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This week in Gacha (July 6 to 12, 2026)

This week in gacha brought us the continuing adventures of Valko’s LADS cancellation, a janky Xbox port, Perlica needing your credit card in Fortnite, and Roz from Monsters Inc—thirst trap edition. All this and more below, plus the usual dates to look out for next week at the end of the article.

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This week in Gacha (July 6 – 12)

The continuing Love and Deepspace drama now involves China’s Ministry of Public Security

All quotes have been translated from Chinese to English via MTL and might not be 100% accurate.

The Love and Deepspace dramaverse continues to expand, but there’s far too much going on for me to cover everything in detail during this gacha roundup, so here’s a brief summary of what we do know:

• Love and Deepspace continues its almost radio silence on social media, except to announce that it’s pulled out of Bilibili World 2026 after apologising again, and offering this odd statement: “We sincerely accept all criticism and corrections regarding the problems exposed and will not shirk our responsibilities. We will conduct comprehensive personnel training and self-examination and rectification, using reverence for history, protection of national sentiment, and inheritance of Chinese culture as our benchmark.”
• But perhaps not that odd of a statement if you take into consideration the official WeChat account of China’s Ministry of Public Security’s News and Media posting about LADS “Glorifying intrusion” and “packaging the illegal act of trespassing as a romantic encounter” just hours after LADS released their newest apology.
• The initial backlash about Valko’s appearance from some angry players has now escalated into far more serious criticism from this official ministry media account, which comes from the way Valko was promoted in trailers by saying things like “What’s wrong with letting a wolf into the house?”
• The LADS Weibo account already apologized for this, but that was back before Valko was cancelled. And even that extreme decision doesn’t seem to have calmed matters, as the WeChat post also has this to say: “Taking it offline is not the end; deeper reflection is needed. This incident serves as another warning to the industry: any content production that deliberately blurs the lines of illegality, glorifies dangerous behavior, or undermines public safety will ultimately be subject to legal sanctions and public resistance.”

Global reaction

Guys, I'm crying.

The other day I donated to a wolf's association alongside other players, and look what the association just sent me😭 I'm all tears.

Look at what we've done😭😭 I didn't even expect a reply.#BringValkoBack#BringBackValko#Valko#ValkoReturn@Love_Deepspace pic.twitter.com/nGdMGjdWRC

— ⋆. 𐙚˚࿔ bom 𝜗𝜚˚⋆ BRING VALKO BACK (@allemood) July 7, 2026

Whatever happens, you can never call a Love and Deepspace player idle, as Valko fans have been busy raising funds for wolf protection charities, creating billboards in China, trying to bring a wolf plush back, and even funding a Times Square billboard in New York. The Times Square billboard was rejected due to not having developer Papergames’ approval, but a workaround succeeded thanks to the efforts of the fan campaign organisers and one very Valko-plastered truck. Oh yeah, and Cult of the Lamb adopted Valko. It’s been quite the week.

Regardless of the incredible efforts by Valko fans, with an official Ministry of Public Security media account now publicly criticising the way he was portrayed, I think it’s very unlikely that Papergames can ever bring Valko back now. At least not in the form he was originally marketed as.

Digimon Up launches July 15 on Mobile

Digimon Up is Bandai Namco’s newest Digimon gacha on Mobile, and it’s launching very soon on July 15. Key art was revealed a few days before the release date announcement, and it features lots of iconic Digimon such as Agumon, Gabumon, and Monzaemon. The pixel art Mobile game is a monster-raising RPG with a focus on both training and battling with your Partner and Support Digimon.

Read our full story on Digimon Up launching July 15.

MiHoYo employee actually talks about their unreleased games

Speaking during a “sharing session” for the School of Animation and Digital Arts at the China Communication University (中国传媒大学), an unnamed miHoYo employee has confirmed that the Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail developer has multiple unannounced titles in development, including MOBA, shooter, sandbox adventure, fantasy, and multiplayer co-op projects. This isn’t the first we’ve heard about these projects, as rumours and job postings have been floating around for years about the shooters in particular, and the fantasy project already has an official website with a scene preview for recruitment purposes. However, this is the first time we’ve heard miHoYo talk about them all so openly.

Read our full story on a miHoYo employee mentioning unreleased games.

Disney Sparklink Stars turns Roz from Monsters Inc into otome-bait

Following last week’s Mickey and Friends character reveals, joseimuke gacha Disney Sparklink Stars continued to wave its magic wand and turn Disney characters into anime boys this week—with Mike, Sully and Roz from Monsters Inc the latest inspirations. I continue to be both amazed and horrified by Sparklink Stars’ decisions. It’ll be interesting to see how the Beauty and the Beast characters shape up next week. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a Mrs Potts and crazy old Maurice reveal.

なにがおきたの❓❓❓❓❓❓ねぇなにがおきたの⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️なに⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️なに⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️こわい‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️なにがおきたの⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ねぇだれか‼️‼️たすけて‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️なにがおきたの⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️たすけて‼️‼️‼️だれか‼️‼️‼️‼️だれか‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/z6KM0QmF2C

— やきぽむ (@Yakipom0407) July 10, 2026

Tears of Themis has a killer collaboration at the best possible time

Tears of Themis is getting a crossover with four Agatha Christie novels as part of its sixth anniversary celebrations in China. As revealed in a recent livestream, the classics “And There Were None,” “Murder on the Orient Express, “A Murder Is Announced,” and “The Hound of Death” are being used as inspiration for new stories featuring Luke, Marius, Vyn, and Artem, respectively. How many Love and Deepspace players do you think are going to jump ship for this?

I’ve had exactly zero interest in checking out Tears of Themis over the years, but if there was one way to pique my interest, it’d be a unique collab such as this. Guess I’ll check it out in a year when the update reaches Global servers 🥲

Arknights: Endfield character is coming to Fortnite

Gotta say, I did not see this one coming. As revealed in Arknight: Endfield’s 1.4 livestream, Perlica will be added to Fortnite on August 14. Which seems to be a collab designed to raise its Global playerbase, because Fortnite hasn’t been playable in China since 2021.

The livestream also revealed that 1.4 is launching on July 16, and introduces a new region, story, and Arcane and Liino as playable characters, amongst other updates. Endfield is following in Arknights’ footsteps and treating 1.4 as a half anniversary patch, so expect a bunch of login rewards during the update.

Arknights is finally getting a PC client

Speaking of Arknights, it’s finally getting a legit PC client on August 13 for both Global and Japanese players. The PC version in China has been available since February 2026, so we haven’t had to wait too long, really. It’s nice to know that a native PC port is on the way soon, so you can prepare to chuck those emulated versions away come August.

Wuthering Waves out now on Xbox Series X/S, but…

As a returning Wuthering Waves player with no space left for so much as a large jpeg on my laptop, I played its excellent Cyberpunk: Edgerunners collab on the game’s not-so-excellent PS5 version. I was hoping the Xbox Series X/S port would be more stable, but it sounds like it’s suffering from the same pop-in, lag, frame rate, and crashing issues as its console counterpart on PS5. But the main offender is those low spec Mobile-quality graphics on show—yikes. And here I thought those Crit Echo probability rates making the rounds on social media were going to be the worst thing that happened to WuWa this week.

It is nice to see big gachas slowly making their way over to Xbox, but a bad port isn’t really going to win anybody over. Please, Kuro, at least let me cry over not pulling Lucy with more than two pixels on show.

Genshin Impact ups recommended Mobile specs in preparation for Snezhnaya

Genshin Impact‘s big 7.0 update is just over a month away, and that’s also how long you have to get yourself a new Android phone to enjoy the “enhanced visual presentation” of the new slavic-inspired Snezhnaya region if you’re a Mobile player who doesn’t meet the game’s new supported specifications.

PC, iOS, PlayStation, and Xbox specs remain the same, whereas “a small number of Android devices” may experience stability issues thanks to the visual upgrades to new characters, environment textures and effects, and more. “If your device specifications are too low, the game may fail to install, fail to start, display black screens, experience freezing, or demonstrate other technical issues.”

Read our full story on Genshin Impact raising recommended Mobile specs.

Cygames confirms Lost Order is still happening

(Thanks to HDKirin and Gematsu for the write-up)

Speaking in the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu, Cygames company president Koichi Watanabe said that Lost Order is “deep in development,” and is now “entering the final stretch”. Watanabe showed off new footage of Lost Order, which reportedly impressed Famitsu with its “astonishing quality,” as “it’s a bit unbelievable that this is possible as a smartphone app.”

Lost Order was announced in 2016 as a real-time tactics game being developed by Cygames and PlatinumGames. It then got a closed beta in 2017, but went dark after that. Watanabe says that the game has “rebuilt everything from scratch” since then, including the character models. 

Even though it’s been a molten hot minute since we heard anything about Lost Order, Watanabe assures us that unless Cygames itself says development has stopped on a project, it remains in development. Which, sure, but it’s been nine years since the beta—this interview is basically Lost Order getting announced all over again.

Azur Promilia recruiting for its third beta in China, still no word on Global release

Pokemon-meets-waifu-collector, Azur Promilia, is taking sign-ups for its third closed beta until August 20, but only in China. We know that it’s releasing in 2026 thanks to an investor presentation from publisher Krafton, but there’s still no mention of a Global release, even though there’s now an official Global website. That said, even an announcement might not tell us much more, as fellow gacha Sea of Remnants’ Global release is still just slated for 2026, even though it’s now out in China.

Fanmade Brave Frontier Re:Coded will continue despite Brave Frontier Origins announcement

Ever since its EoS in 2022, various Brave Frontier sequels and spin-offs have tried to take its place, but none have ever reached the early popularity of the original. Brave Frontier Origins may or may not buck this trend, but the fanmade Brave Frontier Re:Coded project isn’t betting on it. Its official X account has assured us that it will not stop the plans it already has in place for Re:Coded because of Origins.

“We have come so far and are nearing our goal towards delivering you all something great,” the post reads. Later adding that “While Brave Frontier Origins has the opportunity to shut down, Re:Coded truly will never die.”

Brave Frontier Re:Coded is an upcoming fan recreation of Brave Frontier with “0 monetization, better game balance, and a restructured foundation to last generations”. You can read more about it on the project’s website.

Shironeko Project Infinity announced for Switch

Japanese developer and publisher Colopl has revealed that its Mobile gacha Shironeko Project is making the move to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 via new game Shironeko Project Infinity in 2027. That date only applies to Japan, so who knows when (or even if) Global will get it. Shironeko Project Infinity includes over 50 playable characters from the Mobile version, but also features a new character exclusive to the Switch and Switch 2 versions.

The EoS zone

Here’s what we have in the EoS zone this week:

• Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis will end service on October 6, 2026. It only launched for Mobile in September 2023, then for PC via Steam on December, 2023. Before ending, Ever Crisis will complete its FF7 story, and release the Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7 narrative in three parts from July through August.
• Mario Kart Tour will end service on September 29, 2026. Nintendo confirmed that there are no plans for an offline mode. Mario Kart Tour originally launched with a gacha system on September 25, 2019, but it proved a little too divisive for its players over the years, so Nintendo removed it in favor of a regular item shop in October 2022.
• Dr. Stone Battle Craft will end service on September 1, 2026 for Global and Japan. It’s yet another victim of an anime getting a short-lived gacha spinoff, having only launched in September 2021 in Japan, with a Global version releasing in November, 2023. It lasted longer than most anime gachas, I’ll give it that.
• Although not technically an EoS announcement, Aether Gazer will no longer get updates after July 23, 2026, and will transition to a new “With You” version come September 17, with adjustments to game events, banner rotations, and resource output. AKA a ‘maintenance mode’ that’ll allow you to continue playing. A little confusingly, there is one more update planned for 2026 past July 23. It will finish the current chapter, but won’t have the same amount of polish as previous story updates.
• Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds has confirmed its relaunch date as July 23, 2026. The current version is ending September 17. You can read more about the original version’s EoS here.

New characters this week

• July 8 – Norma, Zenless Zone Zero
• July 8 – Shinku, Neverness to Everness
• July 9 – Marciana: Marine Study, Goddess of Victory: Nikke
• July 10 – Yangyang: Xuanling, Wuthering Waves
• July 10 – Murphy and Norma, Path to Nowhere

Did you get any of them?

I would have tried pulling Yangyang’s new Xuanling form in Wuthering Waves, but I threw everything I had into Lucy’s banner last patch, and still didn’t get her. So I’ve been too busy crying over that instead.

Next week in Gacha (July 13 – 19)

All of these dates are for the Global version of each game, unless stated otherwise.

• July 13 – Octopath series 8th Anniversary Livestream (Octopath Traveler: CotC news)
• July 15 – Himeko Nova debuts in Honkai: Star Rail
• July 15 – Fate/Grand Order summer event starts
• July 15 – Digimon Up! launches
• July 15 – Tears of Themis x Agatha Christie collab (China)
• July 15 – Persona 5: The Phantom X livestream
• July 16 – Ragnarok: The New World launches
• July 16 – Arcane debuts in Arknights: Endfield
• July 16 – Beachflower Minami debuts in Persona 5: The Phantom X
• July 16 – Infinity Nikki 2.8 update
• July 16 – Chasing Kaleidorider beta begins
• July 16 – Ch’en the Dawnstreak, Ju, Taraxacum, and Wang debut in Arknights
• July 16 – MapleStory Classic World second beta sign-ups start
• July 17 – Azur Lane x Nier Automata collab
• July 17 – Zenless Zone Zero 3.1 livestream

See you next week!