Yu - Gi - Oh ! Duel Links Yu - Gi - Oh ! Duel Links is an Android , iOS and PC game . Its name is likely taken from the Duel Links system featured in " TRANSCEND GAME " and " Yu - Gi - Oh ! The Dark Side of Dimensions " . The game was first announced at Jump Festa 2016 . On January 6 , 2016 , it was officially announced that the game would be released globally , along with the news that " Yu - Gi - Oh ! Duel Generation " and " Yu - Gi - Oh ! Legacy of the Duelist " would both receive further updates in winter 2016 . On March 18 , 2016 , the Japanese site was updated with more information about its gameplay , characters , and online content , as well as the first YouTube trailer for the game . Pre - registration for the game is currently open in Japan , with rewards available for accounts pre - registered before the game launch . The rewards are accumulative based on the total number of existing pre - registered accounts when the game launches : 50 gems ( 10 , 000 ) , " Dark Magician " card protectors ( 30 , 000 ) , an additional 50 gems ( 50 , 000 ) , a Yugi Muto - themed Duel Field ( 100 , 000 ) , and an additional 50 gems ( 150 , 000 ) . Additional rewards were added on March 29 , 2016 , after the number of pre - registered accounts exceeded 200 , 000 : " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " card protectors ( 200 , 000 ) , an additional 100 gems ( 250 , 000 ) , and a Seto Kaiba - themed Duel Field ( 300 , 000 ) . On April 19 , 2016 , the official site announced that in order to further improve the game quality , the game would go into a closed beta testing phase in June . Beta testers are picked randomly among the players who pre - registered the game before April 30 , 2016 . As a result , the public release date of the game will be postponed to a later date rather than April 2016 as initially planned . Players also receive more rewards at the start of the game which details will be disclosed in further announcements . Pre - registration emails and surveys were sent out on June 13 , 2016 for people in the United States and United Kingdom . On June 23 , 2016 , the sign - up period was extended . In late July , e - mails were sent to accepted applicants notifying them of their accepted participation in the Closed Beta Test , as well as informing them that the game would be " polished " for another one to two months before the Closed Beta Test would start . On September 1 , 2016 , applications for the closed beta closed . The Closed Beta Test started on September 7 , 2016 , and subsequently closed on September 27 , 2016 , after maintenance was conducted that day from 1 : 00 AM - 3 : 00 AM ( EST ) . It was released worldwide in January 2017 . Gameplay . Duel World . Duel World ( デュエルワールド ) is the hub area where a character can be selected and challenge either a Standard Duelist ( スタンダードデュエリスト ) or Legendary Duelist ( レジェンドデュエリスト ) to obtain cards and increases the character ' s Level . It is possible to increase the stage level by doing missions , and by doing so , a new Legendary Duelist or new features will appear . Online Versus . It allows real time duels with other Duelists or friends around the world in " Duel Links " . Furthermore , there are practice plays , Decks from Duelists played against , and replays from other Duelists can be watched . Timeline Placement . Duel Links does not fit perfectly into the timeline of any adaptation of Yu - Gi - Oh ! , but appears to take place after Battle City as numerous characters reference the events of the tournament . The game takes place in an alternate version of a combination of the anime and manga continuity , but only Yami Marik alludes to having been revived . Some dialogue hints that certain duelists are AI ' s created by Kaiba , but this is never confirmed . The game tends to follow a combination of the anime and manga continuity , but takes creative liberties to omit the deaths of several characters . Characters . Non - playable . Legendary Duelists . Legendary Duelist s are duelists based on characters from the anime or manga . All playable characters are also Legendary Duelists , but there are several Legendary Duelists who are not playable characters . Standard Duelists . Standard Duelist s are game - original human NPCs who have generic denominations in the Japanese version ( such as " Student who likes Dueling " or " Energetic boy " ) , but are given actual names in Western versions .