Legendary JRPG Finally Releasing On Steam 12 Years After Japanese Release
Jack Coleman (He/Him) is a News Editor from Ireland. This is his third full year in games media, having previously worked freelance for various outlets, including DualShockers and NME.
Previously, he’s interviewed breakout indie developers, broken big news stories, reviewed massive releases and recounted his time living as a humble woodsman in Oblivion.
A lifelong gamer, Jack is primarily interested in RPGs and narrative experiences. He’s also been playing League of Legends for a decade, unfortunately.
Cygames gave us a wonderful New Year’s surprise yesterday during the studio’s annual Granblue Fantasy Fes[tival]. As revealed during the stream, the beloved 2014 JRPG Granblue Fantasy will be released on Steam on March 10, 2025.
Granblue Fantasy was released as a mobile exclusive in 2014, quickly reaching a high level of popularity in Japan. From there, Granblue Fantasy was adapted into anime, manga and additional spin-off games.
Granblue Fantasy is an early example of a mobile RPG that incorporated gacha elements for monetisation. This genre is extremely popular today, with games like Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves and Goddess of Victory: Nikke at the forefront.
There’s the 2.5D fighting game Granblue Fantasy Versus, and the more recently released action role-playing game Granblue Fantasy Relink, which TheGamer awarded 4/5 in our review last year.
Long Time Coming
Granblue Fantasy, the game that began the multimedia franchise, has never had a Western release despite the existence of an official English-language patch. In other words, international players have to jump through various hoops to access Granblue Fantasy outside of Japan, which is going to make the upcoming Steam release even more fortuitous for these players.
Granblue Fantasy, having originally been a mobile game, was rendered in a vertical orientation. The Steam release will be rendered in a 16.9 ratio to facilitate computer monitors.
You’ll be able to play Granblue Fantasy in either Japanese or English, but the Steam version will not be available in Japan. There’s also no mechanism to transfer one’s save data from the mobile or browser version of Granblue Fantasy to the Steam version, meaning players will have to start the game over if they wish to play the new version.
It’s vitally important that fans refrain from creating explicit fan art of the game’s characters.
It’s heartening to finally get an international version of Granblue Fantasy; people familiar with the series will now have the opportunity to experience the game that began the franchise without having to struggle with the Japanese version.
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For Cygames, 2025 has been an incredibly lucrative year. The staggering international success of Umamusume: Pretty Derby may have been a contributing factor in getting the studio to release an international Steam version of Granblue Fantasy.
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