Arc System Works just had a livestream event to celebrate the first full year of Guilty Gear Strive. During the stream, multiple announcements were made, including a new retail SKU for the game itself. This new release is, in Japan, called the Guilty Gear Strive Starter Edition 2022. We also got news on a big update coming to Strive as well as a testing phase for cross-platform play.
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The Guilty Gear Starter Edition 2022 software is set for release in Japan on August 9. This is exactly what you’d expect it to be (probably), a bundle of Guilty Gear Strive and the first season pass in its entirety. The Japanese Yen price tag roughly translates to sixty bucks, so if Starter Edition ends up localized I’m guessing we’ll see a similar price tag.
Aside from the new bundle, Arc System Works also announced what it’s calling a “large scale balance update” planned to roll out on June 10. According to the stream, this update will make tweaks for the entire Strive roster. More intriguingly, there will also be “changed to overall game mechanics to transform the gameplay” and “improvement to controls.” We have no idea what that could mean, but we’ll find out soon enough.
Finally, cross-platform play is coming soon, and Guilty Gear Strive players across the PS4, PS5, and PC userbases will be able to interact. Sometime this summer, a beta test will run.
While not an in-game development, fans will also be able to snag a copy of the Guilty Gear Strive soundtrack starting this Friday, May 27. It’ll also be coming to streaming services, so keep an eye out on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever you use if you’re a Guilty Gear music sicko.
