Over the weekend, it was announced that hit anime Kaiju No. 8 would be getting its own video game tie-in. While this is no doubt something fans have wanted for a while, some of the initial hype seems to have quickly died down given the game will be free-to-play, sparking assumptions that it will be another typical gacha game.
Granted, the announcement trailer nor the press release give any hint as to what the actual gameplay will be like. However, developer Akatsuki Games is responsible for several other gacha games, like Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle and Atelier Resleriana, so it’s not unreasonable to assume Kaiju No. 8 THE GAME will follow suit. As such, some of the responses from fans on Reddit haven’t been the most positive.
“It’s 100% a gacha game. It might very well be a high effort one, but it’s still a casino,” warns one fan. Several Reddit users in this thread are already describing it as a “cashgrab,” arguing that the manga/anime lacks a large enough cast of characters to build a gacha game around. One user says, “They haven’t develop any other antagonist or characters, so unless they take a page from Solo Leveling and create A LOT of new characters and kaijus… they’ll have to stall content.” Another concurs, adding, “The manga has about a few hours of story AT BEST and honestly is so underdeveloped that I cant even see they [sic] branching out to side plots and it making much sense.”
That’s not to say there’s zero interest in Kaiju No. 8 THE GAME. One fan is hopeful that even if it is a gacha game, it’ll play akin to something like Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail, saying, “I’d be more accepting of gacha if there’s actual gameplay involved.” For a game all about giant kaijus, real-time action would be more preferential than static turn-based battles. Plenty of others are also impressed with the visuals shown in the trailer. At the very least, it’ll certainly be a pretty game to look at and could boast some top-tier animation.
It would ultimately make sense for the Kaiju No. 8 game to follow the gacha trend considering how profitable free-to-play gacha games can be. Despite some early hostility, I imagine die-hard fans will flock to the game regardless to at least try it out, though what will be interesting to see is whether Akatsuki Games can maintain a dedicated enough player-base and consistently make enough money to keep the game running.
