Below you can find an explanation of what the #DontForgetGravityRush campaign is all about, and also what you can do to help. If you’re already aware of the reasoning behind the campaign and you want to skip the boring part, head over to “How you can help” section below!

Introduction

It’s already been almost a year since Gravity Rush 2 was released worldwide on January 18. While it received positive reviews leading up to its release, the game was unfortunately not a commercial success. Even though games developed in Japan received somewhat of a revival in the West this year, Gravity Rush 2 was simply lost in the fray.

A few months ago, Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan-Asia announced that they would be taking down the online servers on the game’s 1st anniversary (January 18, 2018). The news came as a surprise, but it’s likely that Sony’s decision was motivated by the game’s poor sales. I wrote at length about why taking down the servers is a bad idea. Even aside from the loss of interaction between people playing Gravity Rush 2, it also prevents new players from acquiring plenty of in-game content. It also brands the game as a failure which Sony isn’t willing to support. And if Sony doesn’t want to support the game, why would PS4 owners buy the game in the future?

Before the game’s release, the game’s director Keiichiro Toyama stated that “a lot of work went into online features that allow for asynchronous player interaction”. All that work is about to be thrown away. And looking forward, if Sony is already pulling support for the online components of the game, it’s questionable if they’ll ever want to invest into a future sequel.

That’s why we’re launching a #DontForgetGravityRush campaign, aimed at Sony in the hopes of convincing them not to take down the online servers, but also at the people who haven’t bought the game yet. Even though Gravity Rush 2 wasn’t a success at launch, the game can still sell over time. But taking down the online servers would hurt the game’s chances of doing so. By reconsidering their decision to take down the servers, Sony can send a signal to PS4 owners that they still believe in the Gravity Rush franchise. In turn, this can convince more people to buy the game.

How You Can Help

What does this mean in practice? We’re focusing our efforts on a number of social media, for which you can find the guidelines on how to support the campaign below.

Twitter

On Twitter, which at the moment is our main area of interest for the campaign, the idea is to send a message to official PlayStation accounts with the hashtag #DontForgetGravityRush, asking them (politely) not to give up on the Gravity Rush franchise, and to keep the servers online. Adding a screenshot from the game, in particular a photo taken with the in-game camera, is also a good idea. These photos are used for both photo reviews and treasure hunts, two aspects of the game that would disappear if the servers are taken offline, so it’s fitting to use them.

The accounts we’re looking contact are @SonyJapanStudio, @JapanStudio_JP @ShawnLayden @yosp. I would advise against contacting the game’s developers on their personal Twitter accounts. It’s not them that we need to convince, and it would only be a nuisance to them if we spam their accounts.

#DontForgetGravityRush Campaign Moment link: Follow this link for an overview of the tweets from people who have been supporting the campaign so far!

Facebook

On Facebook, we left this message on SIE Japan Studio’s page. You can help by liking, sharing and/or replying to the message to show your support!

YouTube

SIE Japan Studio’s YouTube channel has a Discussion tab where you can leave a comment, asking them not to take down the servers!

Tumblr

While SIE Japan Studio doesn’t have a presence there, much like on Facebook we posted our own message there, which you can like and/or reblog to show your support for the campaign! You can find the post here:

For that matter, this is also a good occasion to dive back into Gravity Rush 2! Take screenshots, send online challenges, review other people’s photos and go on Treasure Hunts. There’s no better way of showing Sony that they should keep the servers online than by actually using them.

Lastly, while the main focus of the campaign is to prevent Gravity Rush 2’s servers from going down, the other part of the campaign is to spread the word about the Gravity Rush games, in particular Gravity Rush 2. More specifically, You can use the hashtag in any Gravity Rush related tweets to remind people why they should buy the Gravity Rush games. So many PS4 owners haven’t played these games yet, and we may be able to convince them to give the game a chance. The idea is to create a constructive campaign, one that shows how much Gravity Rush fans around the world care about this franchise. We hope that you’ll join the cause!

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