Future of fighting games in the games industry in 2018 and beyond

Has any other FG actually attempted anything like KI’s product model? I really can’t think of anything. Like Infil said, it could be extremely important for the future of the genre to see another KI that takes better advantage of monetization opportunities like popular MOBAs and multiplayer shooters do.

SFV came the closest.

Going forward I think most other fg developers need to look at what ki did. And even though i don’t enjoy their games look at what nrs has done as well.

Ki got one thing down that other fg devs have tried but down really seem to get. Not the netcode as many games are figuring that out but rather accessibility. Other devs in their attempts to make things simpler and more accessible to newcomers have sometimes ended up making certain tools obnoxius. Though they’ve made good attempts to adjust this the crush counter system in sfv was an example of this. Some characters got away with murder by just mashing them out in neutral. Ki managed to make things fairly easy to get into without making them obnoxious.

Looking at what nrs did. They’ve shown a great willingness to fix their mistakes. They addressed nearly every complaint mkx had and fixed it. From the game’s netcode to changing the combat system from just being a 50\50 fest.
I think nrs also had the best launch of any fighter from this generation with injustice 2. Even though I don’t enjoy the gameplay of their games much I think they set a good example for other fg devs to follow.

I think fighters are in a good spot. There is a diverse number of titles to play and still more games on the way both big and small with games like sc6 and blade strangers launching later this year.

In order to stay in a good spot I think it would be wise to follow what ig/dh did with ki in some areas and what NRS did with ij2 as well as mkx in its later days. On top of things already mentioned like making sure netcodes stay solid etc.

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very interesting topic thus far. ill add my 2 cents what i think fighting games need if they want to continue moving forward. im not very articulate but ill do my best either way

-first and foremost fighting games need to be sold completed. we are talking full roster, arcade mode, story mode, training, combo challenges, multiplayer lobbies, quick rematches, and unlocks. people need a treadmill to run these days after the popularity of RPGs and looter shooters has risen. unlocks can be stages, hidden characters, skins, colors, basically what have today. the thing is, charging money for this ■■■■ is detrimental i think. KI went the route of paying individual characters. alot of people in my gaming circles were immediately put off by that. they were also put off that the game had no real “story mode”. also someone i know told me that sometime last year that ono got on a stream and thanked everyone for playing SF5 EARLY ACCESS. they didnt even tell people who bought SF5 at “launch” was an early access title though everyone with half brain knew it was a ■■■■■■■ beta. things like this do absolutely no favors to the genre. outsiders look at these things, and very closely. they also talk. gamers do not forget.

-fighting games are really personal when it comes to online multiplayer. you’re pretty much thrown into a cage with a random person who turns out to be bruce ■■■■■■■ lee with nowhere to run and you gotta do your best or get bodied. usually getting bodied happens. its frustrating. as infil says, no matter how easy the game is its going to happen and people will be salty. theres no strange way of dying i guess one can say.

its not like an FPS game where you’re shooting people down, then suddenly that random bullet hits you and you die. typically ppl say “well ■■■■ that sucked, but thats cool at least i took out 3 people!”. or, something really goofy happens and its funny so you dont care.

in fighting games, there are no stray bullets. there is no random death coming at you. you lost because the opponent was better. but you also lost even if the opponent is inferior, you lost to yourself. in short, people cannot handle loss. even worse, people cannot handle loss when they couldnt even play. usually this will occur when they run into an apex predator, or someone they perceive as such, and demoralization will strike.

-KI reallly pushed the genre forward with its 2 way interaction (though even despite that it can still be a very one sided affair). KI made people i would introduce it to feel like they had a chance. even if its 1%, the system in place made them feel like they can get a win on me if they just outsmarted me since my brute force was too much. if you couldnt win with guts, you won with your brain (or both). fighting games need to have something in place like this and im not just talking about a lousy comeback mechanic either, but something where you’re still playing even if you’re getting your face pummeled.

-DBFZ being a success is wonderful, it shows the genre can still pump out a great game without the streetfighter/capcom name stuck onto it. alot of DBZ fans got the game, and some stuck to it. many didnt cut the mustard. the lobbies dont have nearly as many people as i remember when it was new. a few of my personal friends who are absolute DBZ fiends didnt last beyond 2 weeks. they couldnt play, opposition was already ahead of the curve due to beta access and previous fighting game experience which isnt unique to the genre. you played one shooter, you played em all. same thing here, but when you dont play them regularly you’re at an even bigger disadvantage. so their careers came to a bloody end, which leads me to:

-training mode. they need to come up with ways to make it more intuitive i suppose. not everyone knows they can set up dummies to do those evil tactics they constantly fall for in combat. i suppose one can say, they need a tutorial for the training mode that is entirely optional. make it known to noobs who dont know anything, that you can actually practice against the very tactic being used against you, and overcome it. i think if people knew more about basic FG mechanics they would be more resilient. at least they would know why they lost and not just thinking its because they suck. people need direction, knowing what it is they did wrong to me is a great compass. you’re not just lost in the forest unarmed. give em a survival knife too, and a will to continue may come forward carrying them past that first wall everyone who is fresh will hit.

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I agree with some of your points I will say however that when you lose in other games you also lose for those same reasons. In fighting games you make the wrong read/guess you die. The same applies to FPS, is he going to peek right, do I push or do I hold. Same concepts apply. I will say however because most other games involve teammates it’s much easier for people to scapegoat someone not themselves, which can make defeat a much easier pill to swallow. In fighting games you only have yourself to blame which can be a hard thing for some people to accept.

FPS’s are easier to consume to people because the mechanics appear to be straight forward. Point and shoot, there are however many high level mechanics that just don’t get spoken about, peeking, tapping, etc. In fighting games a new player needs a manual to understand what commentators are talking about, oki, option selects, mixups, AA’s, punish, and whatever unique proprietary mechanics the game has (burst, vtrigger, shadow meter, instinct, x factor.)

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Interesting thread.

I’ve read through everyone’s replies and i see a bunch of compelling arguments. The fighting game genre is a niche genre in the video game industry. It consistently as of late has not pulled in large numbers of customers like a variety of other video game genes With that being said, i believe there is truth to an absence of evolution for the genre as a whole.

A game i would like to keep to standard as a solid modern product of fighting games is INJUSTICE 2. I believe Netherrealm Studios does not get enough credit for developing refined video games that just so happen to be fighting games as well.

1). IT HAS IDENTITY (The Clash system, combo system, health system)

2). ONLINE CONNECTIVITY (netcode is REALLY GOOD, it runs fluid damn near most the time)

3). IT’S OUT-THE-BOX GOOD (this is probably the most important point to me, the game on day one release stands on it’s own as a complete package, a story mode to have fun with, a variety of non dlc characters, a rotation of fame modes to change the pace of your experience, etc.)

4). CONTINUED SUPPORT (the game gets active balance adjustments to characters based on community feedback and internal testing, also gets quality assurance and content added for fans to enjoy).

While there are many more examples i can list, I’ll leave it alone now to make my post easier to read. Conversely, the game listed above has flaws, but it’s apparent that a game that sells like Injustice 2 in the fighting game genre is few and far between every new fighting games release.

In my opinion, the future of fighting games is determined by what the masses deem a worthy day one product. There are too many fighting games that have failed the basic practice of impressing the audience on day one of its release. Even if they don’t feature a robust amount of game modes and cinematic story modes, they need to package themselves in ways that there audience doesn’t deem as inferior at first glance.

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exactly, i bring up FPS merely as a comparison for when people take defeats. fighting games theres nothing to blame other than someone lashing out in futility over “cheap tactics” or “not fighting with honor”.

i also have to further reinforce my opinion that training mode needs to be evolved further. you mentioning oki, AA, mix ups among other things gives me the idea that devs should perhaps add it in there. like a fighting games for dummies tutorial that gives new players the option to get a crash course by showing them situations.

i guess my whole point is if people knew more about wtf is going on, they would be more willing to jump in. im not advocating for it to get dumbed down either. but still, at the end of the day it takes a gamer who is competitive in nature to even walk through the door for online MP. fairweather and timid kinds of players wont go beyond arcade and story. FGs have a different kind of intensity than what theyre used to

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Thanks to everyone for their great and thoughtful responses. I want to jump back in and reflect on a few things.

First, I tend to agree with @R1stormrider that losing at a 1v1 fighter is more frustrating sndnoersonal than being bad at FPS games. In general I have a K:D ration of about 0.3 in FPS games but I can still have fun playing the objectives and hey, sometimes my team carries me. In the time it takes to play one of those games I might lose 10 matches at anfighting game and that feels way worse.

The other thing that is emerging is that we basically see support for two divergent styles of fighting game release. The first is a “full package” feature rich game thatbis conplete on launch. As @ItzTymeToDul points out this is exemplified by Injustice 2. Not only does that game have tons of content, it has tons of single player content. Even some really cool ideas like cooperative boss fights. I will be really interested to see where NRS goes next because I2 did okay but has underperformed compared to their last three releases. I would expect they pull back a bit for MK 11.

The other style of release is seasonal. This worked pretty well for KI but ranked for SF (partly because they charged full release price for Season 1). This is more of a “work in progress” model and isn’t going to be as full featured at launch.

I actually think both can work, but developers will have to choose one or the other. The industry is moving much more to the early release seasonal model, in general. But the evidence suggests that for fighting games it’s a tough sell. KI is the only “successful” release so far and it comes with a lot of caveats.

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I meant to pick up this thread and I never did. So, sorry if I’m taking the conversation backwards.

First, I have no doubt this is true and for many more people than just your friend. But here is the problem - you end up with a situation where you have to include the entire previous roster in every new release. And those characters really can’t change too much or their fans complain. So where is the innovation? You get a few new characters each iteration and the rosters became enormous. I’m not sure that’s sustainable. Although, to be fair, it works for Tekken.

My point wasn’t to say that a game needs to have every character in their roster in it’s history (I agree this would be a terribly difficult bar to hit), it was the emphasize that some of these things we consider trivial, characters/aesthetics/costumes are not for some people and quite often they can be deal breakers for them.

since it appears that rpg elements have taken to many game genres these days i wonder how that would be for FGs. honestly i been waiting for someone to take ps1 version of alpha 3 world warrior mode and running with it to new depths.

if riot truly is making a fighting game, you can bet theyll probably add rpg elements that is consistent in a way to LoL. how that would translate to a well balanced game i wouldnt know.

as it is, FGs are hard to balance even without modifiers. KI though somehow managed to be the most balanced fighting game i played in recent times despite its issues.

Yeah, I think you can use RPG elements for single player content (like shadow lords) or for aesthetic content (like injustice 2) or combine them (like Injustice 2 played without the competitive toggle). Giving people a reason to come back to it is a big deal and I think having some cool single player/cooperative/grinding content is a great idea.

Some of this is like FPS in that everyone knows that 99.99% of people’s game hours are in competitive multiplayer. But if the company leaves out single player modes there is a hue and cry on social media and the game gets a lot of negative press.

yeah they could even throw in mini games to train attacks, specials, and shadow/EX moves. itll build character stats, or doing trials issued by a dojo to earn attacks only available in that PvE mode (so balance wont be screwed with against live opponents). maybe even throw in quick time event type stuff to keep people on their toes. could also even add brawler elements like tekken force by making your character engaging opponents in a streetfight.

theres alot of things that can be done for single player and that can appeal to players who are intimidated or uninterested by fighting 1v1 online. can even add PvE coop. suddenly youre playing double dragon…but its KI.

I think that there are a few great things that are advancing the genre, as others have brought up:

Two way combo interaction: As many fighting games as I’ve played over the years, I must say that this is perhaps my favorite innovation to come along in a LONG time. Yes, the original KI had combo breakers, but adding the counter breaker, heck even the threat of it, has the potential to create a chess match where both sides feel armed, and getting opened up isn’t necessarily the end of the world.

I really hope that some other games out there will take this idea and run with it. Not all games, as I know that some really prefer things the old way, but a few. I’d love to see games that have more offensive and defensive options both outside of combos and in them as well. To me, that just makes it seem like more of a real fight / battle between two people, which I think adds something real and cool to what’s otherwise not overly realistic.

Give me more escapes, catch counter throws, combo reversals, combo and counter breakers etc that force each player to stay on their toes at all time and look for the right opening at all times, as opposed to “open up the opponent, get your bnb combo, repeat.” I think that alone opens the gameplay up in new and exciting ways.

Robust suite of single player options: As someone that grew up in arcades, yet doesn’t really play online much, this is huge. Sure, having great multiplayer options and great netcode are vital, but giving the individual reason to come back day after day beyond the gameplay and the characters only adds more layers to a game’s replayability.

I think that both KI and NRS absolutely nail this. You dole out a ton of achievable rewards, from colors and skins to single player arcade endings, customization items and faction wars stuff and you give people a ton of different ways to play and reasons to keep coming back. You address every aspect of your fanbase and you give your gaming experience more depth.

Story: I loved Mortal Kombat’s characters and story when I was a kid. I loved how dark and mysterious everything felt. But there weren’t a ton of games at the time that really put much in to their story. Nowadays though, developers seem to care more about the story they want to tell and what happens to characters before, during and after.

As someone that loves a good story, I think that a good story can add a lot to a game’s identity, it can add to whatever the developer wants you to feel about characters, and it can get a player invested in what happens, which also keeps them playing now and in the future with the next game and so on.

Upgrading Characters / RPG Elements: I still kinda see this as being in its infancy in the genre, but I could see this being a great direction for several games, or at least for a mode or two in many games. While I’m not really a fan of the gear system in Injustice or the multiverse mode, I think there’s something to be said for a mode that allows you to continually upgrade your characters in a variety of ways.

I’m not sure how this will play out in any future titles and I certainly hope it doesn’t lean far in the direction of loot boxes or purchasable upgrades, I do think that there’s a mode that perhaps combines the resource gathering and story elements of a Shadowlords type of mode with the sheer volume of outfit and stat upgrades the gear system allows for in Injustice 2.

Continuous Rewards: Mostly touched on this already, but modes that keep me coming back with the promise of unlocking more and more stuff, while maybe not overly novel in 2018, still feels like a fresh idea in the fighting genre and I really hope that fighters can keep going with this idea.

Shadowlords: I know that this is somewhat of a divisive mode around here, but I still think it’s one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen in a fighting game. I think that this mode set up a great foundation for future versions that I’m really hoping to see.

I’d love to see even more items, buffs, guardians, etc. More cutscenes, more variety in fights along the lines of shadow matches and multiple opponents, such as a massive Killer Instinct tournament that’s a story mode within Shadowlords, more ways of presenting a cohesive narrative, from comic pages to dossiers to cutscenes and more.

As I said above, I could also see this being a place where players could go to add more than stuff like accessories, maybe gain levels and have RPG stats, maybe even let players create their own stories and share them online… I don’t know, but the possibilities feel endless for the potential of this mode.


Anyways, sorry for another insanely long post, but I kinda feel like my first post was gloom and doom, so I wanted to come back in and share the idea that I do believe there have been some innovations and forward momentum in the genre that gives me hope for the future. Interesting things ARE happening, even the number of new IPs isn’t quite where I’d like to see it, plus a few other facets that make me worry for the future.

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