Japanese game studio ODD No, the creator of the virtual idol mobile game Link! Like! Love Live!, was ordered to commence bankruptcy proceedings by the Tokyo District Court on August 5, along with two of its associated firms. This announcement follows the game’s service termination on June 30, which occurred less than two months prior (source: ITMedia).
Credit investigation company Tokyo Shoko Research reported on August 13 that ODD No’s debts had accumulated to a staggering 10.32 billion yen (approximately $64.7 million USD) by the end of the fiscal year concluding December 2024.
Link! Like! Love Live! debuted in May 2023 and managed to gather a considerable player base, yet the title struggled with high operational expenses and other expenditures, resulting in a net deficit of 5.6 billion yen for the fiscal year ending December 2023. This further increased the studio’s debt to 6.8 billion yen at that point.
The studio’s financial struggles persisted, and in December 2025 and March 2026, its headquarters—which also served as the CEO’s residence—were placed under provisional attachment by purported business partners. Essentially, after ODD No neared bankruptcy, these partners likely initiated legal measures to prevent the company from selling or transferring the property. This ensures they receive the assets owed to them once ODD No officially declares bankruptcy.
Ultimately, in April 2026, ODD No declared the closure of Link! Like! Love Live!, attributing the decision to soaring operational costs and an insufficient workforce to maintain the game’s “real-time calendar” feature. This feature enabled players to track the idols’ school experiences from enrollment through graduation in real time, with in-game events synchronized to a real-world calendar. However, as ODD No stated, the operational demands were “unimaginable” and “considerably greater than those of any typical live-service game.”
Notably, 2026 has proven to be a volatile year for mobile game developers, with 10 bankruptcies recorded between January and July, a figure that already surpasses the three developers that went under throughout 2025. With ODD No’s bankruptcy added to the tally, the industry is on course to set a new annual record for developer bankruptcies by year-end.
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