The game is centered around turn-based combat where the player, who takes on the role of a "Master", summons and commands powerful familiars known as "Servants" to battle enemies. The story narrative is presented in a visual novel format, and each Servant has their own scenario which the player can explore. Servants are obtained through the gacha mechanic. As of July 2021[update], the game grossed $5.4 billion worldwide, making it the seventh highest-grossing mobile game of all time. Total revenues reached $7 billion by September 2023.[7]
Fate/Grand Order is a turn-based role-playing game with some visual novel elements. The player takes the role of a "Master" and commands a group of individuals called "Servants", who are typically historical, literary, and mythological figures from various cultures. The player commands a party composed of up to 6 Servants in each battle, 3 active members, and 3 reserve members. In each turn, the player is given a set of 5 Command Cards and may use up to 3 of them in a turn to attack. Each Servant has 5 cards the player may use; the cards for all the Servants on the field are shuffled and dealt to the player each turn. The cards have three types: Buster (a heavy attack), Arts (a medium attack that charges a gauge for the Servant's "Noble Phantasm"), and Quick (a light attack that generates Critical Stars that increase the probability of critical hits next turn). If three similar cards are used in one turn, they create a "Chain" which gives a bonus based on the cards' properties. If three cards all corresponding to the same servant are selected, then a "Brave Chain" will ensue, resulting in an extra, more powerful, the attack being added to the end. Each Servant also has skills that can be used before drawing Command Cards; each skill gives effects in the battle, as well as a special command card called "Noble Phantasm" that appears when the gauge is full. The "Master" also has a separate set of skills and special abilities called "Command Spells." Command Spells have a variety of effects and recharge based on real-world time.
Servants are obtained via a gacha mechanic. Saint Quartz, an in-game currency earned both by playing the game and via real money in-app purchases, is used to summon new Servants and acquire "Craft Essences" which give additional effects when equipped to a servant. This summoning is random, with some servants available commonly, and others rarely. Another currency is "Friend Points", which are more easily acquired, but only can acquire common Servants with them. If multiple copies of the same Servant are acquired, that servant's "Noble Phantasm" can be increased.
In the aftermath of the Singularity crisis, Chaldea is under heavy suspicion from various organizations including the U.N. and the Mages Association due to their role in rayshifting in various eras. Upon the suspicion, the group detected a new singularity separate from the ones came before it. Dubbed as Sub-Singularities, Ritsuka is again tasked with handling Singularity Subspecies and solving even deeper mysteries over their existence.
Following the completion of the Sub-Singularities, Chaldea would find itself under new management under Goredolf Musik. It turned out that Goredolf was just a scapegoat in a hostile takeover by a mysterious organization, conspiring with an unknown entity known as the Foreign God, to destroy Chaldea and the current human history, reverting the planet back to the Age of Gods. Now on the run, Ritsuka, Mash and the surviving members of Chaldea survived aboard the autonomous vessel Shadow Border. In order to save humanity, the group now travels to different timelines called "Lostbelts"; alternate versions of history that differ drastically from the main human history and were "pruned away" from the primary timeline after having been deemed a dead end. The seven Lostbelts are each represented by a Crypter, former human Masters and their Servants, each of whom are in competition against one another as well as the Chaldean survivors for the ultimate fate of human history. For Ritsuka Fujimaru, they must make some grave decisions and sacrifices that either will make them a savior ... or a destroyer.
After clearing all seven Lostbelts and learning the Foreign God herself was a pawn to the true mastermind, the members of Chaldea attempt to return to Chaldea's headquarters, where the mastermind resides, only to be blocked by a barrier. They are informed that due to using Extra Class Servants, they have been rejected by the Human Order. The organization must endure an Ordeal Call to prove that their Extra Classes are connected to humanity so they can stop the mastermind and restore the Earth.
The game was first drafted by Kinoko Nasu under the working title "Fate Online Project Reboot",[10] which was meant to be a massively multiplayer online game using designs, drafts and concepts later collected in the Fate/complete material IV Extra material book. But the planned game was cancelled and shelved during planning stages. It later became a novel, Fate/Apocrypha, which integrated some concepts of the planned game. Later on in 2014, Aniplex proposed Nasu to revisit the cancelled game project, announcing a collaboration with the game studio Delightworks to rework the concept into a mobile RPG game.[11][12]
On 1 January 2017, a sub-sequel to the main storyline was announced with the same title containing a subtitle named "Epic of Remnant". On 16 April 2017, Aniplex of America announced Fate/Grand Order would be released in the United States with a Summer 2017 release window. Director and Creative Producer Yosuke Shiokawa explained that while the game was intended to be released only in Japan, the team took notice of the large number of overseas players accessing the game and made a decision to make it accessible to other regions as well. Since the game's release to North American servers, it has followed behind Japanese servers by almost exactly 2 years, the same gap between launches in the two regions.[5]
On 26 December 2017, the official website and the Twitter page of the game teased the game's sequel by changing it into a "hijacked account and site". The sequel's subtitle, "Cosmos in the Lostbelt", was announced on 1 January 2018. The sequel was officially released as an expansion to the main game on the Japanese server starting in Spring 2018. On 20 April 2018, it was announced that the North American server was made officially accessible in Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.[13]
On 15 December 2021, Delightworks announced that it would spin off its entire game division, including the Grand Order development team, to a new company.[14] It was established under the name Lasengle on 28 December 2021. As part of the deal, its shares were then acquired by Aniplex on 1 February 2022.[15]
On 24 February 2022, Aniplex ended services in Vietnam due to Vietnamese regulations rules.[16] On 2 August 2022, the North American server was made officially accessible to United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and New Zealand.[17]
As of October 2018, the game is available in five languages across ten countries, having received a total of 32 million downloads worldwide, including over 4 million downloads for the English version, and 7 million in September 2019,[18][19][20] surpassing Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.[21]
The game is very popular in Japan, its first market, and reports indicate that the level is comparable to the success of Pokmon Go.[22] In Japan, the game had crossed 13 million downloads by May 2018,[23] and 14 million downloads as of August 2018.[24] FGO is also gaining traction in other parts of the world such as in the U.S. and Canada where it already surpassed 1 million downloads after its June 2017 Android release there.[25]
In 2018, Fate/Grand Order drew widespread media attention due to reports of a 31-year old Japanese man identified only as Daigo, claiming to have spent $70,000 to purchase the game's currency, called Saint Quartz, which is used to summon Servants. Daigo kept on spending cash in-game in his desire to get high-level characters and ended up spending more to strengthen them once they were acquired.[38] In an interview, the gamer said, "Some people spend $18 on a movie and feel moved. I've spent $70,000 on FGO. But it moves me."[38] This incident highlighted the popularity of FGO. According to The Wall Street Journal, the game was partly responsible for Sony's soaring operating profit. As of March 2018, the app contributed an average of $2.5 million every day.[39]
Fate/Grand Order grossed $982 million in 2017, making it the year's sixth highest-grossing mobile game.[33] In 2018, Fate/Grand Order grossed $1.2 billion, making it the year's seventh highest-grossing free-to-play game.[40] In 2019, the game grossed $1.2 billion.[41] By 13 March 2019, the game had grossed more than $3 billion worldwide.[42] Total revenue crossed $4 billion by the end of 2019.[30] It was the world's top-grossing mobile game during the 2020 New Year period, ahead of fellow JRPG title Monster Strike.[43] As of July 2021[update], the game grossed $5.4 billion worldwide, making it the seventh highest-grossing mobile game of all time.[44]As of September 2023[update], total revenues reached $7 billion.[45]
The game illustrations have been described by some as overly sexualized.[46][47] In late 2010s some illustrations from the game have been subject to censorship in China to remove cleavage.[48][49] In September 2021, Chinese service provider bilibili removed all art and most data for many Chinese-themed characters within the game that were deemed historically incorrect.[50]
An anime adaptation of the seventh chapter of the game was animated by CloverWorks and aired from October 2019 to March 2020.[57] During the Fate Project New Year's Eve TV Special 2020, it was announced that there would be a new two-part OVA series titled Fate/Grand Carnival (Japanese: フェイト/グランドカーニル, Hepburn: Feito/Gurando Kānibaru), produced by Lerche, with a section of the first part shown during the TV special. The main staff from Carnival Phantasm returned to produce the series. The first part of the OVA premiered on 2 June 2021, while the second part of the OVA, after being delayed twice, premiered on 13 October 2021.[58][59] Aniplex of America licensed the OVA series, opening an English version of the site in August 2021.[60] A Blu-Ray release will be done on October 11 with English dub and Japanese voice tracks.[61]
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