Tozai Games announced on January 29th that their free-to-play PlayStation 4 title Spelunker World will become unplayable at the end of July. Downloading the game and purchasing it’s in-game currency was disabled the same day, and although you can play the entire thing solo, once the servers are shut down the game will no longer be accessible to anyone.

First, we would like to thank all the spelunkers who have supported and enjoyed our SPELUNKER WORLD. It is with heavy hearts that we will be concluding the service for SPELUNKER WORLD as of July 29th 2020, 8:00 PM (PDT). Below is the planned schedule regarding the end of service:

January 29, 2020, 7:00 PM (PST): Notice about service conclusion. (This notice.) 

January 29, 2020, around 7:00 PM (PST): The Game and all Moon Gems will be removed from the PS Store, and in-app purchases will be disabled. * New Moon Gems will not be able to be purchased, but Moon Gems already purchased before the end of Moon Gem sales can be used until the end of the service.

July 29, 2020, 8:00 PM (PDT): Service end. 

Since the release of SPELUNKER WORLD in November 2015, we appreciate and thank all of the players who have supported our game, and hope everyone continues to enjoy spelunking during the remaining time of the service.

Tozai has re-enabled as many of the game’s timed events and unlockable gear as possible for players who already have the game installed. 

On a personal note, this one hits me especially hard as Spelunker World was one of the reasons I got a PlayStation 4 in the first place. I worked my way through the Japanese version and when it was released in English I did it all over again. I haven’t played since 2016 but I’m going to try to find the time to give it a fitting revisit before it’s gone.

For now I’ve added the date to the Watch List calendar and will get a page up on the site in due time. Thanks to @MckissickAllen for pointing out this news.