Update 10-05-2025 21:31 GMT: The news recently broke that CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama was in fact joking about another entry in the .Hack series being in active development. The original article follows.
Great news for .hack fans. The cult-classic ARPG series about an MMORPG that controls the internet and sets its players into comas is set to return with a new game currently in development at CyberConnect2.
Earlier today, .hack celebrated its 20th anniversary withan hour-long presentationand plenty of performances by singer LieN. Some time into the show, CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama told aBandai Namcorep that “a new project is currently in development!”
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You can read the full exchange (with translation) courtesy ofNoise Pixel, but there’s not a lot to tell. Neither Matsuyama nor the Bandai Namco representative provided any details on the new game, or even if it’s going to be new. The latest release of the .hack franchise was actually a remaster for .hack//G.U., a series of three games from the PS2 era that was released as .hack//G.U. Last Recode for the PS4 in 2017and Switch in 2022.
The .hack series got its start way back in 2002 as a multimedia franchise spanning anime, video games, manga, novels, and even movies. The first .hack media produced was .hack//Sign, an anime that explained the setting as an alternate history where a global disaster destroyed the internet, resulting in a new version arising in 2005. This new internet was mysteriously tied to the world’s largest and most popular MMORPG, The World. However, players of The World were inexplicably falling into comas after dying in the game.
Gameplay for the .hack series was typical of action RPGs from the era, with most of the game taking place in the virtual realm of The World. Players could log off from the world to return to a desktop interface that allowed them to read news, emails, message boards, or perform other “real-world” actions outside the virtual game world.
If there is an entirely new game on the way, we could either see a continuation of the story after the events of .hack//G.U, or we might see a total reboot that accounts for the actual development of the internet and social media over the past two decades. We’ll be sure to report back with more as Bandai Namco or CyberConnect2 reveals more info.
