Virtua Fighter x eSport

[Neon Ignition]

The games that seem to do the best are the ones that launch as commercially viable then spend their years tweaking and tailoring to the esports crowd as the userbase falls away. The esports playing crowd remains a blip of a proportion and doing the reverse approach usually means the games success is limited outside of that niche. It's a bit like the trap SF5 fell into (though there are other issues with that release).

Smash Bros, Tekken, Mortal Kombat and usually Street Fighter etc are all commercial titles first and esports titles second as its such a hard genre to successfully launch and monetise in. With Virtua Fighter its coming back after a long absence so needs an impact that a limited niche targetting launch won't give it and before we know the series is dead again for decades because of Sega HQ.

[eastyy]

Many fighting games have a obsession with simplification which I am not a fan of, mortal Kombat and injustice series I would say are ignoring for the most part that as they are quite in-depth games but they have a lot of meat on them like stories, krypt, costumes to collect and now robust online and more importantly when released they were full complete games which I think counts for a lot also they pretty much outsell all other fighting games by a large margin

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, and without often even being that great a fighter as well. But they're still standing and VF isn't. VF was always good at in depth play but pick and play too but looking back Tekkens bells and whistles did a good job at marrying the two intentions with revisions often honing them in for core players too. A hard focus on esports is doubling down on the limited appeal VF had boxed itself into. Maybe this is just a very small scale refresh of VF5 intended for that specific purpose but if it's anything at all resembling a new game intended to revive the series then it's the wrong tact.

[Asura]

Yep, and without often even being that great a fighter as well. But they're still standing and VF isn't. VF was always good at in depth play but pick and play too but looking back Tekkens bells and whistles did a good job at marrying the two intentions with revisions often honing them in for core players too. A hard focus on esports is doubling down on the limited appeal VF had boxed itself into. Maybe this is just a very small scale refresh of VF5 intended for that specific purpose but if it's anything at all resembling a new game intended to revive the series then it's the wrong tact.

Honestly, also, Virtua Fighter needs a slight makeover. Not a wholesale one; they shouldn't lose the game's earnestness and pursue 'tude or anything daft like that, but, like, it needs win taunts that don't sound like awful Shenmue speech, for example. So much of the game is cutting edge while some of it is, I hate to say it, just really, really "uncool".

I say this because I don't believe there's anything wrong with the core gameplay. Dead or Alive has often succeeded with a similar system (only superficially, but to the mainstream it may as well be). And I'm not saying to make a Final Fight Streetwise out of it. I'm talking about just a few touches.

[Neon Ignition]

https://cookieplmonster.github.io/2021/04/19/virtua-fighter-5-final-showdown-unlocker/

Modders have unlocked the full Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown within Yakuza 6 and 7

Whilst...

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Which is the eSports releasing killing hopes of a new game

[eastyy]

Hmm funny enough tried Yakuza 6 on Xbox games pass purely for VF 5 was disappointed it was versus only

[Asura]

Honestly - I would love a good PS4 version of VF5.

[endo]

How about a nice PS5 version of VF4 too, just for symmetry?

[112]

I just want another virtua fighter game to be honest...

112

[dataDave]

I just want another virtua fighter game to be honest...

112

It looks like we're getting one. Just because it has "Esports" in the title doesn't invalidate it in any way. In fact, I'd argue quite the opposite. Vs. fighting games have always been competitive, and they've traditionally required you to spend 20p/50p, sometimes a whole pound for the privilege of a seat.

At worst it'll be missing a single-player mode, while cosmetic enhancements have to be paid for instead of unlocked. I hope that's the worst of it, anyway.

[Asura]

How about a nice PS5 version of VF4 too, just for symmetry?

I suspect if they do a PS4 version, that won't be far behind. Though honestly if the PS4 version is HD60 (as VF needs to be), maybe the PS5 version is felt to be redundant. I mean PS4 games work on PS5.

I'll be getting this provided it's a decent VF5 port to the PS4. I love VF5, but I only ever really played it in the arcades.

[fuse]

I am so confused as to what this actually is...

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There's also rumours circulating that it's going to be a PS+ game for June.

[Neon Ignition]

Would make sense, seems doubtful there's two VF projects based on VF5 in the works and it'd be a decent claim for PS+ and a boost for a game I doubt would sell that great otherwise

[Asura]

I don't care if it's a remake or port, I will buy a good Virtua Fighter game for PS4.

Just when and how much.

[fuse]

I'm in that camp too, but I'm still scratching my head about the details here - getting AM2 to remake the game in the Yakuza engine, with the only changes being to the cosmetic bits rather than the gameplay?