Summary
- Rumors about a new Virtua Fighter game indicate a modern reboot with an online focus, new characters, and competitive gameplay.
- Sega has hinted at a comeback for the long-dormant fighting game series, with rumored features rivaling Street Fighter and Tekken.
- Although the information is from a reliable source, it is best to take these rumors with a grain of salt until Sega officially confirms them.
Sega fans will be interested to know that some new information about the next Virtua Fighter title has surfaced online. The Virtua Fighter franchise carries the accolade of being the first fighting game to implement 3D graphics with its first installment back in 1993, a year before the release of the original Tekken.
The fighting game space is highly competitive, dominated by the likes of Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., and Tekken, which have all received highly successful installments in the last few years. Not counting spinoffs and re-releases, Virtua Fighter has been absent from the arena since the 2007 release of Virtua Fighter 5. As a result, it is often mentioned when discussing Sega franchises that should make a comeback.
In a series of Twitter posts, user MbKKssTBhz5 has shared further details about a rumored Virtua Fighter reboot that is apparently in development. Off the bat, it is claimed that streaming and spectating are important features and that the game is envisioned as a competitor to Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8. According to the leak, it is being released on all major platforms and will feature crossplay. There will also be a story mode featuring new and returning characters, but it appears that the game is mainly being developed for online and competitive play. A ranked system "similar to modern fighting games" is also mentioned.
Details of Rumored Virtua Fighter Game Emerge
As with all leaks and rumors, this information should be taken with a grain of salt, even though the account that revealed this information is regarded as a reliable source of insider information. Sega has addressed the demand for a new Virtua Fighter, with CEO Shuji Utsumi discussing how the franchise has been historically more realistic than its competitors and confirming that it is something that the company is "working on," implying that the game is still in the early planning stage.
While Virtua Fighter was not among the historic Sega franchise reboots announced at The Game Awards 2023, fans did notice that the font used in a letter sent out to various content creators strongly resembled that of the Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown trailer. Perhaps Sega did this intentionally to see if it would generate discourse about a future Virtua Fighter game, but there is no way of knowing for sure. Regardless, it certainly appears that fans think a new entry in the franchise is long overdue.
