Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising Lands on Switch 2 September 17, Id Joins the Roster at EVO 2026

EVO 2026 delivered a big one for anime fighting game fans: Cygames has confirmed that Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on September 17, 2026, paired with the Ver 2.60 update. That update brings a brand new DLC character in Id, a new stage, a new system mechanic, character-wide balance adjustments, a new costume, and additional content Cygames has yet to fully detail. The announcement dropped during EVO 2026's main broadcast, one of the fighting game community's most watched annual events, which means the reveal landed in front of exactly the audience that cares about it most. Cygames was not subtle about the timing: Id's teaser premiered live at the event, and the official GBVS account pushed the news immediately after. This is the kind of focused, community-facing rollout that makes sense for a game that has worked hard to build its player base since launch.

Id Is Joining the GBVSR Roster on September 17

Id is one of the most iconic characters in the Granblue Fantasy universe, known by fans as 'Mr. Fix-Id', a nickname that carries weight for players who have followed the franchise across its mobile game and various spin-offs. Within Granblue Fantasy lore, Id is a complex, morally ambiguous figure whose combat style is brutal and overwhelming, the sort of character who tends to feel wildly overpowered when adapted into fighting games as a DLC pick. How Cygames will translate that into a functioning, competitively viable kit for GBVSR remains to be seen, but the teaser was heavy on impact frames and fast movement, suggesting a character built around pressure and aggressive neutral. The fighting game community has been requesting Id for the GBVSR roster for a long time, and this announcement delivers on that ask.

Beyond Id himself, the Ver 2.60 update looks like the most substantial content drop GBVSR has seen in months. Cygames confirmed a new stage alongside Id, which follows the game's established pattern of pairing each DLC fighter with a dedicated arena. The more interesting piece is the new system mechanic, a term Cygames used in the announcement without specifics. GBVSR has received system-level changes before as the game matured post-launch, and a new mechanic at this scale could shift the competitive meta meaningfully depending on its scope and execution. The accompanying character adjustments suggest a genuine balance pass, not a token tweak to fix a few egregious outliers before moving on.

The Switch 2 Port Puts GBVSR Where It Should Have Been

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising originally launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam in late 2023, positioning it as a console-and-PC title that skipped Nintendo hardware entirely. That decision made commercial sense at the time, but the Switch 2's growing install base in 2026 has made it hard to ignore as a target platform, especially for a game sitting in the anime fighting game space, where Nintendo hardware has historically moved units. GBVSR arriving on Switch 2 in September puts it in front of a new audience right as the platform is approaching its first major holiday season with a serious library behind it. Arc System Works has successfully ported titles like Guilty Gear Strive and Dragon Ball FighterZ to Switch hardware, so the technical foundation exists. The question Cygames now has to answer is whether their portable version holds up under scrutiny from players who know exactly how the game looks and feels on PS5 and PC.

GBVSR itself was a revival and significant expansion of the original Granblue Fantasy Versus from 2020, rebuilding the roster from scratch and introducing a free-to-play tier alongside paid full access. The game runs on Arc System Works' technical DNA, delivering fast and visually dense anime combat with a deeper neutral game underneath the spectacle than its presentation suggests. It has maintained a dedicated competitive scene since launch, appearing at major tournaments including EVO, and its DLC rollout has been consistent even when community discourse around character balance has had its rough patches. Adding Id and a new system mechanic at the same time as the Switch 2 port launch suggests Cygames is treating September 17 as a reset point, a moment to pull new players in across multiple platforms while giving the existing community enough new material to stay engaged and invested.

Community Response

Reaction from the fighting game community has been solidly positive. The official GBVS tweet racked up over 200 reposts and climbing engagement within an hour of going live, and the announcement spread quickly through FGC-adjacent accounts. Wario64 flagged the Switch 2 date almost immediately, and the post pulled strong numbers, which is a reliable indicator that the news crossed over from hardcore fighting game circles into a broader gaming audience. Sentiment breaks along predictable lines: existing GBVSR players are excited about Id and cautiously curious about the new system mechanic, while the Switch 2 announcement drew genuine interest from players who either skipped the game due to platform availability or who want a portable fighting game with actual competitive credentials. Skepticism is narrow and mostly limited to whether the Switch 2 version will run cleanly, which is a reasonable concern and not a rejection of the game itself.

What This Means for GBVSR Going Forward

September 17 is a smart window for Cygames. The fighting game calendar thins out after summer major season, which means GBVSR Ver 2.60 drops into a relatively open field without getting buried by competing releases. Id is a character draw strong enough to pull back lapsed players, the Switch 2 port opens a new commercial lane, and the system mechanic addition gives the competitive community a genuine reason to re-examine their game knowledge from the ground up. Whether this translates to a lasting bump in the player base comes down to execution: the Switch 2 version needs to run well, and Id's kit needs to be interesting without either being a pushover or a busted pick that warps every tournament bracket for months. Cygames has navigated those pressures reasonably well across GBVSR's lifespan. September 17 is a lot riding on one patch, but the structure is there.