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 see the removal of German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Italian language support. However, Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Thai, and Russian will remain. Crucially, while English text will be retained, in-game voice acting will switch to Japanese for players outside of Korea. FLINT assures players this change won't affect in-game chat functionality in any of the removed languages.
This move follows similar decisions by other gacha developers. Square Enix's War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, for instance, removed English voiceovers from new content in May 2024, prioritizing Japanese. Yostar Games' Aether Gazer eliminated English dubbing entirely in February 2024, citing financial constraints and a need to refocus resources on gameplay and future content. Snowbreak: Containment Zone also dropped English voiceovers in December 2023, citing an evaluation of player preferences and a desire to optimize the overall gaming experience.
The trend suggests a prioritization of either player language preference or resource management. Focusing on the most popular language is logical, and the long-term cost of maintaining English voice acting across years of content updates can be substantial. By reallocating resources, developers aim to ensure the game's continued success and improve aspects players value most.
