ASTRA: Knights of Veda Bids Farewell to English Dubbing
Following a trend among gacha games, ASTRA: Knights of Veda will be removing its English voiceovers after maintenance on January 23, 2025. This decision, announced by developer FLINT on January 20th, aims to bolster game stability and enhance localization quality.
The upcoming maintenance will also remove support for German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Italian. However, Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Thai, and Russian will remain. Importantly, while English text support persists, in-game voice acting will default to Japanese for players outside Korea. FLINT assures players this change won't impact in-game chat functionality in any previously supported language.
This isn't an isolated incident. Several other gacha games have made similar adjustments:
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War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: Square Enix removed English voiceovers for new content starting in May 2024, prioritizing Japanese for future updates. Existing content retains English dubbing.
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Aether Gazer: Yostar Games completely removed English voiceovers in February 2024 due to financial constraints, redirecting resources to gameplay improvements and future content.
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Snowbreak: Containment Zone: Amazing Seasun Games removed English voiceovers in December 2023 after evaluating player preferences and optimizing the gaming experience. Japanese voiceovers replaced English in Version 1.4.
These decisions highlight a common theme: resource management and player preference. Prioritizing the language used by the majority of players is a logical move, especially considering the long-term costs associated with maintaining multiple language voiceovers in a continuously updated game. By reallocating resources, developers aim to ensure the game's continued success and focus on features valued most by the player base.
