Honkai Star Rail’s Fate collab wouldn’t exist without this interview

Honkai Star Rail and Fate/Stay Night’s collab is kicking off in the Hoyoverse game soon, welcoming key characters Saber and Archer into the roster. But how did such a collaboration occur? Turns out, it was from an interview.

Back in March 2024, the Fate series’ Kinoko Nasu sat down with Famitsu and Denfami Nicogamer, alongside Honkai: Star Rail’s producer, David Jiang. You can see the original interview here, and a translated version on Crunchyroll. In it, they talk about the brands they work on, the fact that they’re fans of each other’s work, and also that they share the same birthday, funnily enough.

Then, in a July 2025 interview between Fate’s Nasu and a scenario writer for Honkai, Denfami asks how the collaboration between the two IPs came about. It turns out that the writer was there with David Jiang during the previous interview, and it got the wheels turning in terms of thoughts about a collaboration.

“I had been gradually connecting with TYPE-MOON even before that”, he says. “We had started planning a collaboration.” He notes that Fate/Stay Night “would be a great match” for HSR, thanks to its visuals, and that this collab “would allow us to create content that would satisfy users in terms of the direction.”

Please note that the sources used are translated from Japanese, so there may be some slight errors in the copy.

HSR isn’t the first Hoyo game to collaborate with an outside IP, though it’s the first to have the characters on their own banners. Genshin Impact’s Aloy appeared in everyone’s inbox for free from a collaboration with Horizon Zero Dawn, but she didn’t feature on a Genshin Impact banner.

If you want to get Honkai Star Rail’s Archer and Honkai Star Rail’s Saber as they appear in the game, don’t forget to grab the new Honkai Star Rail codes for some free stellar jade.