Blue Protocol: Star Resonance developers forgot to remove a Granblue Fantasy soundtrack as a placeholder. They later posted a public apology to clarify the situation.
Blue Protocol: Star Resonance Used Granblue Fantasy’s “Dahli Island”
Development Oversight for Unlicensed, Copyrighted Material
Blue Protocol: Star Resonance received criticism after recent posts on X (Twitter) unveiled its use of a particular soundtrack from Granblue Fantasy, the 2014 JRPG by Cygames. Developer Shanghai Bokura Network Technology immediately issued a public apology on X, acknowledging the gravity of their mistake, which resulted from "a serious lack of management and insufficient verification" during development.
The soundtrack in question is "Dahli Island," composed by Tsutomu Narita for Granblue Fantasy. It plays in the background while exploring the game's titular desert location, as well as in Granblue Fantasy: Relink, albeit with slight deviations in arrangement. Players noticed the song's close resemblance to the one used in Blue Protocol: Star Resonance's "Goblin Lair," "Dark Mist Fortress," and "Andra Underground Mines" dungeons, eventually proving their suspicions correct that it was, in fact, the actual track itself.
According to the developers, the audio track was meant to be a placeholder while the game was still in development, but ended up in the live release by accident on October 9, 2025. It had gone on for the past six months without any official intervention, as the issue only surfaced recently.
To rectify the situation, the developers replaced the said audio and temporarily halted player access to the affected in-game areas until the update was complete. They also "conducted an emergency inspection of all audio resources" and confirmed that "no other unauthorized assets were found" elsewhere in the game.
"We take this matter very seriously and will conduct a thorough review of our management systems and verification workflows to ensure that such an incident never recurs," they stated. "Once again, we offer our deepest apologies to all adventurers and the original copyright holders for this grave oversight."
Players Maintain Criticism Despite Dev Response
The developers' remedial actions did not completely quell community criticism. Many players raised ethical concerns about using another IP's music from a different studio or company, regardless of whether it is still in testing. Others questioned why the matter had even remained largely undetected for so long, given that the song was part of a massively popular video game.
Additionally, a player pointed out that the "Dahli Island" track would still play upon approaching the sealed dungeons in Blue Protocol: Star Resonance.
As of now, Cygames has not responded to the controversy on its official social media channels.
Blue Protocol: Star Resonance rose to Steam's 5th top-selling game upon launch. Our Game8 review noted the title’s appealing anime visuals and fairly average plot, but also observed several technical issues during cutscenes and animations.
Blue Protocol: Star Resonance is a free-to-play MMORPG on PC via Steam and Epic Games, as well as on mobile devices (Android and iOS). To know more about the game, check out our article below:
Sources:
X/Twitter | Official Apology and Response Regarding the Misuse of BGM
X/Twitter | The dungeon's been sealed off, but the BGM here is still playing normally
X/Twitter | I think it's just unbelievable that they're using another company's BGM
YouTube | Granblue Fantasy: Relink OST - Dahli Island
Reddit | Blue Protocol is the 5th best selling game on Steam right now.
