The Wizardry series is in its 45th anniversary year, with Drecom releasing anniversary assets and an anime adaptation of the Wizardry-based light novel Blade & Bastard scheduled for 2027, while a Steam key revocation incident for Wizardry Gaiden: Five Trials has caused controversy.
Drecom, the current rights holder for Wizardry titles 6 through 8 and Wizardry Variants Daphne, opened a 45th anniversary special site on June 1, 2026, with a countdown to June 4. On June 11, Drecom released a main visual by illustrator Jun Suemi featuring characters from Wizardry Variants Daphne and the novel Blade & Bastard, alongside a fan survey running until August 31. The anniversary comes as the series, which debuted in 1981, reaches its 45th year in September 2026, with rights split between Atari (first five games) and Drecom (later titles).
On June 27, Game*Spark Publishing revoked Steam keys for Wizardry Gaiden: Five Trials purchased on the external store DIRECT GAMES after the game was sold at an unintended price of 90 yen for a bundle normally priced at 7,146 yen. The publisher called the revocation a painful decision and directed customer inquiries to DIRECT GAMES.
On June 30, Warner Bros. Japan released the first teaser PV for the anime Blade & Bastard, set in the Wizardry world. The dark fantasy series adapts Kumo Kagyu's light novel with character drafts by so-bin. The teaser shows first footage and reveals main staff including director Tomoki Kobayashi and animation production by Shimpu. The anime is scheduled for 2027.
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Drecom announced that Wizardry Variants Daphne has surpassed 4 million total downloads worldwide. To mark the milestone, a campaign running from August 20 to September 9, 2026, gives all logging-in players 2,000 Orgu Gemstones plus Rare Remains. The update also adds the alternate style adventurer Heroine of the Evening Calm Elize, voiced by Yu Kobayashi, and the new quest Fordraig Labyrinth Exploration.
The Final Fantasy XI collaboration event 'Castle of Deep Dark Illusions' is now live in the dungeon RPG Wizardry Variants Daphne. The event brings Castle Zvahl into the Daphne world, with the Dark King's hatred eroding a lord's family. Zeid, Prishe, and Iroha join as playable characters, and the event reproduces FFXI elements including Relics, Notorious Monsters, and even the game's notorious 'life sentences'.
Wizardry Variants Daphne will start a collaboration with Final Fantasy XI on July 30, its first with another company's IP. Drecom's Keisuke Kanayama and Square Enix's Yoji Fujito discussed the collaboration's origins in an interview, with a full article planned soon.
Drecom has begun running transportation advertisements for the collaboration between Wizardry Variants Daphne and Final Fantasy XI, with displays appearing on the JR Yamanote Line, at 38 stations in the Greater Tokyo area, and inside taxis. The ads, which feature the collaboration's key visual, started appearing on August 1 and August 3, 2026. Static images are shown at stations and on trains, while video ads run on rear-seat monitors inside Tokyo taxis. Display periods vary by medium: station platform bench ads run through August 15, Yamanote Line hanging ads through August 16, and Akihabara Station's large digital signage and taxi in-car ads through August 9. The collaboration itself is a limited-time event, with the interview between the two directors revealing that quests, characters, voices, weapons, battle systems, and dedicated jobs were all built as one-off content. Square Enix's FFXI producer and director, Yoji Fujito, said the volume of content surprised even the supervising team, and Drecom's Daphne director, Keisuke Kanayama, noted the initial plan was cut to about half its original size.
Drecom opened the collaboration event between its 3D dungeon RPG Wizardry Variants Daphne and Square Enix's MMORPG Final Fantasy XI on July 30, 2026. The event, titled "Castle of the Deep Dark Fantasy," runs until September 10 at 12:59. It adds a collaboration-exclusive dungeon and story where a suspicious castle appears in Northern Hollow, the lord's sons go missing, and players must track the ghost castle to bring them back. Three Final Fantasy XI characters join as new adventurers: Prishe, the Cursed Child of Tavnazia, voiced by Aya Hirano; Iroha, the Singer of the Star's Song, voiced by Inori Minase; and Zeid, the Black Iron Whirlwind, voiced by Shin-ichiro Kamio. Players can obtain one of six recruitment items during the event, choosing among these three collaboration adventurers or three legendary adventurers: Red Beard, the Rebel Against God; Arboris, King of the Sea of Trees; and Avenius, the Flash. The collaboration also introduces Relic Weapons, special equipment obtainable with Gil and upgradeable through reforging, plus a Trade Broker in Northern Hollow Village for trading reforge materials. Special supplies and limited-time missions offer additional scrolls and Gil. A dedicated website includes a Collaboration Rank Test quiz and a promotional video.
Drecom announced on July 24, 2026, that the 3D dungeon RPG "Wizardry Variants Daphne" (iOS, Android, PC) will begin a collaboration event with Square Enix's MMORPG "Final Fantasy XI" on July 30. The collaboration includes an item distribution within Final Fantasy XI: the equipment item "Mask of the Abyss," based on the player character "Masked Adventurer" from Wizardry Variants Daphne, will be given away during a distribution period scheduled for August. Further details of the event are to be announced in subsequent reports. To mark the collaboration, 4Gamer.net published a special conversation between Wizardry creator Robert Woodhead and former Square Enix developer Hiromichi Tanaka, who worked on the first three Final Fantasy titles. In the discussion, Tanaka noted that the ninja job in the original Final Fantasy was directly influenced by Wizardry, and that the medieval fantasy world brought to computers by Wizardry became a driving force for his work. Woodhead and Tanaka also reflected on the early days of computer game development, including packaging innovations and the experimental nature of titles like Wizardry IV.
The 20th anniversary sale for Wizardry Gaiden: Five Trials on Steam and Switch is ending soon, but the game is also getting a major scenario editor update. The update introduces continuous event functions, more monster images from DLC, and new scenario settings. Free portrait DLCs, including collaborations with Denki no Kissaten and Kitsune no Kaerimichi, are available. The Switch version has received two performance updates and is confirmed to run better on Switch 2.
Drecom announced on July 3, 2026, that a collaboration event between the 3D dungeon RPG Wizardry Variants Daphne and Square Enix's MMORPG Final Fantasy XI will take place in the summer of 2026. Specific content and timing details are to be announced later. Final Fantasy XI began service in Japan in May 2002 and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2027. The game has released five expansion packs, including Chains of Promathia and Seekers of Adoulin, and its latest scenario, The Embryo of the Eclipsed World, has been distributed since 2020. Wizardry Variants Daphne is the latest entry in the Wizardry series, which marks its 45th anniversary in 2026. The collaboration will bring together the world of Vana'diel from Final Fantasy XI with the harsh dungeon exploration of Wizardry Variants Daphne. The announcement comes as Final Fantasy XI approaches its 24th anniversary in 2026.
Warner Bros. Japan released the first teaser PV for the anime Blade & Bastard, set in the Wizardry world. The dark fantasy series adapts Kumo Kagyu's light novel with character drafts by so-bin. The teaser shows first footage and reveals main staff including director Tomoki Kobayashi and animation production by Shimpu. The anime is scheduled for 2027.
Game*Spark Publishing is revoking Steam keys for Wizardry Gaiden: Five Trials purchased on the external store DIRECT GAMES after the game was sold at an unintended price, reportedly 90 yen for a bundle normally priced at 7,146 yen. The publisher called the revocation a painful decision and directed customer inquiries to DIRECT GAMES.
Drecom released a main visual by illustrator Jun Suemi for the 45th anniversary of the RPG Wizardry on June 11, 2026. The artwork features characters from Wizardry Variants Daphne and the novel Blade & Bastard. A special survey collecting fan memories and messages runs until August 31.
The official Wizardry series X account, operated by Drecom, announced the opening of a 45th anniversary special site on June 1, 2026. The site shows a countdown ending around 18:00 JST on June 4, when an announcement is expected. The series debuted in 1981 and reaches its 45th anniversary in September 2026. It is unclear whether the announcement involves the first five games, whose rights were acquired by Atari in May 2026, or the later titles held by Drecom.