Tech
ANANTA Monetization: Free-to-Play Without Character Gacha
ANANTA is free to play and does not sell characters — an official position, restated consistently since the 2026 interviews. What it sells is cosmetic, and one Steam disclosure field says paid random results exist. Most of the confusion lives in the gap between those two facts.
| Base price | Free to play |
|---|---|
| Character gacha | None; characters unlock through story and identities |
| Confirmed paid categories | Outfits, vehicle modification, housing and decoration |
| Power for sale | No; cosmetics are stated not to affect strength |
| Steam disclosure | Purchases, some randomised |
| Season pass | Rumoured, not announced |
| Jillion Vouchers | Pre-registration reward; use unpublished |
Free to play, and what that means here
The game is free to download and play on PC, PS5, iOS, and Android. No box price, nothing to pre-order. The developers describe free-to-play as a way to lower the barrier across four platforms, not as a funnel into a character collection.
That distinction matters: the rest of the genre usually monetises the roster. ANANTA's pitch is that the roster is the story, and charging for it would break the story. Whether the model holds for the game's full life is a separate question; at launch the stated position is clear.
No character gacha, no reroll
Characters unlock by advancing the story and completing identity activities. There is no summon currency for characters, no duplicate conversion, no pity counter. Rerolling is therefore meaningless: you start as the Captain, and the cast widens as you play.
This is why pre-launch tier lists are worthless. They rank a pool that does not exist, using kits that have not been published, in a game that does not sell the units.
What is for sale
Official statements confirm three paid categories: character outfits, vehicle modifications, and housing or personal-space decoration. All are cosmetic. The developers say they do not affect strength or competitive fairness — and the game is not competitive at launch in any case.
That gives a simple rule for the store: if it changes how a fight resolves, it should not be purchasable, and nothing published so far suggests it is.
The chance-based disclosure
Steam's interactive-elements section, filled in by the developer, names four things: purchases inside the game (some randomised), chat, and online interactivity. The randomised line is the one people quote in both directions.
Read carefully, it says some paid purchase produces a random result. It does not say the random result is a character. Combined with the official no-character-gacha position, the consistent reading is that cosmetics may be sold through a random format, such as a loot box or a randomised cosmetic bundle. That is not confirmation that such a system exists at launch; it is a disclosure that the developer has not ruled it out.
Do not invert that logic. The field cannot be evidence of a character pool: the same page's category section lists single-player, and the developer has repeatedly denied character sales.
The season pass rumour
A single forum leak describes a battle pass, a monthly card, cosmetic direct sales, and a set of price tiers. None of it has official backing. No store page exists, no price has been announced, and the developers have not confirmed the structure.
Treat the leak as a leak. A live-service game may well sell a pass eventually; the launch window may equally be cosmetics-only. Planning your spending around either assumption is premature.
Jillion Vouchers are not a currency you can price
Jillion Vouchers appear as the 30 million pre-registration milestone reward: 100 of them. Their use has not been published. They could be a direct-purchase token, a cosmetic pull ticket, or something else entirely. The Chinese name translates roughly to ten-thousand-aspect voucher; the English name comes from the official counter.
Do not convert them into a value estimate. No shop exists, so any "100 vouchers equals X outfits" claim is invented.
How you get characters
Play the story. Do identity work. That is the confirmed answer, and it holds for the whole visible roster. There is no shortcut to buy, so the fastest route to a character you want runs through their part of the story.
The roster page covers who is confirmed and who is vaulted; the identity page covers the work that unlocks them.
Unconfirmed
Whether a season pass exists, what Jillion Vouchers buy, whether any cosmetic is sold through a random box, and every price. The no-character-gacha position and the three cosmetic categories are official.
The short version
Free to play, no character pulls, cosmetics only. The chance-based store disclosure is real but does not reopen the character question. Wait for the shop to exist before you believe any price list.