2. Blue Protocol – The hope for the Genshin-MMORPG
Genre: Anime-MMORPG | Platform: PC, later also PS5 and Xbox Series | Release: Second half of 2023
This is Blue Protocol: In the upcoming anime MMORPG Blue Protocol, everything revolves around PvE. There is no PvP at all. The game aims to place its story at the center and let you experience the world. In this, you travel back around 1,000 years into the past to prevent a great catastrophe and, as usual, save the world.
Blue Protocol relies on an action-packed combat system where you must aim and dodge actively. To implement this properly, Blue Protocol provides you with 5 different classes that function in a “Holy Trinity” of tank, healer, and damage dealer. No other classes are currently known.
The world itself is open but divided into larger areas, similar to Guild Wars 2. In the respective zones, up to 40 players can move at a time, while there can be up to 200 in cities. Therefore, gigantic battles with hundreds of players are not possible in Blue Protocol.
In addition to classic PvE, the game offers a pet system, mounts, crafting, and housing features. The MMORPG is being developed by the Japanese studio Bandai Namco. Blue Protocol will be released first in Japan before it comes to us shortly afterward.
So far, the development has gone: In July 2019, the first trailers for Blue Protocol were released, quickly followed by the first playtests and alphas. These were well received by the players, at least in Japan. Because at that time, the MMORPG was not supposed to come to the West at all.
For a while, it was even unclear whether the ambitious anime project was still in development, as silence has been as much a part of the story of Blue Protocol as comparisons to Genshin Impact.
- After the first tests in 2019, the player feedback was really positive
- A beta followed quickly and started in early 2020. Content creators could also take a look at Blue Protocol.
- Even until mid-2021, the developers regularly showed new content about the game. Most recently, among other things, a new class for the MMORPG was introduced. “
- After that, there was a long silence about Blue Protocol. Only in November 2022, Bandai Namco announced that they were still working on the game and promised a trailer in December.
- At the Game Awards in December 2022, the game was revealed, along with Amazon as the publisher for the West. A release for us in the second half of 2023 was also announced.
- Subsequent playtests were supposed to follow in January. However, those playtests were postponed until March 31. This still raises concerns about the upcoming release.
This is Blue Protocol at best: Anime worlds with strong stories and characters have been proven to work well in the West, as shown by Genshin Impact. And this is exactly what the anime MMORPG could build upon.
With its strong focus on story and the world, it could become the multiplayer anime game fans of the genre have always wished for. The MMORPG could thus fulfill the dreams of many people and become the shining winner of the year.
This is Blue Protocol at worst: The idea of an anime MMORPG unfortunately does not guarantee success, as recently proven by Tower of Fantasy. Even when taking a negative view, Blue Protocol is likely to have a strong start, but whether it can sustain itself is uncertain.
Also, the rocky development raises questions. And then there’s the big elephant in the room: possible Pay2Win. In Japan, Blue Protocol is said to be released as Free2Play and to have a shop with numerous items that at least fall into the Pay2Progress category.
Whether Amazon will change something in the shop here is currently unclear. However, that could significantly contribute to the success or failure of Blue Protocol.
This is planned for 2023: After the postponed tests that were supposed to take place in January, there will now be new news about Blue Protocol at the end of March. Depending on how the test goes, international betas could follow.
If everything goes well, we probably won’t get the game until late 2023. Until then, we can only hope for betas and tests in the West, as all previous ones have been exclusively in Japan.
In our survey for MMORPGs in 2023, Blue Protocol was even among the 3 winners that you are really looking forward to.
On the next page, we’ll introduce you to a survival MMO:
