The official X (formerly Twitter) account for game developer C2 Kikan announced on Wednesday a new 3D simulation role-playing game titled Ki-gō Keikaku (Plan Number Ki) is in development for PC and mobile.
Team members Konishi and Shibafu will design the characters.
The "historical science-fiction" game is set in an alternate Showa era Japan with mecha and will be entirely in 3D.
The announcement stated the project had been planned since before Kantai Collection, but was halted due to the success and popularity of Kantai Collection. C2 Kikan's website for its upcoming projects stated development has been steadily progressing for the past few years, after being on hold for 10 years. The website also stated while the project was originally developed as a hobby and for fun, it has now turned into a large-scale development project with the addition of new team members.
While the above X/Twitter post was posted on April 1, websites such as Famitsu and Dengeki Online have posted articles on the announcement, and did not say the announcement was an April Fool's joke.
The Kantai Collection franchise is based on a web browser game that launched in 2013, and is set in a world where humanity has lost control of the seas. The threat that has taken over the seas is the Abyssal fleet. The only ones who can counter this threat are Kan-Musu (Fleet Girls), girls who possess the spirit of naval vessels from days gone by.
The Kan Colle Arcade machines launched in Japanese arcades in 2016. In this game, players can use real trading cards, as opposed to the digital ones in the original mobile game. In addition, the arcade game features 3D character models.
The first 12-episode TV anime series premiered in January 2015 and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. Funimation released the series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc with English subtitles and an English dub in June 2017.
The final episode of the first television anime series had revealed in March 2015 that the television anime would get a sequel. The anime's official Twitter account indicated in August 2015 that the franchise's movie project and the sequel were separate projects that went into production at the same time.
The Kantai Collection -KanColle- film opened in Japan in November 2016, and earned 560 million yen (about US$5 million) by March 2017.
Studio ENGI produced the second television anime, titled Kan Colle Season 2: Let's Meet at Sea, which debuted in November 2022. Crunchyroll again streamed the anime as it aired.