Today, Bandai Namco released 2 new trailers. ONE PIECE : GRAND CRUISE lets player’s step onto the famous Thousand Sunny ship and meet the legendary Straw Hat Pirates on PlayStation VR (PSVR). Including Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and many more while braving fierce battles and firing cannons to defend the ship! Players will also be able to explore the Thousand Sunny, as well as chat with members of the crew, experiencing life as a Straw Hat Pirate. Grand Cruise also includes both Winter and Summer experiences from the One Piece Tower in Tokyo.
I for one am happy to see more third parties support the PSVR. Sony has consistently had issues with releasing gaming hardware that isn't a console (ie. Eye Toy, PS Move, PS4 Camera) The success of Oculus and HTC Vive has definitely been a contributing factor to PSVR's success. As of right now, ONE PIECE: Grand Cruise will only be on PSVR, but there is no exclusivity that has been announced yet. We may see this title come to PC some time after its PSVR release.
The other trailer Bandai Namco dropped today is for ONE PIECE: WORLD SEEKER. This one is not for PSVR, but will be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. In World Seeker you will play as Luffy as you set off on another ONE PIECE adventure. Not much information about the games have been released, so most of our info is coming from the trailers. The manga and anime series has plenty of adventures to choose from, but as most games do, you'll likely play an adventure that you haven't experienced yet.
As for their specific release dates, that has yet to be determined, but Bandai Namco can confirm 2018. Whether that means early, mid or late, we aren't 100%, but assume it means late 2018. Games take a lot of time to make and over the last couple of years, thanks to Ubisoft, Activision, and others, some games are release when they were not 100% finished yet.
I would love to see more information on Grand Cruise. There's been too many "games" released for VR that are mini games or gimmicks. Sony has been working closely with developers to create a richer VR gaming experience, like MOSS. PSVR will succeed if the games for it are full games. What are your thoughts? You stoked to see a ONE PIECE game that lets you join the crew? Are you more excited for World Seeker to play as Luffy?
