NEO: The World Ends With You is revoked by players who managed to get the game ahead

Players who managed to get a first copy of NEO: The World Ends With You over the weekend will have a nasty surprise if they log on today. Following an accidental leak of the full retail version of NEO: The World Ends With You, Square Enix is ​​revoking the game’s licenses, effectively removing the game from its account until the release date.

Firing rumors began to circulate this afternoon, with several players reporting that they had been kicked out of their game. A Reddit user said it was only “an hour or two” from completing the game. game when he was kicked out – an impressive feat considering the story would take around 50 hours.

“Nintendo remotely revoked all digital licenses for the game after Square Enix accidentally sold eShop codes early,” Switch dataminer OatmealDome wrote on Twitter. “The players were kicked out in the middle of the game with the error code 2819-0003. This is, as far as I and others know, a first for the Switch.”

The NEO: The World Ends With You codes were originally leaked on July 17, with some players receiving digital activation codes in error after purchasing a physical copy from the Square Enix store. Fans quickly rushed to get an early code that would allow them to play the sequel expected 10 days earlier.

While many have been successful, Well-known Twitter user Wario64 – who was among the first to alert users to the leak – warned them to play with the Switch’s airplane mode turned on lest Square Enix try to revoke the code. It turns out that this caution was warranted. With their licenses revoked, users will have to wait for their physical copies to arrive or purchase a brand new version online. All backup data from the revoked version will no longer be usable.

NEO: The World Ends With You Preview Screenshots

IGN has contacted Square Enix and Nintendo for statements following the withdrawal. We’ll update this story if we hear anything. In the meantime, there is still the demo, right? The World Ends With You will be released on Switch and PS4 on July 27, with a PC release slated for later this summer.

Kat Bailey is Senior News Editor at IGN.