Sony prepares to close the doors on the Japanese version of Toro’s Friend Network this coming March, and we’ve got the details on how it’s going down.

With the recent announcement of a worldwide shutdown of PS3’s PlayStation Home app this March, it seems like Sony is cleaning house on some of its lesser used and run-their-course services. The newest of these services to reach the proverbial chopping block is the Japanese version of Toro’s Friend Network.

A PlayStation Vita launch title in Japan, this December the sale of currency for the title will be suspended in the region – though there will be a last promotion to let users grab the last items before the doors shut. Then, this coming March 31st the social networking app will close its doors for good in the Land of the Rising Sun.

While no note of the Western versions coming to an end has been made, if the way the PlayStation Home closure announcement went down is any indication then it won’t be far behind (Japan came out with it first, but they had the same final closure date in the end).

What do you guys think about these recent closure announcements? Throw us a comment and let us know.

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  • José Juan Regalado

    Lol, nobody use this app!

  • fatdog21

    Its sad but at the same time I think no one use the app (just like “near”).

  • aros

    How sad – still bitter this never came to EU despite getting an ERSB rating.

  • Jef Curlin

    Understandable. I used this app when it first came out but there just wasn’t that much to it IMO.

  • gamezalv

    What type of game was this? I know its free in the us psn store but never got to trying it around.

    • Jennifer Elise Bunnell

      It’s a lot of tapping busywork on the touchscreen, and standard FTP trying-to-incentivize you to make real-money purchases (mostly to do well in the “dungeon” progression ladder).

      I wouldn’t really call it a game exactly, it’s more of a way to facilitate meeting other people who own Vitas. But the writing can be kind of charming sometimes; the localization-team did a pretty good job with the translation imo.

  • Supersmith2500

    Heh, that didn’t last long. Most of all, Europe didn’t even get the app anyways. 😛

  • Jennifer Elise Bunnell

    I just started using both version recently… ^^: The Japanese version has a much better selection of costumes, name-cards, dungeons, etc. but what they charge for currency is pretty outrageous compared to the NA version… Oh well, this should be enough time to do everything there is to do in the app, but it definitely discourages me from making many real-money purchases.