Season 3 and b2b

It’s been an interesting reveal in more ways than one.

Robert Garcia was revealed as the new Mr Karate, shattering expectations, and leaked information.  Upon closer look, it makes you wonder about the future of COTW and SNK’s fighting games in general.

Robert’s trailer and gameplay videos drove the player base into a frenzy, and online modes proved that he was, at time of post, the most played character.  What is interesting is the reason: people chose him because of his apparent power, or rather, over powered-ness. In actual play, he was proven strong, very strong, but not invincible. Many players struggled with the needed speed to output damaging combos, while others became predictable by performing uppercut after uppercut and then getting smashed. Ultimately this may lead to the usual phenomenon we’ve seen with new characters, a spike in numbers before they tail off.  Street Fighter 6 is currently undergoing the same spike with  Ingrid, also interesting considering the initial backlash to the character, which seems to have proven more vocal than anything palpable.

Playing Robert for most of the day, I was quite worn out with all the focus that was required and as an opponent, I found him similar to Marco, extremely dangerous if you weren’t thinking about blocking.  But the really intriguing thing was trying to imagine what SNK was planning for their next character Kenshiro, who simply has to be stronger, if not as strong as all the others.  How many breaks and feints will I have to execute, how many buttons will I need to press in quick succession?  Continuing the combo like a music game, pausing slightly in the pace, no mashing allowed, before a medley of pretzels completes the flourish. Or will they go in the opposite direction? Perhaps they will make him transcend the game system with simple crowd pleasing single input maneuvers?

And then what’s going to happen with the season 3 characters???? How are they going to compete? What will the meta look like? It’s intriguing and a little concerning lol. What are we headed towards? Motw/3s grounded footsies into aerial battles?

Demand drives supply and while SF6 had great sales, there are reports of frustration and dissatisfaction with the casino element where it certainly has boosted the chances of the casual player beating the pro.  Will precision skills be discarded in favour of luck based battles?

Then there’s the question of the leaks, people are still adamant Ryo is still in the game, even as Robert stands there in his tengu adorned glory. People also believe there will be season 4 and 5, even as SNK only mentioned 3 seasons and Capcom seem to be winding down after Ingrid’s release.  SNK has the advantage here, they can more easily provide content for EOST, not needing model animations and voice acting. On the other hand, such scenes are so much more pleasant, unless the models are particularly ugly…

So if they really do want to have 5 seasons, the question is a) how will the game evolve b) how powerful will the characters be and c) how will it be funded?

While the average player doesn’t care where the money comes from, SNK’s shareholders are pulling back from entertainment sector spending.  COTW player base is most probably growing, and ranked mode seems populated, but the usual growth of a fighting game is to shrink, while SF6 bucked the trend, if the announcement of ending content with Ingrid is an indicator, Capcom will soon be ending support for SF6 and probably soon launch their next game, likely an upgrade rather than a new episode.  And COTW will try to compete with this?  With what money?  They hardly have announced a million sales, let alone, season 3.  Frankly with all the costs of swc, I’m just concerned how this will all work out.  On the other hand, it could well be that SNK has invested in business to business, which is proving profitable.  Game sales may well be irrelevant!

Meanwhile Harada could be working on a new 3D fighter, or maybe even AOF4. Is SNK dividing up their own playerbase, or will these games grow all together? It’s ambitious and scary, for all those who remember an ambitious SNK circa 2000…

Lots of things to think about, not to mention the upcoming balance patch for KOFXV…  catch you next time!