From Project Mugen to ANANTA: the full history of NetEase’s urban RPG

ANANTA took about three and a half years to go from reveal to launch. NetEase Games and Naked Rain showed it as Project Mugen at Gamescom 2023, renamed it in November 2024 and set the release for January 15, 2027 at Gamescom 2026. Every dated event is also on our timeline.

2023: Project Mugen

On August 24, 2023, NetEase revealed Project Mugen at Gamescom with the trailer “Tomorrow and Surprises Come Together”. Swinging between skyscrapers and the Chaos anomalies were there from the start. The hero was then an Esper investigator fighting anomalies, as Multiplayer.it described it (outdated in the registry).

In October 2023 producer Ash Qi explained to GamesRadar how it would play: traversal without stamina, battles with a team of four characters and a shared special ability, and a first city called Nova Inception Urbs with more than 10 areas (fact in the registry). He also said more cities would follow, some inspired by Europe and America.

Platform plans changed fast. Some coverage after the reveal listed PS4, and on September 22, 2023 Multiplayer.it reported the team’s clarification that no PS4 version was in development (debunked in the registry).

2024: a new name

On November 29, 2024, a short teaser revealed the new name, ANANTA. In Chinese the game is 无限大, “infinity” (fact in the registry). The full announce trailer followed on December 5, set in a Nova City overrun by Chaos, and NetEase’s press release made the player an agent of the A.C.D. Pre-registration opened on the official site at the same time.

On December 25, 2024, TechNode reported that China’s National Press and Publication Administration had approved ANANTA in its December batch of 135 games. NetEase counted more than 8.43 million pre-registrations at the time (fact in the registry).

2025: the first test and the first demo

An offline technical test for Chinese players started in Hangzhou on January 3, 2025, according to Breakflip (fact in the registry). It is the only official test reported before launch.

NetEase’s September 22, 2025 press release previewed its Tokyo Game Show plans, and on September 23 it released a seven-minute gameplay trailer with city life, environmental combat, swinging, the subway and helicopters. The same day Famitsu reported that ANANTA has no character gacha (fact in the registry), and NVIDIA announced DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation and ray tracing. An update of the official site that day also removed the profiles of Alan, Bansy, Mechanika and Dila (outdated in the registry).

On September 25 the official channel published a ten-minute gameplay video in which the new captain arrives in Nova City, and Tokyo Game Show visitors played the first public demo at the NVIDIA booth (fact in the registry). Producer Ash used the show’s interviews to explain the no-gacha model and co-op with friends.

2026: a date and a second map

A fan wiki reports a closed PC test in China from January 16 to 20, 2026, which NetEase hasn’t confirmed (rumor in the registry).

On August 25, 2026, at Gamescom Opening Night Live, NetEase set the worldwide launch for January 15, 2027 and showed the Launch Date Trailer, which revealed the second map, Chongxiao (fact in the registry). Store pages opened the same day, and pre-registrations passed 17 million. Two days later NetEase announced that the PC version moves to DLSS 4.5 (fact in the registry).

On September 7, 2026 Ash Qi told TechRadar that Chongxiao is noticeably larger than Nova City and that Lingyun is a city within it, based on Shanghai and Hangzhou (fact in the registry). By October 27 the official counter showed more than 25.8 million pre-registrations (fact in the registry).

What changed from Project Mugen to ANANTA

• The name: Project Mugen became ANANTA; in Chinese the game is 无限大, “infinity”.
• The hero: an Esper investigator became the captain of the ACD, a task force against Chaos.
• The first city: Nova Inception Urbs became Nova City; the Chinese name 新启 stayed.
• The second city: 2025 coverage called it Lingyun; since 2026 the map is Chongxiao, with Lingyun inside it.
• The cast: four early characters left the site, and the official roster now shows six playable characters.
• The platforms: PS4 was dropped in 2023; the list is PC, PS5, iOS and Android.

The launch on January 15, 2027 is the next entry on the timeline. The tests along the way are covered in every ANANTA test so far, and the characters in all ANANTA characters.