Ainz Ooal Gown is about to lose one of his kingdoms. Lord of Nazarick, the official mobile RPG based on the Overlord anime, will end service on December 16, 2026. The game's official X account shared the news on October 14, writing that the team "made the difficult decision to end the service of Lord of Nazarick" after careful consideration.
The wind-down started right away. Purchases and top-ups were turned off the same day as the announcement, new accounts can no longer be made, and the game has already been removed from app stores. Here is the full announcement:
Players who still have the game on their phones can log in until December 16 at 10:00 a.m. UTC-2, which is 7:00 a.m. EST. After that, logins are disabled, the servers go offline, and the game's website and social media accounts close for good. The official Discord was already shut down on October 14. No reason was given for the decision, and the post does not mention refunds.
A Game Built Around The Anime
Lord of Nazarick launched worldwide on iOS and Android on October 29, 2024. It was developed by Perfect World and published by Crunchyroll Games in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Nordic countries, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America, with A PLUS JAPAN publishing it in most of Europe and the Middle East.
The game retold the story of the anime through turn-based battles, adding new canon scenarios along the way and building up to the climactic fight at the end of the first season. More than 50 characters were available at launch, including the Floor Guardians and the Pleiades, and players could explore the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Carne Village, and E-Rantel in 3D. Crunchyroll also used it as the first game to fully support Crunchyroll Login, giving Premium members daily rewards worth more than $35 in in-game currency each month.
Outside the main story, the game leaned on the same guild fantasy that drives the anime. Players could form alliances to take on powerful bosses together, much like Ainz and his guildmates did in Yggdrasil, and challenge each other in a PvP arena with leaderboards. Parties were built across five classes and three attributes, and roguelite dungeons, boss challenges, and mini-games filled out the rest of the content. Albedo, Shalltear Bloodfallen, and Demiurge were among the fan favorites players could summon and upgrade.
The release was lined up with the franchise's first all-new theatrical film. Crunchyroll promoted the game as a way to catch up on the story before Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom arrived in theaters in the United States and Canada on November 8, 2024.
From Web Novel To Madhouse Anime
Overlord started as a web novel by Kugane Maruyama before being adapted into light novels and manga, and Yen Press publishes the light novels in English. The story follows Momonga, a salaryman who logs into the MMORPG Yggdrasil one last time on the night its servers are set to shut down. When the clock strikes midnight, nothing happens, and he finds himself living in the game's world, where he rises to become the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown.
Studio Madhouse brought the series to TV in July 2015, with Naoyuki Ito directing and Satoshi Hino voicing Ainz. The anime has run for four seasons, and Ito returned to direct Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom, which opened in Japan on September 20, 2024, before its North American run that November. All four seasons, plus the recap films Overlord: The Undead King and Overlord: The Dark Hero, are streaming on Crunchyroll.
It is a strange fit for a series that opens with an online game's last night to now lose its own mobile game to a server shutdown, and Ainz would probably have some thoughts about it.
Are you logging in one last time before December 16, or are you sticking with the anime and novels while you wait for more Overlord?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.