One of Arc System Works' surprise launches in a critical and commercial sense has been Guilty Gear Strive from last year. It was one of the series' fastest and highest-selling entries, with the developer capitalizing on its hype with plenty of post-launch support and content. Earlier this year, the rest of Guilty Gear Strive's first season pass had rolled out, adding two returning favorites to the game. This season pass concluded with the additions of the busty wandering samurai Baiken, along with the glamorous reaper Testament.
Shortly after Testament was added to the first season pass, Arc System Works confirmed a number of things being in the works. One of these was a story expansion, known as Guilty Gear Strive's Another Story, which focused on characters who weren't a part of the main plot, such as Baiken, May, and Ramlethal Valentine. A second season pass along with crossplay between the console and PC versions of the game was also announced roughly around the same time. Earlier at the premiere fighting game tournament EVO, Arc System Works gave a rough roadmap of what fans can expect for the rest of 2022 as well as 2023.
As confirmed by the upcoming schedule, Guilty Gear Strive's second season pass will start with a new character being added in Summer 2022, though no specific date has been listed. Around the same time, the PS5 and PC versions of the game will be getting some improvements. The PS5 version of the game will be receiving a patch that will reduce the input delay for players, while the Steam version will be getting an update that reduces the connection time for initial server connections.
Moreover, Fall 2022 will feature some big additions to Guilty Gear Strive, with another DLC character being added during this period. Not only that, Arc System Works will be hosting a global crossplay beta test for all versions of the game. This beta is planned to be held during mid-September with more information on how to join these sessions being announced at a later date. The Crossplay update is listed to be released around this same season.
The Winter period will contain a big battle balance patch for the game, though it doesn't list anything specific. As for 2023, since Guilty Gear Strive's second season pass will have only four characters, the last two will be released during this year. An additional stage will also be added per character. Arc System Works notes this schedule is tentative and likely could change in the future.
Guilty Gear Strive is available on PC, PS4, and PS5.
