didn’t expect this, i played 2 sao game, but they were bad or mid. But why an original story in that universe? They could made an new ip instead
Because doing a game of an already existing franchise is guaranteed money. Starting a new IP is considered “too risky” by most investors.
but this game doesn’t even have sao characters and aincrad is not really a clear defined world. The only thing they take from it is, using swords and a fantasy world.
The partners who will join you in battle include lori, Wyzeman, Argo, and Kirito.
With an already-existing IP, they can do stuff like this. I don’t know how many people (probably just a few), but there will definitely be people who will buy the game because of stuff like this, such as the characters showing up, or fans of the franchise wanting to experience the world, even if it’s not clearly defined (a few references to the original material’s lore should probably suffice), and even if previous SAO games had pretty much the same goals but ended up not being that good. Heck, even having “Sword Art Online” is probably enough to sell a few copies…
If they started their own IP, they had to compete with an industry in which dozens of games are released daily, making it hard to stand out. They’d have to make sure that the game is actually enjoyable and unique enough that people would want to play until the end and recommend to each other. Not just that, they’d also have to develop a very good marketing campaign to make sure the game isn’t just ignored. Using the SAO IP, they just have to compete with previous SAO games. They only have to make sure that the game isn’t bad enough to make fans of the franchise angry. There’ll be people buying it anyways. Once again, it’s way easier to just use SAO. They don’t even need to make a good game that way. That’s why it’s way easier to get an SAO game funded and published compared to an original IP game. Most times, money and safety just speak louder than well-developed videogame concept.
Might be something coming up in Manga maybe. Most of the tie in stuff Anime & Game tends To be marketing for the magazines in some way.
