ASTRA Abandons English Dub in Favor of Original Japanese

ASTRA: Knights of Veda Bids Farewell to English Dubbing

Following scheduled maintenance on January 23, 2025, ASTRA: Knights of Veda will discontinue English voiceovers. This decision, announced by developer FLINT on January 20th, aims to enhance game stability and improve the quality of other localized versions.

The upcoming update will adjust language support, removing English dubbing alongside German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Italian. Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Thai, and Russian voiceovers will remain.

Post-maintenance, players outside Korea will default to Japanese in-game voice acting. FLINT assures players this change won't affect their ability to communicate in any of the removed languages via text chat.

A Growing Trend in Gacha Games

ASTRA: Knights of Veda isn't alone in this shift. Several other gacha games have also reduced or eliminated English voiceovers, including:

• War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: Square Enix removed English dubbing for new content starting May 2024, prioritizing Japanese. Existing content retains English voiceovers.
• Aether Gazer: Yostar Games completely removed English voice acting in February 2024 due to financial constraints, focusing resources on gameplay and future content.
• Snowbreak: Containment Zone: Amazing Seasun Games removed English voiceovers in December 2023, citing an evaluation of player preferences and a focus on optimal gameplay.

The Rationale Behind the Changes

These decisions highlight two key factors: player language preferences and resource management. Prioritizing the language used by the majority of players is a logical approach, and the long-term cost of maintaining multiple language voiceovers for ongoing content updates is substantial. By reallocating resources, developers aim to ensure the game's continued health and improvement in other areas valued by the player base.