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Lilith Games’ idle hit AFK Journey has landed its “first of many IP collaborations”, kickstarting a new campaign with popular anime Fairy Tail this May.
The limited-time crossover, commencing on May 1st, will mark the beginning of AFK Journey’s Dimensional Factions series, which is expected to feature various IPs.
The Fairy Tail collaboration will see pink-haired protagonist Natsu Dragneel and main female lead Lucy Heartfilia join AFK Journey as the game’s first Dimensional Heroes, bringing signature combat styles and abilities from their source material to the idle battlefield.
New crossover content and player rewards are also expected, though full details haven’t yet been revealed.
Collaborations coming
The naming convention behind AFK Journey’s collab series echoes predecessor AFK Arena’s Dimensionals, a faction which included characters from real-world folklore, mythology and other franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Persona and SNK.
Whether AFK Journey’s crossovers will include games and other brands or focus solely on anime remains to be seen.
The Fairy Tail series in particular had an 11-year manga run between 2006 and 2017, having peaked as the fourth highest-selling manga series in Japan in 2010 and 2011. An anime adaptation ran for nine seasons between 2009 and 2019, containing over 300 episodes.
A sequel manga, Fairy Tale: 100 Years Quest, spawned a new anime season which ran from July 2024 to January 2025. The collaboration with AFK Journey therefore comes as fans await confirmation of another season.
Meanwhile, AFK Journey has found substantial success in Asia, having seen a sudden spending surge after its release in the region last year, helping propel it past $150 million in mobile player spending one month later.
The title’s executive producer Jiangyuan shared with us in an interview how AFK Journey aims to continue to “evolve in ways that resonate with the community”.
