BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a game in the BlazBlue series planned for release sometime in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. It will be published by Arc System Works in Japan and by Arc System Works America in North America. The game combines four franchises: Arc System Works' BlazBlue, Atlus' Persona 4 Arena, French Bread's  Under Night In-Birth, and Rooster Teeth's  RWBY.

It was revealed at the main stage of the 2017 Evolution Championship Series (Evo 2017).

Story
On the stage of stories, mixing the four worlds together into a special alternate "Phantom Field."

''The fighters have been abruptly summoned to that world, with an unknown "voice:" "If you wish to return to your world, protect the [Keystone]." —In the end, is that voice telling the truth?''

''The entrusted keys number four. Enemies, or friends?''

The fighters take a risk in order to return to their own world, and throw themselves into the battle to steal each other's "Keystone"—.

Modes
Episode Mode - Enjoy an original story. "'Episode Mode is an offline one-person mode. The story is split among the four franchises, with each episode focusing on the characters from one franchise, and expanding into an original scenario. For the fighters who have been called from all sorts of worlds, just whose voice is that!? That conclusion, for fans, absolutely can't be missed! Each episode can be saved and loaded at any time. Rest assured if you wish to see other scenarios while in the middle of one story.'"

RWBY
* Downloadable Content (DLC)

BlazBlue

 * Adventus
 * Blockaded District
 * Cathedral -Silent-
 * Hanging Gardens
 * Kagutsuchi Port
 * Lakeside Port
 * Magisters City -ISHANA-
 * Rail Station
 * Last Train -Rail Station-
 * Monorail
 * Snow Town
 * Cross Field

Persona 4 Arena

 * Entrance
 * Junes Food Court
 * School Gate (Yasogami High Entrance)
 * Ring

Under Night In-Birth

 * Metropolitan Centre: Intersection
 * Sleeping Fountain Plaza
 * Riverside Space (Riverside Plaza)
 * Town Center - Crossing
 * Central Station

RWBY

 * Abandoned Temple

BlazBlue

 * Rebellion - Ragna the Bloodedge's theme
 * Lust SIN - Jin Kisaragi's theme
 * Bullet Dance - Noel Vermillion's theme
 * Queen of Rose - Rachel Alucard's theme
 * Gluttony Fang - Hazama's theme
 * The Tyrant - Azrael's theme
 * MOTOR HEAD - Tager's theme
 * Alexandrite - Makoto Nanaya's theme
 * Awakening The Chaos - Nu-13's theme
 * Conciliation - Es' theme
 * Active Angel - Platinum the Trinity's theme
 * Under Heaven Destruction - Ragna the Bloodedge and Jin Kisaragi's team theme
 * Nightmare Fiction - Ragna the Bloodedge and Hazama's team theme

Persona 4 Arena

 * Reach Out To The Truth (P4 Arena ver.) - Yu Narukami's theme
 * The Hero from Junes - Yosuke Hanamura's theme
 * Like A Dragon - Chie Satonaka's theme
 * Princess Amagi - Yukiko Amagi's theme

Under Night In-Birth

 * Scraper Sky High - Hyde's theme
 * Night Walker - Linne's theme
 * Maximize Power! - Waldstein's theme
 * Rushing Heart - Gordeau's theme
 * Purity & Strictly - Orie's theme

RWBY

 * This Will Be The Day + Red Like Roses Part II - Ruby Rose's theme
 * Mirror Mirror + It's My Turn - Weiss Schnee's theme
 * From Shadows - Blake Belladonna's theme

DLC

 * The Limited Edition is 10,584￥ and contains the base game for the selected platform, the Cross Tag Character Collection, an artbook, and an acrylic stand (アクリルスタンディー Akuriru Sutandī) in the PlayStation 4 version or a gadget pouch (マルチ収納ポーチ Maruchi Shūnō Pōchi) in the Nintendo Switch version.
 * The Deluxe Digital Edition of the game contains the base game and the Cross Tag Character Collection for $69.99.

Characters
   * Free for the first two weeks after release

Development
It was announced early on that BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle would not take place in the main BlazBlue storyline, but was said to be a possibility. The main story would focus on the crossover of the four series, and Guilty Gear characters would not be present. Futhermore, there would be no arcade version, and it would be a straight release to consoles. Mechanically, it would be different from BlazBlue.

At the time of the game's announcement, the "expected" or obvious characters had already been decided for the roster. The game was announced relatively early in its development cycle due to the developers wanting to hear the players' requests for characters. Overall, characters were chosen with the game balance and game system in mind first and foremost, so that a wide variety of players would be able to play and enjoy the game. The characters from other (non-BlazBlue) franchises were chosen by sending a list of characters over to their companies. The list would be whittled down there, and sometimes they would make a request for a specific character to be included.

A playable build was first exhibited in October 2017 at four events worldwide: New York Comic Con (NYCC) in New York (Oct 5-8), South East Asia Major @ GameStart 2017 in Singapore (Oct 14-15), RTX London in London (Oct 14-15), and Arc Revolution Cup 2017 (Arc Revo) at Toushinsai in Tokyo (Oct 21). Arc Revo's playable demo featured an updated build referred to as the "Toushinsai build" in the gameplay manual, which included the third introduction trailer's characters as playable except for Weiss. Following these events, Arc System Works put out a survey on BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle's official website in both English and Japanese requesting feedback from participants of any of the four events. It was available until Nov 8, 2017 at 8 am PST.

Cross Tag Battle's first gameplay video was released during New York Comic Con, on Oct 6. Character trailers and additional gameplay videos are shown during the monthly Japanese-language ' (あーくなま定期便 Ākunama Teikiben), aka ' (あーくなま Ākunama), hosted by Arc System Works. ArcNama is streamed on the third Friday of every month at 8 pm JST simultaneously on Twitch and NicoNico, and its first episode was streamed August 2017. Arc System Works also published an article with updated screenshots of gameplay for the newly-announced characters Weiss and Hazama during RTX London. An additional character trailer (Character Introduction Trailer #2) was revealed at RTX London 2017.

A "Special Promotional Trailer" was broadcast during Arc System Work's Fighting Game Awards (ASW FGA) at the end of the BlazBlue portion of the tournament, prominently featuring and introducing all twenty characters that had revealed up until then, as well as revealing the Japanese release date, Blake, and the final character count of forty characters, twenty of which (including Blake) would be downloadable content (DLC). This was followed up with further details about the release, including the North America release date, prices for physical and downloadable versions, and details about the limited edition.

Furthermore, it was announced that Arc System Works would appear at the 2018 Japanese Evolution Championship Series (Evo Japan) with a new demo featuring twenty playable characters (the twenty non-DLC characters). It was announced at a later date that Arc System Works would also be appearing at Taipei Game Show 2018 (TaGS, TGS) along with a playable demo of Cross Tag Battle. This second playable build of Cross Tag Battle was presented simultaneously at Evo Japan (Jan 26-28, 2018) and Taipei Game Show (Jan 26-29, 2018).

On Feb 6, 2018 it was announced that Cross Tag Battle would be the fourth game present at the Evolution Championship Series 2018 (Evo 2018). Along with a broadcast of a fully English-subtitled version of the ASW FGA trailer, it was revealed that Blake and Yang would be provided as free DLC.

On Feb 7, 2018 the first English-language Arc System Works Official Livestream, , was announced on Twitter and streamed on Twitch at 4 pm PST. Mirroring the Japanese-language version of the livestream, various Arc System Works titles are showcased during the live with gameplay, including Cross Tag Battle. It was mentioned on stream that the series would be streamed weekly. During the first ARCLive, an ASW staffer reconfirmed that Blake and Yang would be free DLC, that the four RWBY characters would have both English and Japanese voices, and clarified that Blake would be available at launch, while Yang would be available shortly after launch.

At a press release in mid February 2018, attended by BlazBlue producer Toshimichi Mori and company representative Kidooka, it was announced that Cross Tag Battle would support dual audio with full English and Japaneses voice.

Gameplay Differences in the Development Builds
In the first build in October 2017 at Toushinsai, Reject Guard used only half a skill gauge and Distortion Duo only used one skill gauge. Resonance Blaze had a maximum of four levels, and the amount of time spent in Resonance Blaze was extended depending on its level. One round lasted only 120 seconds, and players started with all three out of three skill gauges. The initial roster consisted of Ragna the Bloodedge, Jin Kisaragi, Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Hyde, Linne, and Ruby Rose. Hazama, Rachel Alucard, and Weiss Schnee were added to the roster in the Toushinsai build.

In January 2018's build, Reject Guard and Distortion Duo had their costs changed to use 1 skill gauge and 2 skill gauges respectively, Resonance Blaze's max level was increased to five, and the amount of time spend in Resonance Blaze was changed to fifteen seconds excluding hitstun regardless of level. One round's length was increased to 180 seconds, and players started the round with only one skill gauge available out of a maximum of six. Additionally, this build added stage names to the pre-battle cutscene, as well as the Crash Assault "Crash!" indicator. The roster was increased to twenty, adding in Noel Vermillion, Azrael, Iron Tager, Makoto Nanaya, Nu-13, Es, Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, Waldstein, and Gordeau.