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Travel Frog's Licensed Chinese Edition to Shut Down in December 2026
The mainland Chinese version of the Japanese mobile game Travel Frog will stop operating at 6 p.m. on December 8, 2026, after its IP licensing agreement expires, according to a September 8 announcement.
The shutdown notice said downloads, new user registrations and in-game purchases on the Chinese edition have already been suspended. The move follows the expiry of the title's IP licensing agreement.
The game, developed by Japan's Hit-Point, reached mainland players through Alibaba, which obtained exclusive distribution rights in April 2018. That deal came after the Chinese player community spent months translating the Japanese release on its own initiative.
China's appetite for the game outstripped its home market by a wide margin. Hit-Point reported that Chinese users made up 95 percent of more than 10 million App Store downloads at the height of its early success, compared with only 2 percent in Japan. The BBC covered how China had become absorbed by the title.
For a period the game became a cultural fixture. Young players swapped the question "Where has your frog been?" and filled WeChat Moments with postcards recording the frog's destinations.
The mechanics kept players at a distance from the character's travels: they could prepare its food and pack its bag, but had no say over when it departed, where it went or when it returned, receiving only the occasional postcard.