Ananta News, Devtalks & Trailers

Timeline

Official milestones

Jun 8, 2026 No-show across the June 2026 summer showcases

Ananta was absent from June's marquee showcases — Sony's State of Play (June 2), Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase and the PC Gaming Show (June 5-8). Coverage flagged it among the notable absentees and pointed to ChinaJoy or Tokyo Game Show as the next likely reveal windows. After the May 20 NetEase 520 no-show, this extends an official news drought: no date, beta or new character reveal since TGS 2025.

May 21, 2026 NetEase Q1 2026 earnings call — 'later in 2026, quality first'

On the NetEase Q1 2026 earnings call, management reiterated that Ananta targets a launch later in 2026 and stressed prioritising content quality over hitting a precise launch window. The team restated the 'urban open-world' differentiation — living a life in a modern virtual city — against a crowded genre. No exact date, beta or platform additions were announced.

May 20, 2026 Absent from the NetEase Games 520 Conference

Despite speculation that a beta or release date would be revealed, Ananta was NOT featured at the NetEase Games 520 Online Conference 2026 — a notable no-show. No new official information dropped.

May 14, 2026 Pre-registration crosses 17 million

Reportedly, on May 14, 2026, Ananta's pre-registration counter passes 17 million (not confirmed by NetEase) — still with no public beta and no tier rewards attached.

Mar 15, 2026 Pre-registration crosses 15 million

NetEase publicly confirms the 15-million pre-registration milestone for Ananta — without attaching specific tier rewards.

Jan 16, 2026 Closed Technical Test #1 (CBT1)

First public-facing closed test. PC only, CN-region accounts, offline-style invite-only. Build size approximately 46 GB, SSD required, DualSense PS5 controller reportedly supported on PC. Playable cast confirmed via social: Captain, Taffy, Richie. Five main-chapter slots tested. Testable systems: Nova City exploration, real-time combat, 3C traversal, special missions, character ability layouts, character customisation, vehicle upgrades, street challenges.

Sep 28, 2025 Japan Game Awards 2025 — Future Division WINNER

Ananta named a laureate of the Japan Game Awards 2025 Future Division (the JGA category for unreleased TGS titles, judged by on-site public vote + professional jury). Officially announced by @NetEaseGames_EN. Ananta was the sole Chinese-developed title on the 2025 winner slate.

Sep 25, 2025 Tokyo Game Show 2025 hands-on at Makuhari Messe

Public playable demo at Makuhari Messe, Chiba: roughly 30 minutes split between a Story Mode (car chase scenario in Nova City, 15 min) and an Exploration Mode (15 min). Participants received a commemorative 3D card. Producer Ash Qi conducts a round of interviews — including the official confirmation of the no-character-gacha decision and Unity as the engine.

Sep 24, 2025 Extended TGS 2025 gameplay video

Roughly ten-minute follow-up gameplay video publishes on anantagame.com, showing the Captain's arrival in Nova City and a Maniac Chaos traffic-jam outbreak.

Sep 23, 2025 DLSS 4 + ray-traced reflections confirmed

Ananta is confirmed to support DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation and ray-traced reflections on PC.

Sep 22, 2025 Tokyo Game Show 2025 press release + 7-minute gameplay trailer

NetEase publishes the September 22, 2025 TGS press release with a deep gameplay write-up plus a seven-minute gameplay trailer. Demonstrates the 3C System, role-switching, day-jobs (cop / hacker / delivery / streamer), environmental combat, vehicles and mini-games.

Jan 3, 2025 First offline technical test (Hangzhou)

Reported very-restricted offline technical test held at NetEase's Hangzhou facilities. Not publicly opened. Pre-dates the formal CBT1 by a full year and was the first build to leave Naked Rain's internal QA.

Dec 25, 2024 Merry ANANTA holiday event

Official holiday activity announced on anantagame.com. First sustained community engagement post-rename.

Dec 5, 2024 Ananta announce trailer + pre-registration opens

Three-minute reveal trailer publishes worldwide. anantagame.com goes live with multi-platform pre-registration: PC (NetEase launcher), PlayStation 5, iOS, Android, PlayStation Cloud.

Nov 29, 2024 Project Mugen renamed to Ananta

NetEase officially announces the rename of Project Mugen to Ananta and confirms a new trailer for December 4, 2024.

Aug 24, 2023 Reveal at Gamescom 2023 as Project Mugen

NetEase Games and the newly-formed Naked Rain announce the project under its codename, Project Mugen, with a first promotional trailer. Hangzhou + Montréal team revealed.

Aug 16, 2023 Naked Rain introduced publicly

NetEase Games_EN introduces Naked Rain on X as 'a brand new game studio from Thunder Fire' — first public mention of the team that would build Ananta.

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Trailers & official videos

Unconfirmed

Leaks & rumours

Warning

UnverifiedThe items below are unverified leaks and early reports circulating online, never confirmed by NetEase. Treat as unconfirmed until officially announced.

Persona-style relationship / dating system
An unverified leak described a relationship/affinity system: multiple romanceable characters, dialogue choices, affection tiers, dedicated romance events, and an anti-farming cooldown. No NetEase confirmation, and the character pairings circulating online are unverified.
Instanced multiplayer modes (Private Room + Team Match)
Leaked build details point to instanced online modes — a 'Private Room' (invite-only) and a 'Team Match' (auto-matchmaking), with matchmaking by device performance and player level. No player-count cap, no official confirmation.
Open-world scale (~6x the NTE map)
A circulating leak estimate put the open world at roughly six times the size of Neverness to Everness's map (about 24 minutes end-to-end by car). An estimate, not an official figure.