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 the quality of future localizations.
The January 23rd maintenance will also discontinue support for German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Italian languages. However, Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Thai, and Russian will remain. While English text will still be available, in-game voice acting for regions outside Korea will default to Japanese. This change, FLINT assures players, will not impact in-game chat functionality in any of the removed languages.
This move follows similar decisions by other gacha game developers. Square Enix's War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius phased out English voiceovers for new content in May 2024, citing a prioritization of Japanese. Yostar Games' Aether Gazer completely removed English dubbing in February 2024 due to financial constraints, redirecting resources to gameplay and future content. Snowbreak: Containment Zone also dropped English voiceovers in December 2023, citing an evaluation of player preferences and the pursuit of an optimal gaming experience.
The trend suggests a focus on either player preference (prioritizing the most popular language) or resource management (reducing the long-term cost of maintaining multiple language voiceovers). By reallocating resources, developers aim to ensure the long-term health and improvement of their games.
