ANANTA Dev Says Each City Has 100 Hours Of Exploration
NetEase is pitching scale, not monetization, at a moment when the free-to-play open-world category usually leads with its character roster: the per-city hour figure is the selling point the developer chose to attach to a game it says will skip character gacha entirely.
Key Facts
- NetEase Games will release ANANTA on January 15, 2027, free-to-play on PC (Steam and official website), PS5, iOS, and Android.
- The open-world urban RPG ANANTA is developed by Naked Rain and was unveiled by NetEase Games in 2023.
- A NetEase representative said ANANTA offers at least enough volume for 100 hours of exploration per city.
- ANANTA's two revealed cities are Chongxiao, inspired by Shanghai and Hangzhou, and Shinsei, modeled on cities in the East Asian region.
- A NetEase representative said ANANTA does not use a character gacha system, with characters obtained free through story progress and cosmetic items requiring payment.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
NetEase Games and developer Naked Rain will release the open-world urban RPG ANANTA on January 15, 2027, free-to-play on PC via Steam and the official site, PS5, iOS, and Android, with Japanese text and voice support planned. In an interview conducted at gamescom in Cologne, Germany, a NetEase representative said the game offers at least enough volume for 100 hours of exploration per city. Two cities have been revealed: Chongxiao, which draws inspiration from Shanghai and Hangzhou, and Shinsei, modeled on cities in the East Asian region. Players take the role of an ace investigator for the A.C.D. (Chaos Control Bureau), resolving problems caused by Chaos while living in the city. Characters are obtained for free as the story progresses, and cosmetic items are the paid element. The representative said a multiplayer mode is in development, with details to come later.
The development team also addressed how ANANTA will make money. A NetEase representative said the game does not adopt the character gacha system common in the genre, because charging for a specific character would not treat all players fairly. Characters are earned through story progress, while cosmetic items such as outfits for a favorite character carry a price. The representative framed the choice as one that protects the freedom of the open-world setting.
Transportation spans cars, motorcycles, trucks, and helicopters, plus a wingsuit and flying cars shown in the Chongxiao preview. The player character cannot fly unaided. Chongxiao is the protagonist's hometown, with childhood friends and local residents, and the story moves back and forth between the two cities, with returns to Chongxiao opening new developments. The representative said the gamescom demo covered the Chongxiao map and that the Shinsei map will be shown at Tokyo Game Show. Asked about the gap between the 2023 unveiling and the release date, the representative said the team often repeats that there is no magic in game development, and polishing takes time.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.