August 7th, 2015. This morning Cardfight!! Onlinewas finally greenlit by the Steam community, leading to outreach by Valve Corporation to Bushiroad to make the online game available through their software distribution platform. The online game, which was only announced a month ago, is set to launch within 2015 as a free-to-play means of playing the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game through the web.
In other news, Bushiroad announced through Facebook today that their 2015 World Championship series will introduce commemorative prints of existing Cardfight!! Vanguard cards, to be given to the finalists of the national and international championships. The cards currently know to be distributed are Supremacy Dragon Claret Sword Dragon, and Chronojet Dragon. Each card will be gold stamped and have a unique foil, different from its original print.
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Two hours ago Bushiroad set up an application to get Cardfight!! Online approved for Steam, Valve Corporation's software distribution platform. The campaign requires fan support in order for the game to become available through Steam; readers with Steam accounts are encouraged to log in and demonstrate their support for the game in order to get it greenlit. Distribution through Steam would dramatically increase public exposure to both the online game and to the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game as a whole.
Today's article was made possible by the donations of our patrons at Patreon. Cardfight Pro is funded by public contributions from readers like you.
This morning Bushiroad Inc.'s official Cardfight!! Online Twitter account tweeted a message foreshadowing a "major announcement" on July 31st. With the game having been announced over the weekend of July 4th at Anime Expo 2015 alongside statements that the game would be out within 2015, and that the open beta would begin late this year, the company's most recent tweet is fueling speculation that tomorrow may be the day of the open beta. From what is known from the Cardfight!! Online Q&A sessions, the game will only allow cards from the G-Trial and G-Booster series onward at launch, but players that want to use older cards "won't be disappointed." The game will only be available in English, but the development team intends the game to be playable worldwide without region-based restrictions.
July 2nd, 2015. Today at Anime Expo 2015 in California, CEO Kidani Takaaki announced that Bushiroad Inc. will be launching an exclusive English-language product this year, titled Cardfight!! Online. The web-based game will be exclusive to the English format, and will have no Japanese equivalent; moreover, Bushiroad will also be bringing over G-Title Booster 01: Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- to the English-language format on October 30th, in keeping with their vision of synchronizing the English and Japanese game formats. A trailer for the game was uploaded shortly after the live announcement and is provided below.
Details at this time are sparse, but the interface for the game bears a startling resemblance to that devised for the Nintendo 3DS games Cardfight!! Vanguard Ride to Victory!! and Lock on Victory!!, as well as to a Flash tutorial game created to introduce Vanguard to the west several years ago. According to Kidani, the game will be coming soon, within 2015. The interface features two players with the names Aichi Sendou and Toshiki Kai, but these may merely be usernames, as the decks used in preview screenshots are both Gear Chronicle decks.
What has been shown of Cardfight!! Online indicates a 30-minute time limit on games, as well as automated process of turn order through the different phases.
In years past the original English-language Cardfight!! Vanguard fan community developed around the BYOND client Cardfight Capital, used to play the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game online through a manual (rather than automated) simulator. Cardfight Capital was shut down by Bushiroad in early 2013, deeply fragmenting the community and making it difficult to introduce new players to the game without having physical product on hand. While some fled to other, less successful clients to play Vanguard online with, the announcement of Cardfight!! Online points to a new officially-sponsored future for digital play of the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game.
Bushiroad has also opened an official Twitter account for the game @CardfightOnline. The company has since clarified that the game will be free-to-play with in-game transactions upon release. Bushiroad released a statement through the account this evening stating that these transactions will not be the only way to receive cards in the web game. The open beta for Cardfight!! Online will begin in late 2015.
