The shutdown
SNK announced on 8 September 2006 that AW-NET would close. The service ended on 30 November 2006, just short of its third birthday.
What stopped
On 30 November 2006 every online feature ended for all five games: national rankings, matches between arcades, the website, the phone service, AW points, card transfers and everything bought in the shop. Characters and colours bought with points could no longer be used.
What kept working
The games themselves kept running, and so did the card slot. The trade press noted that you could still play with a card and see your saved record. Arcadia's December 2006 issue explained the rule for cards after the shutdown:
- A card you already owned carried on working with the last game you used it in before the shutdown.
- A new card worked with the first game you used it in.
What a card kept on it differed from game to game.
Why it closed
No announcement gave a reason. AM Press's report observed that Atomiswave hadn't spread as far as expected and that new software seemed to have stopped. Behind that was the merger of Sega and Sammy: Sega took over sales of Sammy's arcade machines in Japan from December 2004, and Sammy's arcade division was due to move into Sega in April 2005. Neither corporate notice mentions AW-NET, though, and the service kept running until late 2006.
A last campaign
In October 2006, with the end announced, AW-NET ran a thank-you campaign for members together with Sega's mobile service, Sega Moba. What it offered isn't recorded, and nothing suggests points or accounts moved to any Sega service.