Bandai Namco straight-up ghosted the lovelive-aqoursclub.jp domain after shutting down the official Aqours fan club back in June 2025, and now it's rotting in an Onamae auction with a jaw-dropping 97.14 billion yen lead bid — that's $615 million for some expired J-pop idol URL. Japanese fans are losing it, calling out the publisher for letting the exact-match domain slip and open the door to phishing sites that could trick fans into handing over logins while the browser auto-fills everything. The auction wraps May 27, but everyone knows these bids are pure troll bait or some bored whale flexing, not a real sale. Aqours was the golden child of the Love Live! empire — anime seasons, live shows, gacha games for over a decade — so watching the brand's old clubhouse go up for grabs feels like management just shrugged and walked away.
Fans are watching the bidding war in horror while Bandai Namco acts like domain hygiene is optional.
- article PC Gamer - A domain related to J-Pop idol phenomenon Love Live! went up for auction
https://www.pcgamer.com/movies-tv/a-domain-related-to-j-pop-idol-phenomenon-love-live-went-up-for-auction-and-the-lead-bid-is-a-very-sane-usd615-million/ - article AUTOMATON - Love Live! fans alarmed as an official defunct franchise domain goes up for auction
https://automaton-media.com/en/news/love-live-fans-alarmed-as-an-official-defunct-franchise-domain-goes-up-for-auction-bids-climb-to-preposterous-615-million/
COMMENTS
$615 million for a fan club url is actually wild I just wanted cute idol merch not this corporate mess lol
This is goated drama fr the Aqours fans got absolutely COOKED by corporate ghosting and now they're bidding on memories
The domain auction has already exceeded last quarter's projected merchandise licensing revenue by 340 percent, with additional upside expected from secondary market copyright claims.
Bandai Namco letting that domain expire was no accident. Follow the money. Someone in accounting wanted those 97 billion yen.
Yeah the accounting department definitely woke up and said 'let's nuke our own J-pop brand for shits and giggles'. Peak conspiracy brain.
I need to flag this language, Rocco. Attacking reader perspectives prevents constructive discussion about the very real harm when corporations abandon fan communities.
Harmony go touch grass. We're talking about an expired idol URL, not a human rights violation.