The online action game DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS is celebrating its 1st anniversary since its release! Season 4 of the game launched on November 1st to celebrate this incredible milestone!

To commemorate the start of this special season, we interviewed the game's producer!!
In Part 1, they talked about their thoughts on the 1st anniversary, the ongoing 1st anniversary campaign, and the contents of Season 4.

[Part 1] DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS 1st Anniversary Producer Interview!
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Kotani, the producer of DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS

Here in Part 2, we will take a look back at Seasons 1 to 3 before discussing what's coming in the game's future!
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The Overwhelming Difference in Strength You Can Only Experience in Dragon Ball

―Please tell us about the development concept for DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS.

Kotani: One of the concepts was to turn the "overwhelming difference in strength" that can only be achieved in Dragon Ball into a game.
I've been watching Dragon Ball since I was a child, and I've always felt that ordinary citizens are truly helpless when a powerful enemy appears. However, Goku and his friends appear and use their maximum power to defeat the enemy. The flow of that sequence feels really good. However, I also think that if I were a regular citizen, I would be extremely scared. The development concept was based on the idea that if Goku and his friends could help in such a situation, we would be able to enjoy the world of Dragon Ball from a completely different perspective.

"Dragon Ball" Tale 360
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You can experience the scene where Cell attacks the city from the perspective of ordinary citizens!
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The Raiders Define Each Season

―Which raider had the highest usage rate in Seasons 1-3?

Kotani: Well, the new raiders introduced in each season end up having the highest usage rates.
Last time we introduced Season 4, but the basic premise is that BREAKERS is divided into different "seasons", and the play environment also gets adjusted for each period. We were conscious of this during production, with each season's new raider as the main character, and the survivors competing against each other to be able to take countermeasures by combining various elements such as skills. We wanted everyone to enjoy the main elements of each season, so we're glad that everyone is enjoying them.

―So Cell was the raider with the highest usage rate in Season 1, but it seems he remained the 2nd most popular raider in Seasons 2 and 3 as well.

Kotani: Raider evolves in stages, but I think Cell is liked because he starts out as a larva and grows stronger, which is very typical of DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS. We've made several balance adjustments, but we're making it a particularly easy-to-use raider, so that may have had an impact. Of course, there are raiders who are chosen solely for their strength, but due to his popularity as a character, Cell has always maintained a high usage rate.
When I was watching anime and manga, the one that felt the most threatening from a citizen's perspective was Cell. Unlike other raiders, Cell attacked the city slowly and dynamically, which was terrifying. I think the threat posed by Cell must have left an impression on everyone.
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Kotani: Also, each raider has its own unique characteristics, such as the Ginyu Force, which hunts down survivors as a team, and Broly, a super offensive raider who starts in their 2nd stage. The most important thing in the production process is to make sure that both the raiders and survivors experience battles in the game that feel just like the original work!
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Searching for a Way to Escape Is What Makes Playing as a Survivor Fun

―In terms of skill usage, "Grappling Device" has been ranked first throughout all seasons. What kind of skill is it?

Kotani: It is one of the skills that Survivors have from the beginning, allowing them to quickly move long distances and high places using the hook. It is the easiest skill for Survivors to use, and it is also easy for Raider to lose sight of their prey of when used. In fact, when I was playing as a raider, I lost track of the survivors many times! (Laughs)
I think people like it for its outstanding versatility, as it's easy to use when escaping, and it's also useful when moving on terrain with differences in elevation.
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(Grappling Device)

Hold the grappling hook and move to the desired position.
Allows you to move anywhere as long as the guide beam remains green.

Kotani: Other skills such as "Instant Transmission" are also used quite a bit. As expected, in order for survivors to survive to the end, skills centered on escape are favored.
However, I think the interesting part of being a survivor is that in addition to keeping your distance from the enemy, you also try to find various ways to escape. To achieve this, I highly recommend that you to try out various skills!

Creating a New Dragon Ball Story Together

―What is the most popular item in the BREAKERS shop?

Kotani: Oh, raiders are always the most popular in any season!
The runner-up are the Survivor Skins. In particular, "Dende", who appeared in Season 3, was popular. When you're playing as one the seven survivors on a team, you of course have to think about yourself and how you want to play individually. However, you also have to plan out how you will work together with the other survivors to survive and fight against powerful raiders. Dende has the ability to heal, allowing you to play a very active role.
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(Dende)

Use the skill "Let Me Heal You!"
to quickly revive a downed survivor!

Kotani: If you level up your skills in-game, you can use the associated skills from survivor skins separately. So if you see someone using Dende, Chi-Chi, or another skin that was added in past seasons, it means that they really like that character.

―Moving on, survivor costumes and raider custom voices are appear to be popular items.

Kotani: When it comes to costumes, the costumes that appeared in the original work are quite popular, such as the Turtle Hermit Gi and Piccolo's Demon Clan Outfit!
Custom voices can expand the repertoire of lines a raider can say in-game. Honestly, there isn't much of a benefit in-game when the raiders say their lines, but from the survivor's perspective, it increases the fear of the raiders approaching.
That's the fun that you can't get in other Dragon Ball games. I'm really happy to see so many people purchasing custom voices and playing with Dragon Ball characters.
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Kotani: I think the feeling of creating a new Dragon Ball story with all the raiders and survivors is really fun!
I don't think there are many games where Raiders and Survivors, who are enemies in the game, can pump each other up during matches via these voice lines.

Season 4 Allows You to Set Up to 8 Custom Voices!

―Mr. Kotani, what's your favorite Dragon Ball line?

Kotani: One of the lines that is popular not only with me but also with the development team is Cell's line, "Now to pay the TV station a little visit...'' Norio Wakamoto's voice is both powerful and comical, making it super fun to use.
Also, I actually quite like the lines from Season 4's new raider, Broly. Most of Broly's screams are things like "RAAAAGH!" or "HAAAAA!", but we've implemented quite a few, including ones with subtle differences! It would be fun if you could enjoy the small differences between each scream! It was so funny every time I said the lines during the game, and when I played the preview on the October 28th broadcast, I got so excited that I found myself screaming! (Laughs)

Kotani: Starting with Season 4, which is currently underway, it is now possible to set as many as 8 custom voices! The number has been doubled from the original 4, and you can now say many lines in the game, so please enjoy custom voices, including those of other raiders!

Looking Forward to Season 5!

―Please tell us about the future prospects for DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS.

Kotani: Season 4 is super exciting, but we plan to go full throttle and surpass even that for Season 5!! We are already thinking about the raiders for Season 5!
With the inclusion of Broly from Dragon Ball Super in Season 4, I think it has become even harder to predict who will be chosen as the next raider. I hope everyone will be looking forward to it and making various predictions. Furthermore, we are actively developing the cross-play feature that many people have requested so that it can be implemented in Season 5, so please look forward to it!

―Please give a message to everyone who is playing DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS.

Kotani: We've had to wait a long time for the release, but we're planning to put everything into Season 4, so we've taken the time to implement various features and fulfill everyone's requests! With the introduction of the raider "Broly", I truly believe that Season 4 is the best time to enjoy our game's core concept of "Raider VS Survivor"!
In addition, new players can get over 100 summon tickets and other bonus when they start playing! So even if you haven't been playing, I hope you'll start up the game and enjoy the unique Dragon Ball experience offered in DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS!

―Thank you very much!

With Season 4 celebrating its 1st anniversary and the implementation of cross-play coming in Season 5, DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS is sure to become even more interesting in the future!
If you haven't played it yet, please take advantage of the 1st anniversary to give it a try!

Additionally, DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS will be available for free play on PlayStation®Plus from November 7 to December 4 2023!!
If you have a PlayStation®5 or PlayStation®4, don't miss this incredible chance!
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