We won’t be seeing it for a number of years though even if it does come to fruition
The Virtua Fighter franchise spent years in a state of feeling all but forgotten by Sega, but that finally changed this year with the release of Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown.
Japanese publication Dengeki Online recently interviewed Ultimate Showdown Producer Seiji Aoki to discuss the prospect of creating a brand new Virtua Fighter entry, what it would take to make it a true successor, and Sega’s approach with handling the current title.
The most interesting part of the interview for VF fans is what the producer had to say about a potential future sequel after playing on some version of VF5 for 15 years at this point.
“Since we released [Ultimate Showdown], it’s showed us that the potential for a future title is definitely there,” said Aoki as translated by our own Nicholas ‘MajinTenshinhan’ Taylor. “On top of that, will we do it, and if we do it, what kind of game will it end up being are both important things to consider.”
He goes on to state that they want to give it their all if they do move forward with a new project and that it’ll take them a few years to research and catch up on what it takes to create a fighting game in the modern landscape successfully.
It is also directly noted that a brand new Virtua Fighter would need to focus on the worldwide community beyond only Japan.
This is hopefully a good sign that a future title would come packing rollback netcode at least, which is something Sega was aware of for Ultimate Showdown but chose to stick with their old style.
“we’ve been investigating and analyzing the circumstances for making a new game in earnest, and there’s a vision of ‘if we’re going to make it, this is how we want it to be” – VF5US Producer Seiji Aoki
“It’s definitely a stormy path no matter what we do,” said Aoki via Dengeki.”Even so, we’ve been investigating and analyzing the circumstances for making a new game in earnest, and there’s a vision of ‘if we’re going to make it, this is how we want it to be.'”
A big worry of course is that a “modernized” take on Virtua Fighter may change things up too much to the point where it no longer appeals to the longtime players who’ve stuck it out for years although the producer tries to alleviate those concerns a bit.
“The very core of this lies at making sure that the people who have enjoyed and supported Virtua Fighter for so long will also enjoy this potential new title,” said Aoki. “If the players aren’t there, the planning is all for naught. So, we would like for them to keep enjoying the series and if we’re making a new one, it’d have to be a game that lives up to their expectations and hopes.”
Now, this isn’t direct confirmation that a new Virtua Fighter is in development, but it is encouraging to see Sega considers Ultimate Showdown enough of a success to openly discuss the fact that they’re actively looking into what to do with the storied franchise next.
…develop platform-agnostic infrastructure that ensures no added lag or disparities when playing across platforms, as seen with games from other companies, and making all that happen for a remake game like this one would be extremely tough
— GSK | https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#donate (@gosokkyu) December 27, 2021
As for the current title itself, Aoki states they’ve heard the requests from players wanting a PC version of Ultimate Showdown, which they are actively considering according to translator Gosokkyu.
The arcade release of the game runs on a Windows computer, so it’s technically possible thought the team would also need to research what it would take to make cross-platform play a reality as well.
He reiterates too that Ultimate Showdown’s launch exceeded expectations, and Sega is apparently happy with the player retention and early sales of the recent Yakuza collaboration DLC.
The company also reportedly has a roadmap planned out for the game that extends another year or so including more development and eSports initiatives, so we haven’t seen all the game has to offer yet.
You can find the full interview in Japanese on Dengeki’s website and an extensive summary from Gosokkyu here.
