Here's if the One Piece Odyssey Leaks Were Correct

One Piece Odyssey was announced this March 28 on the One Piece News special livestream, but discussion about the game had already started several months ago in 2021 due to leaks, now that the game was officially revealed and we’ve got some actual gameplay, let’s see how correct these leaks were.

One Piece Odyssey was first “leaked” in July 2021

The first time the name One Piece Odyssey appeared before fans was on July 5, 2021. However, it wasn’t a leak per se, but how Bandai Namco had trademarked that name in Japan. Trademarks aren’t leaks, it’s public knowledge, and anyone can just look them up and read them on databases updated by bots. Trademarks become public a few days after they’re filled, and Bandai Namco registered One Piece Odyssey on June 17.

Moreover, a trademark doesn’t guarantee an announcement, as it’s possible a game gets canceled internally and never sees the light of the day. Like some developers often say, every game’s release is a miracle in a way.

The Twitter leak explained

Later on, still in July 2021, a leak with several elements was shared on Twitter and Reddit. This leak most notably claimed this new One Piece game would be a fighting game. This all turned out to be false, as One Piece Odyssey isn’t even a fighting game in the first place but a JRPG.

Another major point that kept coming back in leaks and still persisted all up to when the One Piece News stream was announced in mid-March 2022, was how CyberConnect2 would be developing Odyssey. This was definitely alluring for One Piece fans, seeing CyberConnect2 is arguably the best studio out there when it comes to making game adaptations of battle shonen anime and manga. The studio is known for its JRPGs .Hack (pronounced dot hack) and more recently Fuga Melodies of Steel, but it’s most notably behind the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm games. One of the best shonen games of all time.

CyberConnect2 is not the developer but ILCA

However, these leaks too turned out to be completely wrong as Bandai Namco officially announced to be working with ILCA to develop One Piece Odyssey. ILCA in the past worked on several JRPGs including Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the NieR series, Voice of Cards, Code Vein, andDragon Quest XI.

ILCA is also the developer of The Idolmaster Starlit Season, released in Japan on Steam and PS4 on October 14, 2021. The game is a great addition to the franchise and shows ILCA is great at making anime-style games, making One Piece Odyssey even more promising.

At the end of the day, none of the leaks about One Piece Odyssey were real, and were either all based on speculation or guesses by fans. What are your thoughts on the One Piece Odyssey reveal trailer, and are you hyped for the game? Let us know in the comments below!

New JRPG One Piece Odyssey will be out in 2022 on PC via Steam, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.