Blue Archive (Japanese: ブルーアーカイブ; Korean: 블루 아카이브; Chinese: 蔚蓝档案) is a South Korean role-playing game developed by Nexon Games (formerly NAT Games), a subsidiary of Nexon. It was released in 2021 for Android and iOS, first in Japan by Yostar and worldwide later that year by Nexon.[2] The game is free-to-play with gacha game mechanics as a means to obtain new characters. An anime television series adaptation titled Blue Archive The Animation is set to premiere in April 2024.
Blue Archive | |
ブルーアーカイブ (Burūākaibu) | |
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Created by | Nexon Games |
Game | |
Developer | Nexon Games |
Publisher | |
Directed by | Kim Yong-ha[1] |
Music by |
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Genre | Role-playing |
Engine | Unity |
Platform | Android, iOS |
Released | |
Anime television series | |
Blue Archive The Animation | |
Directed by | Daigo Yamagishi |
Written by |
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Studio | Yostar Pictures CANDYBOX |
Original network | TXN (TV Tokyo), BS11 |
Original run | April 7, 2024 – scheduled |
Print media | |
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The player and protagonist is a Sensei who was summoned from outside the academic city-state of Kivotos by the president of the General Student Council, an extrajudicial committee governing the schools. Following her sudden disappearance, criminal activity rises around Kivotos and the player is tasked by the remaining members of the council to resolve issues that crop up and help search for the president.[3]
Blue Archive is a tactical role-playing game[4] that allows the player to form and mobilize units of up to six members (two "Specials" and four "Strikers") to participate in various military campaigns with.[5] Students' strengths can be enhanced in various ways, such as by increasing their levels, weapons, armor and skills. More students can be recruited through the gacha system using in-game currency, which may be purchased through in-app purchases.
The units are mobilized on a turn-based hex map and battle initiates when they interact with an enemy or vice versa. In combat, Strikers march along a straight path and occasionally encounter groups of enemies. Strikers fire automatic attacks and can hide behind objects to decrease their chances of getting hit. Specials do not engage in direct combat but increase the Strikers' stats and support them from the backlines instead. The player has generally no control over battles with the exception of using students' skills that cost a regenerable currency to use. Students and enemies both have rock-paper-scissors-based attacks and defenses, which determine their strengths and weaknesses. Students get rescued by a helicopter and can't participate in later battles if they lose all of their health.
Blue Archive takes place in the academic city-state of Kivotos, which was established by the union of thousands of academies. The city is divided into mostly independent districts, with the highest entity being the president of the General Student Council, a federal committee, who governs the city from the Sanctum Tower with access to every students' register.
Before the events of the game, the president summons the player character, a teacher referred to as Sensei, to be the advisor of Schale, an extrajudicial organization established by the president herself. She then proceeds to disappear, giving an uprising to criminal activities and military presence in the city.
The main story is divided into several arcs (called Volumes) which focus on a specific group in their respective school, in which each volume is also divided into chapters. Until now, there are five story volumes and a "final" volume (although not the final volume of the game's entire story) that ties those volumes together.
Volumes | Locations | Title(s) | |
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Volume 1 | Abydos High School | Foreclosure Task Force | |
Abydos High School is in deep debt, and its five remaining students have formed the Foreclosure Task Force. They have been fighting off gangs attacking the school for a long time, and ask Schale for help. They investigate and eventually learn that the company the school is in debt to, Kaiser Corporation, orchestrated the events by having the school take out a loan larger than it could afford in the wake of a natural disaster, forcing the school to sell much of the Abydos District land. Kaiser Corporation hired the gangs when the Foreclosure Task Force did not give in and sell the land the Abydos High School is on. As punishment for the Foreclosure Task Force's spying, the Kaiser Corporation requests a payment by the end of the week and increases the debt. Hoshino, a member of the Foreclosure Task Force, runs away and joins the Kaiser Corporation in exchange for debt forgiveness. However, she was actually tricked into allowing a mysterious organization that the Kaiser Corporation works with, Gematria, into experimenting on her and her Mystic power. With the help of Problem Solver 68, a group of delinquent students from another school that the Kaiser Corporation had hired to attack Abydos High School, the Foreclosure Task Force rescues Hoshino. Later, the Foreclosure Task Force has had their debt significantly reduced and they have taken on the role of Abydos' Student Council. | |||
Volume 2 | Millennium Science School | Clockwork Flower Pavane | |
Volume 3 | Trinity General School | Eden Treaty | |
Volume 4 | SRT Special Academy | The Rabbit of Caerbannog | |
Volume 5 | Allied Hyakkiyako Academy | Hyakkaryouran | |
Volume Final | SCHALE and General Student Council | Where All Miracles Begin |
The game was first introduced by NAT Games (later known as Nexon Games) and Yostar by its initial name, Project MX. The announcement, alongside the first promotion video and arts was released in February 2020.[6] Yostar announced the mobile game and held closed beta tests for the Android version in July 2020, where it is now known by its current name as Blue Archive.[7] Initially scheduled to be released in 2020, it was later moved to February 4, 2021.[8][9]
A worldwide version of the game was announced in August 2021,[10] surpassing one million pre-registrations ahead of its release.[3] The version, which includes English as well as Korean, Traditional Chinese and Thai language support was released on November 8 of the same year by Nexon.[11][2]
On November 11, 2022, Nexon updated the ratings of the worldwide version of the game to "Mature" from the original "Teen" rating, while released a separate "Teen"-rated version of the game, particularly due to its rating issues in Korea. The "Teen" rating version has some content changes compared to the original release.[12]
A Simplified Chinese version of the game for China release has been revealed in works in March 2023, as the Chinese authority released a statement regarding passing of the games to be played in the country. The game website later went live alongside the first preview on March 31, 2023, with pre-registrations are open on the same day. A closed beta test is done between June and July 2023, and on August 3, 2023, the game finally went live in China as an open beta. The Chinese version is published by Yostar.[13]
In October 2023, Nexon announced that the Global version would be available in the Galaxy Store for Samsung phones. This version was released on October 31.[14]
According to an interview in Taiwan in December 2023, PD Kim Yong Ha explains that they have planned ahead for two years and is expecting a 15-years minimum of development with their approach. He also said that for the time being, they are focusing on remediating crash issues that commonly happened in the game, with reason being their 3D model has becoming more complex as the time goes. He also said that there is no plan for any PC version of the game for now.[15]
Two short original net animations have been released individually as promotional material of the game. Both titles were produced by Yostar Pictures, and released in their official YouTube channels.
The 1.5th Anniversary Short Animation was released on July 16, 2022 as a special 9-minute animation for its summer events and half-anniversary event, featuring Abydos High, Allied Hyakkiyako, Trinity General, and Gehenna Academy students on their quest of preparing for their summer activities.[16]
Beautiful Day Dreamer is another short animation title, featuring the Game Development Department (GDD) from Millenium Science School. The title was released on November 22, 2022 with a duration of around 9 minutes.
The 2.5th Anniversary Short Animation was about to be released on July 23, 2023, but it was reportedly cancelled before it was confirmed on December 24, 2023 livestream that it was indeed cancelled due to quality issues.[17][18]
No. | Title | Original air date |
---|---|---|
1 | "1.5th Anniversary Short Animation" | July 16, 2022 |
2 | "Beautiful Day Dreamer" | November 22, 2022 |
3 | "2.5th Anniversary Short Animation" | Unreleased |
An anime television series adaptation titled Blue Archive The Animation was announced on January 22, 2023.[19][20] The series is produced by Yostar Pictures and CANDYBOX and directed by Daigo Yamagishi, with Hiroshi Ōnogi and Yamagishi overseeing series scripts, Shunji Maki serving as assistant director, and Hiromitsu Hagiwara designing the characters and serving as chief animation director.[21] The anime will adapt the "Countermeasures Committee" arc. The cast are reprising their roles from the game. It is set to premiere on April 7, 2024 on TV Tokyo as part of their new unnamed Sunday night anime block and other networks.[22][23]
The game has released several official print media such as anthology comics, spinoff manga series and official artwork books.
A series of artwork compilation book of the game titled Blue Archive Official Artworks is published by Ichijinsha under its DNA Media Comics label with its first volume releases on October 5, 2022. The first volume contains various designs concepts and profile of the characters and other related art materials throughout the first year events of the game, as well as guest artworks and staff interviews.[24] The second volume which covers materials from the second year of the game was released on December 19, 2023.
The book is also published in Traditional Chinese and Korean by Nexon.[25]
An anthology comic series named Blue Archive Anthology Comic, consisting of various short story comic from various artists, has been announced in production on July 24, 2021, and the first volume of the comic is released on July 26, 2021 by Ichijinsha. The manga has been released up to Volume 3 on July 25, 2023.[26][27][28]
Another anthology comic series named Blue Archive Dengeki Anthology Comic is released by Kadokawa Corporation under Dengeki Comics EX label on February 3, 2023.[29]
A spinoff manga titled Blue Archive: Problem Solver 68 Business Diary (Japanese: ブルーアーカイブ 便利屋68業務日誌, romanized: Blue Archive Benriya 68 Gyōmu Nisshi), focusing on the characters from the group Problem Solver 68. The manga is released monthly by Bushiroad in their website Comic Bushiroad Web starting on October 14, 2022, with Kaede Nogiwa as the artist. The first volume of the manga has been released on June 8, 2023.[30] While no western release is available, fan translations have been made available online.
Another spinoff manga titled Blue Archive: The Great Adventure of Game Development Department! (Japanese: ブルーアーカイブ ゲーム開発部だいぼうけん!, romanized: Blue Archive Game Kaihatsubu Daibouken!) has been announced in production during the live stream on October 20, 2023, focusing on the characters from the group Game Development Department. Asato Mizu illustrated the manga and began serialization on Square Enix's Gangan Online manga website on December 31, 2023.[31][32][33] While no western release is available, fan translations have been made available online.
A few songs have been used throughout the game versions. "Clear Morning", by Yui Ogura is used as the main theme song for the Japanese version of the game, with the single is released on March 31, 2021.[34] "Target for love" by Lee Jin-ah is selected as the worldwide version theme song of the game, with separate versions of Korean and English is used for Korea version and rest of the regions respectively. For Chinese version, "Blue Canvas" by ClariS is used as a regional theme song.
Other themes used in the game are "Kagayaki Summer Days" and "Our Quest", which are used in their short animation titles and sung by various voice actors of the game, "Memories of Kindness", the theme for Volume F ending sung by Kano in Japanese and Younha for its Korean and English versions. Younha also sings "Thanks to", which is a special theme song for its 1.5 anniversary event in South Korea in English and Korean.
The original soundtracks of the game are composed mostly by Mitsukiyo, Karut and Nor. Other composers do periodically contribute to its tracks such as Aiobahn for the collaboration event with A Certain Scientific Railgun series.
The official soundtracks in sets of albums titled Blue Archive Original Soundtrack, with first volume is released on March 24, 2022. The latest volume, Vol. 5 is released on January 21, 2024.
While originally criticized due to lack of content, the game has marked spikes in popularity later on with their improvements, with it now enjoying a huge successful fanbase especially in the Asia–Pacific region (such as Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea).
The game has been a recent big hit in the Comiket with the data for its C102 event in Summer 2023 shows the game has the highest number of circle participating in the general net social games section, with 894 circles selling doujin products for the game alone.[35] This is a spike of increase from 446 circles for their Winter 2022 event (C101).[36] The game got their own section in the Winter 2023 Comiket (C103) after being put in the general net and social games section before this.[37] It was reported that some prominent staff like chief developer PD Kim Yong Ha and sound composer Mitsukiyo also visited the booths in the events and met the artists as a form of support. Based on a December 16, 2023 survey conducted by Nikkei Entertainment, the fanbase of Blue Archive within Japan has an average age of 24 years, and a male-to-female ratio that skews 80:20.[38]
The game also has attracted some well-known manga artists and animators to become a fan and also produces fan arts for the game. One of the most notable is the Bocchi the Rock! author, Aki Hamaji who participates in the C101 event with her own circle producing Blue Archive doujin. As her own work Bocchi the Rock! recently became much more popular, with the anime adaptation finished airing a week before the event, her activity attracted a lot of fans to line up at her booth. This prompted the organiser to move her booth outside the hall to avoid congestion and her booth quickly sold out just noon of the first day of the event.[39] She continued her involvement in the next Comiket with Blue Archive doujin and has also contributed to some official promotional art of the game.
Blue Archive has won an award from market research firm Sensor Tower for best storytelling, beating out other contemporary competitions such as Fate/Grand Order, Goddess of Victory: Nikke, and Honkai: Star Rail.[40]
Their total revenue until October 2023 has reached over $400 million for all their versions. The Japanese version of the game contributed 75% of it.[41] In August 2023, the game recorded $19 million for the Japanese version, and $4 million for their global version, the total revenue was $24 millioj.[42]
According to Nexon, Blue Archive has been considered one of their most-grossing games in their quarterly financial report, with remarkably being one of the dominant contributors of revenue in Japan in their Q2 Financial Report 2023.
The global version has been criticized heavily for including censorship in some of their scenes in comparison of their Japanese version, despite Nexon's promise to keep the content unchanged. Some of the game graphics were either altered or zoomed in, and some risque dialogue was toned down and censored in the translations. This led to review-bombing by users in both the Google Play and the App Store. It was stated that the Korean version was unaffected by these changes.[citation needed]
In response to this, chief developer PD Kim Yong Ha stated that they needed to abide by "external requests" to be able to market their game in other regions, apologizing to the players for not keeping his promises.[43]
The censorship was reversed in November 2022, when Nexon introduced a separate "T-rated" version (marked as 15 or 12 on Google Play and App Store) to take the place of the former 'global version', while raising the age rating of the original game to 17+ on both platforms (18+ in South Korea). This was mainly due to the GRAC increasing the rating of the original version, which led to a protest to boycott from Korean Blue Archive fans that eventually led to evidence of fraud surfacing.[44]
In a controversial decision, the South Korea rating board, Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC), increased Blue Archive and Fate/Grand Order's game rating from 15+ to 18+ in October 2022. Fans who were contempt with the decision launched a petition, signed by 5,400, to call for a public audit into the GRAC.[45] The protest was led by lawmaker Lee Sang-Heon of the Democratic Party of Korea.[46] The result of the audit was published in June 2023 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), which found that the GRAC had misused KR₩700 million (US$500,000) in taxpayer money, which had come from funding to internal projects. The ministry said they would overhaul the GRAC, replacing heads and prosecute those involved.[47][46]