab also underwent a recovery plan. First, KLab restructured their company by shutting down their overseas bases in the Philippines, US and Singapore, concentrating most of their operations in Japan and China. Second, KLab revised its game development processes, pivoting away from global IPs (such as Glee!) and focusing on developing games based on Japanese IPs (such as Love Live!). Lastly, they released BLEACH: Brave Souls globally in 2016 and Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team in Japan and worldwide in 2017. Together, the recovery plan restored and diversified KLab’s income sources. 

From what KLab has done in the past, we learn that two things are required for KLab to bounce back from financial losses:

  1. Some form of company restructuring: in order to reduce costs, KLab had to undergo some company restructuring (such as closing its overseas businesses and laying off its workers) and revise their game development processes (such as pivoting away from global IPs towards Japanese IPs).
  2. A killer game: in order to restore profits, KLab also needs to release a mobile game that is based on a popular Japanese IP and is appealing enough to attract and retain players. With some players paying for the mobile game, the killer game can contribute a lot to KLab’s revenues, restoring the company’s profits. 

What is KLab’s recovery plan from its 2021 financial loss?

Similar to what has happened in the past, in response to the huge financial loss in 2021, KLab has launched a recovery plan. The aim of the recovery plan is to generate 50 billion yen of revenue, resulting in an operating income of 10 billion yen, by the end of 2023. The recovery plan consists of two parts:

New title hits

KLab will develop and release three new games in the near future: 

  • Lapis Re:Lights, an action RPG based on a mixed media franchise; 
  • A sports simulation game based on the EA Sports brand; and 
  • A game based on DanMachi (I s It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?). 

These new games are being developed based on KLab’s desire to work on specific genres where they have a lot of knowledge and experience (action RPG, sports simulation and rhythm action), using game systems that are proven to work. 

KLab is also distributing new mobile games by collaborating with other companies. KLab will collaborate with overseas developers to develop games based on Japanese IPs such as Kumamon, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Touhou Project. KLab will project manage and supervise these games, while the overseas developers will develop and distribute the games. KLab will also release casual games in Japan and worldwide in collaboration with GlobalGear Co. Ltd., a company that KLab acquired in April 2021.

KLab's growth plan
The recovery pathway of KLab

These different games will gradually contribute to the restoration and increase in KLab’s revenues and income. It should be noted that in the above visual, Lapis Re:Lights is positioned as KLab’s killer game that will drive most of the initial increases in KLab’s revenues. This explains why KLab is dedicating a lot of resources behind the game. 

Additionally, it should be noted that KLab is reviewing its game development system. In collaboration with other companies, KLab will tighten the selection criteria on games that will proceed to development and improve game development and maintenance systems for new games.

Cost reductions

Similar to what has happened in the past, KLab is also restructuring the company and reviewing its existing games to reduce costs. Actions taken in KLab’s company restructure include: 

  • Reviewing and rearranging their operational and personnel structures (for example,  reallocating managers and employees to new games); 
  • Reducing outsourcing and subcontracting costs; 
  • Selling off office space; and 
  • Postponing or suspending measures that do not directly contribute to KLab’s revenues. 

KLab is also reviewing each game based on their profitability. Games that are not expected to improve in profitability will either have their operations reduced, transferred or terminated. Conversely, games that are profitable will be closely reviewed to come up with ways to improve profitability. It is under this backdrop that every existing KLab game was reviewed. 

So, why did KLab sell off SIFAS?

With a lot of background information provided on KLab’s situation, we can start to piece together why KLab had to sell off SIFAS to another developer. Unlike Tales of Crestoria which was shut down on 7th February 2022 due to the game’s low quality and its persistent low revenues, the reasons for KLab selling off SIFAS to MyNet Games are more complicated. Nevertheless, I believe there were four key reasons why KLab had to sell off SIFAS to another developer. 

1) No prospects for future growth

As I explained in the previous post, revenues and player numbers in SIFAS have generally decreased, with no prospects for either of them increasing. These have been driven by KLab’s actions that have harmed the game, including the controversial season 2 story, stagnant gameplay and no action taken to attract new players to the game or help them. Compared with some of KLab’s other games, SIFAS’ decline in revenue has been alarming. 

Graph of revenues from four KLab games, including SIFAS and SIF.
Comparing monthly revenues over four KLab games

In the graph above, SIFAS (in red), a rhythm action RPG, experienced a gradual decline in revenues. In contrast, Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team (gold), a sport simulation game, experienced stable revenues in Japan, with huge bumps in the middle of 2020 and 2021 due to anniversary celebrations. Additionally, SIF (green), a rhythm game, and BLEACH: Brave Souls (grey), an action RPG game, experienced slight declines in revenue throughout 2020-2021, though not as steeply as SIFAS. This graph informs us on some of the thinking behind KLab’s decisions when they were reviewing existing games in their game lineup in 2021:

  1. First, KLab would keep Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team as it is able to generate consistent revenue throughout the year, with big bumps in revenue during anniversary periods. This game would provide a steady stream of income for KLab which would help prop up the company while it implements its recovery plan.
  2. KLab would also keep SIF and BLEACH: Brave Souls as it would like to maintain its links with popular Japanese IPs, both of which are getting anime adaptations this year. This would allow KLab to run anime-related promotional events in both games which would most likely generate further revenue.
  3. Keeping the above three games would allow KLab to maintain its presence across the sport simulation, rhythm action and action RPG genres, something that it desires in its recovery plan. 
  4. In contrast, KLab would sell off SIFAS to MyNet Games due to its rapid decline in revenues for a new game. This decision would be reinforced by the absence of a bump in revenue during SIFAS’ 2nd year anniversary, unlike other KLab-developed games. This would have informed KLab of the futility of continuing on with SIFAS and motivated its sell-off to another developer.

2) Intense competition and overlap in SIFAS’ genres

This is something I have touched on in the previous post, so I will only summarise what I have said in that post. To summarise, SIFAS does not excel in either the rhythm game or RPG genres. Consequently, other games such as Uma Musume Pretty Master and the Idolm@ster mobile games which excel in one genre are able to outcompete SIFAS in either the rhythm game or RPG genres. This contributes to SIFAS’ low market share. Combined with declining revenues which indicate low growth, SIFAS is positioned as a ‘pet’ in KLab’s growth share matrix, motivating KLab to sell the game off to another developer.

Furthermore, SIFAS overlaps too much with other KLab-developed games. In the rhythm game front, SIFAS already competes with KLab’s other rhythm games such as SIF and Uta no Prince-sama Shining Live. In the RPG front, SIFAS overlaps with BLEACH: Brave Souls and Lapis Re:Lights. The failure of SIFAS to excel in either genre would indicate to KLab that mixing the two genres together is a bad approach and that it should develop games that only focus on a single genre. Hence, KLab sold off SIFAS in favour of other games that focus on either the rhythm game or RPG genres.

3) Cost inefficiency

Although we do not have exact figures of producing or maintaining each KLab-developed game, some information is available to infer why it was inefficient for KLab to keep SIFAS. 

Before the transfer, KLab was responsible for developing, publishing and operating SIFAS. KLab took two years to develop SIFAS in-house, at a cost of 2 billion Japanese yen. This cost is higher than other KLab-developed games due to the implementation of 3D graphics. KLab also had to bear responsibility for keeping the content updated which included adding new 3D assets, implementing character and story events, maintaining servers and fixing any game bugs or issues. These tasks would involve many KLab staff to keep SIFAS running, resulting in high monthly operating costs. This meant that KLab needed to generate a high monthly revenue to pay off SIFAS’ initial development and monthly operating costs. In contrast, KLab’s 2D games such as SIF are well-established, having paid off their initial development costs, and simpler to maintain due to less work being required to create content and update the game. Hence, less staff and resources are required to maintain these 2D games, lowering the costs. This increases the threshold of revenue that KLab is willing to accept to keep these games running.

Comparing the costs of maintaining SIFAS against KLab’s other games can inform us of why KLab have decided to sell off SIFAS. Selling off an old KLab game such as SIF does not free up much staff and resources to reallocate to new games. In contrast, selling off SIFAS would free up a lot of staff and resources which can then be reallocated to new games such as Lapis Re:lights. Combined with the negative reception towards SIFAS for a range of reasons, KLab would have seen the futility of keeping SIFAS, motivating its sell-off to another developer. This would then free up a lot of staff that KLab can reallocate to other games.

4) Uncertainty of SIFAS’ future

KLab has decided to sell off SIFAS to another developer. Yet, there is a KLab-developed game that is generating even less revenue than all the games I have mentioned, yet has received neither a game termination nor relocation notice. That game is Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle. 

Gallery of images from Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle.

Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle is a 2D auto-battler that was released by KLab in August 2018. In this game, players collect cards and use their abilities to defeat waves of enemies. The gameplay is very basic, and uses animated 2D sprites. The main feature of the game; though, is that it re-enacts scenes from the Yu Yu Hakusho anime series by showing stills from anime episodes. This attracts existing Yu Yu Hakusho fans who want to relive the story told in the anime as well as new fans who want to learn more about Yu Yu Hakusho.

Graph of revenues between SIFAS and Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle.
Comparing revenues between SIFAS and Yu Yu Hakusho

In contrast to SIFAS which is currently earning upwards of 100 million Japanese yen per month, Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle does not generate much revenue, falling below 50 million Japanese yen throughout all of 2021. These low revenues would have compelled KLab to terminate the game in an effort to reallocate resources to other games. Yet, as of 6th January 2022, the game has not received a game termination or relocation notice, and KLab is still keeping the game running. Why had KLab decided to keep Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle, but not SIFAS?

In addition to the game being based on a popular shonen IP with a cult following and not much resources required to maintain the game, I believe that KLab saw a future for Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle that was absent in SIFAS. KLab was pursuing a policy of their games being multi-platform, where games are not only available on mobile but also on console, PCs and cloud. This enables seamless play across devices which improves playing experience and increases game revenues. For example, KLab already released BLEACH: Brave Souls on PC in August 2020, and were in the process of preparing the game for distribution on PS4.  

As of the end of August 2021, the developers of the Yu Yu Hakusho game have finished adding all the content from the anime series and movies in the game, and were in the process of adding original content. This indicates that the game is nearing the end of its lifespan. However, I think that, with all the content being added in the game, KLab was developing a PC and console release of Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle. By releasing a non-live version of the game in mobile, PC and console, KLab are able to continue profiting from the game even after the live version of the mobile game is terminated. Hence, there was a future for Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle.

In contrast, a lot of new content is still being added to SIFAS, so the game is not ready for a permanent PC and console game. Hence, there is no future direction for SIFAS to take, and bleak prospects of its future growth. Hence, KLab decided to not take a risk to release SIFAS through multiple platforms, instead selling it off to another mobile game developer to recoup costs. 

Conclusion

The precarious financial situation of KLab motivated them to initiate its recovery plan to recoup their losses and restore its income. KLab had to make a range of decisions and actions to reduce costs and generate new income sources. SIFAS has fallen victim to KLab’s recovery plan, being sold off to MyNet Games as KLab did not see SIFAS’ potential to restore its profitability and its reputation. This would not be too bad if SIFAS was being transferred to a developer that was passionate and knowledgeable about Love Live and would do their utmost best to make SIFAS great again. Instead, SIFAS was sold off to a developer that was burdened with a lot of mobile games and would most likely not have the time or resources to maintain or improve SIFAS. How the move to MyNet Games affected SIFAS will be explained in the next post.  

References

The decline of SIFAS (Part 1): How KLab lost the trust of its players

What’s most important to a business isn’t money. It’s trust… There’s no future for a business that’s lost its trust.

Masato Sanada, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World

Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS (SIFAS) is a rhythm action RPG mobile game that combines the rhythm game and RPG genres. In this game, players collect and train cards representing their favourite Love Live! school idols to clear songs. Unlike conventional rhythm games where stamina is lost every time a player misses or hits a note too early or late, in this game stamina always gets depleted regardless of whether a person hits a note or not. Hence, players have to employ unique tactics to score in songs while maintaining enough stamina to finish the song. Personally, I enjoy the game as it involves intellect and strategy to build teams to clear songs. 

However, since the game was launched on 26 September 2019 in Japan (JP), the game has been on a slow but steady decline in revenue and player counts. These are a result of the game’s many problems which have not been sufficiently addressed by the developer KLab. These unresolved problems have generated a bad reputation for SIFAS and broken the trust of its casual and serious gamers who have quit SIFAS to play other games. SIFAS’ decline has also motivated KLab to move the game’s development to MyNet Games, a developer with a bad reputation for shutting down mobile games. This post will present the declines in SIFAS’ revenues and player counts, and explain how KLab’s missteps during SIFAS’ second year have contributed to its decline. 

Tracking declines in revenue and player counts over SIFAS’ lifespan

Over 2021, I have been tracking Japanese (JP) revenue of both SIFAS and SIF from game-i. game-i is a Japanese forecasting website for mobile apps which reports on revenue for all JP mobile apps based on data from both the iOS App Store and Google Play. Revenue data can be used to judge the performance of mobile apps in Japan, including mobile games. From there, one can distinguish strong mobile games (e.g., Fate/Grand Order and Genshin Impact) from weak ones (e.g., 22/7 Ongaku no Jikan which was shut down on 22 December 2021 due to persistent low revenues). Hence, I used revenue data from game-i to track the financial performance of SIFAS over its lifespan. 

SIFAS revenues over 2019-2021

Looking at SIFAS alone, we can see a decreasing trend in SIFAS revenue. Initial revenue during year 1 of the game was high, averaging around 300-400 million Japanese yen/month. However, revenue constantly dropped during year 2 of the game, particularly from January 2021 onwards. By July 2021, average monthly revenue had halved to 200 million Japanese yen/month. This decrease in revenue is sustained even in year 3 of the game, even experiencing a 26% drop in November 2021 to 135 million Japanese yen. This dip in revenue had motivated KLab to run guaranteed UR gachas throughout December 2021 in an effort to deplete players’ free star gems (the premium currency of the game), forcing them to pay for more star gems to roll for stronger cards. 

Player counts between July 2021 and November 2021 over two events

The decrease in revenues is mirrored by the decrease in the number of players participating in SIFAS events in JP. In item exchange events, the number of players participating in July 2021 was 82,324. However, that fell to 70,032 players by November 2021. Similarly, for story events, 77,772 players participated in the event in July 2021, but that fell to 64,813 by November 2021. In both event types, the decreases are equivalent to losing around 3,000 players per month in JP, amounting to around 4% of the player base.

Given that revenues remained steady but player counts have fallen from July to November 2021, these results are indicative of two things:

  • First, casual players that are free-to-play (i.e., they do not pay money to play the game) are dropping out of SIFAS due to being disengaged. This represents a loss in potential customers who are willing to pay for the game and to spread the positive word about SIFAS.
  • Second, KLab had not done enough to attract and retain new players in the game due to various problems that I will explain later. Instead, they are relying on the existing player base, particularly the whales (players who pay a lot of money to play the game), to keep SIFAS afloat. While it can maintain constant revenues, it precludes the game from further growth and also exposes it to potential dips in monthly revenue (as seen in November 2021). 

How does SIFAS’ revenues compare to other KLab games?

In contrast to SIFAS, Love Live! School Idol Festival (SIF) is a conventional rhythm game, where players tap notes in time with the music. Stamina is only depleted upon missing a note or hitting a note badly. How does SIFAS’ revenue compare with SIF’s? 

Revenues between the two games SIFAS and SIF over 2019-2021.

During SIFAS’ lifespan, SIF has maintained consistent, albeit lower, levels of revenue. SIF averaged around 150 million yen per month in 2020 before dropping to 100 million yen per month in 2021. Other than that, there was no general decreasing trend in SIF’s revenues. 

What is more interesting; though, is the revenues of both games during their anniversary periods (represented by the green points in the above graph). Anniversary periods in SIF are associated with a doubling of revenue to 200 million Japanese yen in April 2020 and April 2021. These increases in revenue are fuelled by players buying paid sets to roll for limited edition cards and/or obtain level up materials. In contrast, there was no ‘anniversary bump’ in SIFAS’ first and second year anniversaries as they did not increase monthly revenue. Worse, SIFAS’ revenue have slightly decreased between September and October 2021. 

The absence of an ‘anniversary bump’ in SIFAS’ 2nd year anniversary is a result of the underwhelming 2nd year anniversary rewards in SIFAS, as lamented by most players. Compared to the 1st year anniversary, the 2nd year anniversary:

  • Nerfed the rates of free pulls to 1% and 2% for UR and SR cards respectively (vs 5% and 10% in the 1st year anniversary), making it harder to obtain stronger cards; 
  • Did not give out a free UR ticket on anniversary day, unlike the 1st year anniversary;
  • Reduced log-in rewards; and
  • Replaced sparkable gachas, where you can obtain a UR card after doing a certain number of pulls, with step-up gachas that are random in the cards obtained. 

SIFAS’ anniversary rewards pale in comparison to the anniversary celebrations of other games that were run at the same time:

  • BanG Dream!, a rhythm game that was half way through its 4th year, announced a lot of things that exceeded what players were expecting. In summary, they re-introduced a gacha that was highly demanded by players, introduced a new game mode and set the roadmap for the next few months. These announcements have kept players engaged in the game, assured players that the game will keep running and provided information on what to expect in the future. This livestream set the standard of what SIFAS’ 2nd anniversary needed to deliver, something that KLab did not meet.
  • Additionally, Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE!, another rhythm game, held its 1st year anniversary in JP. As part of the celebrations, they ran a competition livestream at the same time as SIFAS’ anniversary livestream. That livestream attracted more concurrent viewers than SIFAS’ anniversary livestream, highlighting the contrast in reputation and interest between the two games.  

Combined with the general decline in revenue and player counts, these results show how out-of-touch the developers were in keeping SIFAS competitive in the JP mobile gaming market, both in engaging existing players as well as attracting and retaining new players.

What has fuelled the declines in revenues and player counts in SIFAS’ 2nd year? 

Given the results in this post, one question has to be asked: what has contributed to SIFAS’ decline? I argue that it is mostly KLab’s fault for bringing SIFAS down to its current state. Although much discussion has been made on this question, the responses can be condensed down to three main elements. 

Controversial game story

Season 2 of the game story, which was run in SIFAS’ second year, was controversial and negatively received by most players. In brief, the first chapter of season 2 introduced a new character who shut down the old school idol club and replaces it with a new school idol club. This splits the existing characters of the game into two factions. Due to the controversial nature of the first chapter, the game writers had to write on the run, dropping unexpected events in the story that retconned previous chapters and were left unresolved. What resulted was a game story with a pointless conflict that was not resolved to a satisfactory standard. The negative reception of the game story can be backed up by the data.

A sentiment analysis of discussion posts for each chapter of SIFAS season 2

Firstly, redditors in the SIFAS subreddit have generally reacted negatively towards each chapter of season 2. Sentiment analysis of SIFAS subreddit discussion posts for each season 2 chapter has indicated that as much as twice the number of negative words were used in the comments than positive words. In particular, chapters 21, 23 and 27 were highly negatively received by the redditors (chapter 21 due to the fallout of chapter 20, chapter 23 due to the many retcons introduced in that chapter and chapter 27 due to the negative reaction towards Lanzhu’s actions in that chapter).

Secondly, from Reddit polling data, the redditors were split on how they viewed SIFAS’ season 2 story. While around half the redditors did not care about the story, of the remaining respondents, there was a split between those that loved the story and those that hated the story. This is in stark contrast to RAISE A SUILEN’s band story 1 in BanG Dream which touched on similar events as SIFAS’ season 2 story. Here, the story was more positively received, with 52% loving the story and only 2% hating it. These results show how out-of-touch the writers were in planning and writing SIFAS’ season 2 story which have made most players angry, resulting in them disengaging from the game. 

Stagnant gameplay

Not only is the game not friendly to new players, the gameplay is also repetitive, disengaging players from SIFAS. First, SIFAS is not beginner-friendly. It takes time for new players to learn the unique mechanics of SIFAS, particularly the fact that you can fail the song even if you play it perfectly. This is not helped by the game offering scant detail to its mechanics and leaving it up to the player to work them out. Consequently, players have to resort to an external teambuilding guide to play and enjoy the game. Additionally, for new players, the game is overwhelming in terms of the amount of things they need to do such as going through two seasons’ worth of story to collect star gems. As a result, players are likely to drop the game very quickly. 

Secondly, there is little flexibility in how one plays SIFAS. The introduction of new skills in the game has not dislodged the core concept of pairing two scorers with one defender to clear songs or three scorers to score high. There is little flexibility beyond these formations, making the gameplay stale as you can simply use the same team to clear songs. Additionally, the harder songs, particularly the Challenge difficulty songs, require specific cards to clear them. Not having the right cards precludes players from clearing songs, demotivating players. 

Lastly, the game cycle is repetitive. Each month, the same game modes are being played in the same order, consisting of SBL (SIFAS Big Live Show), item exchange event, DLP (Dream Live Parade) and story event. Each mode has its problems that disengages players from the game:

  • Item exchange and story events do not involve much as players can skip songs during the period to accumulate enough event points and currency to obtain the desired items.
  • SBL is time-consuming. It takes time for players to play the same song three times each day to acquire SBL medals and rank highly in voltage ranking. This has come to the point where some players forget to play the songs on a particular day. This massively hurts their voltage ranking which affects the rewards they can receive. 

These problems are not helped by KLab not introducing any new game modes that would keep players invested in the game as well as use their cards differently. School Idol Channels, a new game mode that was introduced in the middle of 2021, quickly became stale as it involved a repetitive gameplay cycle of collecting shouts, skipping songs and playing the weekly song. It has become an afterthought for some players, making them not exciting for the overall player base.  

Outperformed by other games

SIFAS covers both the RPG and rhythm game genres, but it is a master to neither of them. Consequently, SIFAS is being outperformed in terms of revenue and player counts by other games that specialise in one genre. Here are some examples of similar games that are better than SIFAS.

An obvious RPG game that is similar in some aspects but better than SIFAS is Uma Musume Pretty Derby. It is safe to say that Uma Musume has been a raging success for Cygames, not only generating a lot of attention and revenue but also regularly being in the top 10 in monthly game rankings. Much of the success of the game can be condensed to two things. First is an addictive gameplay cycle that involves training horse girls to use in horse races and passing off their traits to other horse girls. This keeps the player invested as they strive to build the best horse girl that can compete against other players. Second is the widespread promotion of the franchise through celebrity endorsements (including VTubers) and other media such as anime and manga. These all funnel into the game which translate to new downloads, new players and increased revenue. 

In contrast, SIFAS had a repetitive gameplay cycle that did not keep the player engaged in the game. In particular, once a player obtained the most powerful cards, they were able to clear most of the game, making the players bored as there was no accessible challenge for them. Additionally, there were no voice actresses, celebrities or VTubers that were promoting SIFAS and its best elements, hurting both SIFAS’ reach and reputation. This is in contrast to other games such as Genshin Impact and BanG Dream! where voice actresses of these games actively play them and even pay money to pull for their desired characters.

Idolm@ster is another franchise with games that excel in either the rhythm game or raising simulation genres. There are some Idolm@ster games such as Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage that are pure rhythm games, with players tapping notes in time with the music. The rhythm game elements take centre stage, with other elements such as the gachas and card raising elements accompanying the rhythm game. Other Idolm@ster games such as Idolm@ster Shiny Colors are pure raising simulation games. In the case of Idolm@ster Shiny Colors, players collect idols (in the form of cards) that they then raise via different activities to perform in lives and festivals. By separating the rhythm game and raising simulation genres into different games, Idolm@ster appeals to different types of players, both those who like playing rhythm games and those who just want to know more about their favourite idols.

In contrast, SIFAS tries to do too much in balancing both the rhythm game and RPG elements in one game. The rhythm game is paradoxically easy and difficult. It is easy in that there are only two buttons to tap in time with the music. It is also difficult in that there are two side arrows to swap subunits. Swapping to the correct subunit while hitting the notes in time with the music, particularly if the notes are dense, and paying attention to the song requirements can be difficult in some songs (for example, Daisuki Dattara Daijoubu!). In contrast, the RPG elements of the game is tacked on with a lot of moving parts. In addition to levelling up cards, players also have to deal with unlocking nodes and limit breaking cards to make them more powerful. Players also have to deal with bond levels and bond boards to make school idols more powerful in general. These all contribute to the steep learning curve that is not made clearer by KLab, demotivating players from continuing with the game. 

One additional thing to note is that Idolm@ster is also famous for its excellent character stories. The storytelling in Idolm@ster games is top-notch with a lot of detailed back stories for each character. As a result, players become invested in their favourite characters and are willing to learn more about them, leading to increased engagement with the games. In contrast, the storytelling in SIFAS is not good which is capped off with the very controversial season 2. The game also introduces characters that are not universally liked by the fandom. Additionally, the character side stories are mostly not linked to the main story, so it is difficult to get players invested in these characters.

How do these results explain SIFAS’ move to MyNet Games? 

The Growth Share Matrix from Boston Consulting Group

The growth share matrix is a tool that companies use to decide where to invest their resources based on the current market share and potential growth of each part of the company. We can use the growth share matrix to plot where SIFAS sits in KLab’s strategy. From the data presented, KLab did not see potential in SIFAS: 

  • SIFAS’ market share is low. SIFAS is being outperformed by other mobile games that do a better job in either the RPG or rhythm game aspects. This results in lower revenues and player counts in SIFAS.
  • SIFAS’ growth is, I would argue, also low. Although SIFAS earns more revenue than SIF, its future growth is either non-existent or even negative. This signals the unattractiveness of SIFAS from both players who will avoid the game and KLab who will invest less in the game.

Taken together, SIFAS belongs to the “pet” category of the matrix, meaning that KLab should liquidate, divest or reposition SIFAS. It is this decision that has motivated KLab to sell off SIFAS to MyNet Games. Of course, the growth share matrix is not the only deciding factor. There are other factors that motivated KLab to move SIFAS to another developer, something that I will cover in the next post. 

Conclusion

Stagnant or decreasing revenue and player counts highlighted the huge problems SIFAS faced in both its story and gameplay and how it was being outperformed by other mobile games. There is enough data to explain why KLab had to sell off SIFAS to MyNet Games. KLab saw SIFAS as a sinking ship that could not be saved with its financial and human resources. Hence, they decided to ditch SIFAS and re-invest their resources to other mobile games. Future posts will explain further why KLab had to hand off SIFAS to MyNet Games and its further decline from here.

The rise of SARS-CoV-2 variants, how are they generated?

Ever since WHO declared the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic on March 2020, the pandemic is continuing to devastate the world with high numbers of cases and deaths and continual cycles of lockdowns and re-openings. The COVID-19 pandemic will continue well into the future as COVID-19 vaccines slowly trickle to low- and middle-income countries to fully immunise the global population against COVID-19. 

Like all bacteria and viruses, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19 infection, can mutate. These mutations can confer new properties to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, making them more capable in spreading to other people and causing severe disease and death. With uncontrolled, widespread infection of the virus during the pandemic, the virus can mutate at a faster rate, producing a series of variants that are different from the Wuhan strain that emerged in December 2020. In this blog post, I will explain in detail what SARS-CoV-2 variants are and how they arise. Following this, I will describe the various mutations that are present in SARS-CoV-2 variants and explain how they contribute to enhanced virus transmission and infection severity. 

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The Science behind “Cells at Work!!” Episode 8: “Cancer Cell II (Part II)”

Cancer Cell showing off his wings while flying above purple, double-stranded DNA.
In this episode, we explore colorectal cancer, and the factors that increase or decrease the risk of this cancer.

In this episode, toxic gases from harmful bacteria in the colon allow Cancer Cell to grow stronger. However, as the Lactic Acid Bacteria arrive in the colon to eliminate the harmful bacteria, the toxic gases disappear, causing Cancer Cell to become weaker. At the same time, Memory T Cell performs his ultimate technique, T Cell Perforin Cannon Punch, to fire a beam that damages Cancer Cell. The beam also wipes away the label on Cancer Cell’s shirt, prompting Regulatory T Cell to recognise him as an enemy and turn against him. Without the protection of Regulatory T Cell, Neutrophil, who breaks out of his pod, easily kills Cancer Cell, ending the threat.

To learn more about Memory T Cell’s ultimate technique, see this blog post from season 1 of the anime where I explain what cancer is and how T and NK cells can kill cancer cells. I also explained in the last blog post how the immune system can be suppressed to promote the growth and metastasis of cancer. In this blog post, I will talk about colorectal cancer which is where the last two episodes of season 2 takes place. I will explain how common colorectal cancer is, how it develops and how it is treated. I will then talk about the role of the gut microbiota and the various metabolites in increasing or decreasing the risk of colorectal cancer.

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The Science behind “Cells at Work!!” Episode 7: “Cancer Cell II (Part I)”

Picture of Cancer Cell Puppets in the tumour
In this blog post, we look at two more features of cancer: the tumour microenvironment and immune escape

In this episode, Neutrophil, NK Cell and Memory T Cell get trapped by Cancer Cell who takes them to his lair in the colon. They try to fight against Cancer Cell and his paper puppets, but Cancer Cell sends in Regulatory T Cell to defend him. Regulatory T Cell successfully fends off attacks from NK Cell and Memory T Cell, defeating them in the process. Meanwhile, Cancer Cell traps Neutrophil in a pod to question him about his existence. Following this, Cancer Cell evolves to become more dangerous, planning to kill the body to take the other cells with him.

This anime episode is a continuation to the Cancer Cell episode from season 1 which I covered in a previous blog post. In that blog post, I explained what cancer is and the features that cancer cells possess to endlessly proliferate and metastasise. In this blog post, I will talk about two more features that can further promote cancer growth and spread: the tumour microenvironment and immune escape. I will then talk about the role of regulatory T cells in promoting cancer growth and discuss how cancer treatments can enhance immune responses against cancer. 

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