miHoYo announced on August 11 that its Steam Early Access AI companion product "BSide: Olivia Lin" (Lin Li) will cease online operations. The product was launched for early access on July 13, with an online lifespan of less than two months. The official stated that the shutdown is mainly due to the product's phased planning and subsequent arrangements.

According to the plan, "Lin Li" will launch the offline version on August 27 at 15:00, while closing functions such as "writing letters" and "uploading MIDI" that rely on online services; on August 31 at 15:00, the product will be removed from the Steam store and the server will be officially shut down. The offline version will retain local features such as listening to Lin Li's performance and desktop dynamic wallpapers, which can continue to be used after the server closure. Users need to download the offline version before the removal. Related letters, MIDI creation files, and music library data also need to be backed up in advance.

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"Lin Li" is one of miHoYo's products exploring the AI companion direction. Its form differs from traditional games, focusing more on interaction and long-term companionship with virtual characters. The rapid shutdown of this project has brought attention to the challenges of AI companion products in terms of user demand, business models, and long-term operating costs.

Notably, AnuNeko (AI Neko), an AI companion product launched by the co-founder of miHoYo, Cai Haoyu's Anuttacon, has also been announced to be permanently shut down. The simultaneous closure of these two related products shows that AI companions are still in an early stage of product exploration, and the industry is still verifying continuous user value and stable business models.