Design and Development

Azur Lane is a side-scrolling "shoot 'em up" mobile game developed by Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi. It has been released for the iOS and Android platforms, and has an anime adaptation to be relased as well as a console game titled Azur Lane: Crosswave slated for release on the PS4 in late 2019 for Japan and 2020 for the US and Britain.


Azur Lane has four different versions, each for a different region. The game was first launched in China in May 2017, and later for Japan in September 2017. The game became extremely popular in Japan where the player count reached 5 million within four months after its release. It saw a Korean release in March of 2018 and an English release in August of 2018.


The game features an alternate timeline of World War II, and the warships of the era have been personified as cute anime girls. It is similar in regards to another franchise of similar design; Kantai Collection. This leads to its overwhelming popularity, especially because of its release in English, which Kantai Collection has not done.