The release of Digimon Story: Time Stranger – the series’ first new standalone entry in 10 years – is right around the corner, and pre-orders seem to be strong, particularly in Japan. On September 30, publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment announced that “due to popular demand, physical copies might be scarce during the first week of launch.”
The publisher advised fans to make timely orders if they’re interested in buying the physical edition, as it could get tricky to get your hands on a copy at retailers once the game launches. In response, some commenters have already reported that their local stores have run out of stock, while others have been informed that their orders won’t make it by launch day. It seems the new Digimon RPG’s popularity has significantly exceeded Bandai Namco’s expectations.
Developed by Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth studio Media.Vision, Time Stranger is the seventh mainline entry in the Digimon Story subseries. It took a whopping 7-8 years to make, and will boast the series largest roster of Digimon (over 450), with a story centering on the Olympos XII. The new RPG is designed to be approachable for both hardcore Digimon fans and newcomers, but the flood of pre-orders is no doubt coming from series veterans who’ve grown reasonably starved for a new entry.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger launches On October 2 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Steam edition will release on October 3.
Good for the developers of Digimon Time Stranger, I’m glad their hard work is paying off. I pre-ordered 2 months ago on PS5.