RIP.. Tower of Fantasy CANCELS Global English Release

A thread was made on both Bilibili and TapTap yesterday from the official developers of Tower of Fantasy. This thread went on to address a few concerns the developers had with regards to rumors, misinformation, and as the title no doubt gave away: An unfortunate announcement pertaining to the Western release of the new MMO.

I’ve been covering this game for almost 2 years now, with anticipation building upon every reveal, every update bringing us one step closer to release. Which is why this is so disappointing to read.
But we’re going to go ahead here and read through the announcement regardless. Because let’s be real for a moment: While they may have canceled the Global release of the game, that doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun playing it in Chinese, and doesn’t mean we won’t still get a release outside of China one day.

“Since the public beta, the official team for “Tower of Fantasy” has gained much more attention than expected, we are aware that we still have many shortcomings, for which we are deeply sorry, and thank the players for their understanding and support.”

And let me just stop there for a moment. The “many shortcomings” is with regards to all of the issues the game has had since launch. The rushed release. The bugs that accompanied the rushed release. “shortcomings” hardly comes close to being accurate, but it’s a decent start.

“Regarding the recent rumor that “it is suspected that the official of Tower of Fantasy leaked identity information to provide foreign players to register”, we checked with TapTap and stated the facts as follows.

The international version of TapTap is the national page of Tower of Fantasy, and the “developer in” logo here refers to the developers of Tower of Fantasy in the domestic version of TapTap, not the official Tower of Fantasy in the international version.
After communicating with TapTap, there is no plan to open an international service for Tower of Fantasy, and related matters will be discussed separately.”

That right there is the confirmation that there will be no international release anywhere in the immediate future. “There is no plan to open an international service for Tower of Fantasy.”
If that isn’t the most depressing way to start 2022, then I don’t know what is.

“The Discord group is not built by the official staff of Tower of Fantasy. The group owner and the user who posted “ID information” in the group are not official staff of Perfect World Games, Tower of Fantasy or TapTap, and no official staff of Tower of Fantasy has ever made any contact with these accounts.
The group’s questionnaire research, player recruitment and other actions are not related to the official Tower of Fantasy.”

I guess it’s worth noting if you weren’t already aware, the Tower of Fantasy Discord is not in fact operated by the official developers, and they wanted to confirm this themselves, due to some confusion on the topic.

“Regarding the video, dynamic and live content released by the B station user contains unverified inaccurate information, we have completed the forensics and will further pursue its responsibility by legal means.
For other people who are still spreading inaccurate information and maliciously smearing Tower of Fantasy and Perfect World Games, please immediately delete the relevant untrue content, we will retain the right to pursue responsibility.”

This is actually a little concerning, but it’s to be expected. Spreading misinformation, even inaccurate information can do a lot of damage to not only a game, but the developer or publisher behind it.
As such, Perfect World Games and the Tower of Fantasy dev-team specifically are going to be seeking legal action against multiple users that have been doing such. So it’s probably best to be careful.

“We once again hope that the majority of players, calmly and rationally judge all kinds of speech, common resistance to disrupt the network public opinion environment, do not believe in rumors, do not spread rumors. If you find similar rumors and suspected infringement account, please contact the official customer service, we will be the fastest speed verification feedback, and players together to maintain a healthy and harmonious network environment.”

Whew. That was quite the information overload. To summarize:

• Tower of Fantasy has gotten quite a bit more popular than Hotta Studio had anticipated – you’re welcome for all the videos I’ve done on the game, Hotta.
• There have been a substantial number of issues that have tanked the overall reception of the game and the score overall, but they’re asking for players to give them time to fix everything.
• They confirmed they have absolutely no interest right now in releasing the game outside of China. Meaning any hope of an English release has been completely shattered. Which likely isn’t their permanent stance, but is still disheartening to learn.
• Players have been spreading misinformation in an attempt to tarnish the reputation of both Hotta and Perfect World Games, and they are seeking legal action against them, along with other players in the future if they continue to do the same.

I’m so gutted that we won’t be getting Tower of Fantasy – at least not for quite a few years. This game is absolutely gorgeous, and looked to provide what a lot of Genshin players were hoping for.
A large, open world with a beautiful Anime aesthetic. Fantastic, fluid combat. Character creation – the ability to customize your character. Story. A functional MMO.
Yet what we got was not only a buggy mess, but a game that we can only play in Chinese.
I guess I’ll keep an eye on Tower of Fantasy moving into the future – because they may surprise us with a Global announcement at any point in the future, and I would urge you all to not write the game off yet.
Remember Lost Ark? We’ve been waiting, what, 6 years for that now?

I have a few other topics concerning Tower of Fantasy I want to cover, and I urge you to check them out as they’re pretty crazy. Otherwise… there are other MMOs to look forward to. Blue Protocol. Noah’s Heart. And others I plan on bringing to all of your attention soon. So keep an eye on the channel for those announcements!