This is certainly a rather surprising announcement. Gematsu has just posted an article revealing that SEGA’s 2D fighter Blade Arcus from Shining EX, a crossover game featuring characters from Shining Blade and Shining Hearts, will be released on Steam as Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena. The game is scheduled to be released on July 29, and its Steam page can be found here. Apparently Degica Games is responsible for bringing the game to PC, although they’re not listed as the publisher on the Steam page. At the time of writing, there’s also a live stream going on for the game at AnimEVO 2016. Below you can find the info posted on the Steam page, as well as the launch trailer posted on the Steam page! Interestingly, this PC version of the game will in fact support online play, something that was surprisingly absent from the console version of the game in Japan.
While the game was released on PS3 and PS4 last year in Japan, there’s no announcement regarding those versions heading to the West. In recent times, none of the main Shining RPG games have been localized for the West, making it all the more surprising to see this game released. But judging from the lack of announcement from SEGA, it doesn’t seem that they’re really involved with this PC version of the game, as it appears to be handled by Studio Saizensen and Degica Games.
Degica Games is currently running a giveway where you can win various prizes, which include preorder bonus items, such as a swimsuit calendar, the Doujinshi “Shining Heroines Works” and a soundtrack OST, that were included with the limited “Tony’s Premium Fan Box” Japanese PS4/PS3 release.
Thanks goes to Gematsu for their article on this announcement.