In the early hours of February 21, 2021, during the second Japan Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable, the roundtable that brought together Japanese fighting game publishers, Arc System Works closed out Guilty Gear Strive’s initial roster. The 15th and last confirmed character was I-No, the villain who debuted in the series in Guilty Gear XX (X2 in the West).
With her, the base roster ended up with fifteen fighters: thirteen series veterans and two newcomers, the vampire samurai Nagoriyuki and the agent Giovanna, who fights alongside the spirit wolf Rei. Choosing I-No to close the roster makes sense for those who follow the story: she is a central piece of the game’s plot, which revolves around the Tome of Origin and the villain Happy Chaos.
Watch the announcement trailer, the game’s eighth:
The same weekend, the game was in its first open beta. Because of technical problems during the test, Arc System Works extended the beta by two days for all participants, until February 23 at 6:59 a.m. Pacific time (11:59 a.m. Brasília time). The notice also reminded players that the beta data could only be downloaded until the 21st.
What came next
After the beta, Arc System Works delayed the game from April 9 to June 11, 2021, citing adjustments made from fan feedback, and held a second beta in May; players praised the netcode a lot in these testing phases. Guilty Gear Strive launched in June 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC, arrived in Japanese arcades in July and received Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions in March 2023 and a Nintendo Switch version in January 2025. The game was well received by critics, mainly for its visuals and gameplay, and began receiving new fighters across several seasons of paid content.
Where to buy
Source: Arc System Works.
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