Sword Art Online Hits Major Milestone With Its Game's First Launch

By Nick Valdez

Sword Art Online is now a much more massive franchise than when the anime adaptation first began ten years ago, but the franchise is celebrating a huge new milestone as the game itself has fully "launched" as of today! Reki Kawahara's original light novel series was first adapted into its now massively popular anime series ten years ago, and thus the franchise has been celebrating this massive anniversary with a slate of new projects. But one anniversary the franchise didn't expect to celebrate during its run was the original launch of the in universe Sword Art Online MMORPG game.

Kirito and 9,999 other players first plugged into their NerveGear's on November 6th, 2022 and officially played Sword Art Online for the first time. While Kirito himself was one of the players who helped beta test the game before its official launch, it was this day in particular that kicked off the story in full as 10,000 players were soon trapped within the virtual world of Aincrad and with it launched a massive worldwide phenomenon as the years rolled on. 

When Does Sword Art Online Take Place? 

Sword Art Online takes place in 2022, so it's definitely a surprise to see that the anime is just as strong (and arguably even stronger at this point) than when it all kicked off all those years ago. Back then 2022 seemed like such a long ways away, but now that we are actually here it's certainly a mindblower. Especially when considering the anime itself has morphed into a worldwide recognized franchise with multiple seasons, spin-offs, movies, games, and more that have released since. 

READ MORE: Sword Art Online Announces Original New Movie | Sword Art Online Progressive Sequel Celebrates Success With New Trailer

If you wanted to check out Sword Art Online for yourself, you can now find the three seasons of the TV series now streaming with Crunchyroll. You can also find the spin-off series, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, streaming there as well if you wanted a completely different take on the franchise. There are also new movies making their way through theaters, and much more to come as the franchise gets ready for its next ten years. 

Can you believe it's been ten years of Sword Art Online? Would you play its game if you had the chance? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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