The future for fighting games genre?

Does anyone feel the fighting game genre is gonna die in the future?

I feel Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter & Tekken aren’t doing well… story-wise. Soulcalibur went bad.

I feel fighting games are more popular than they ever were, and alot more quality is expected from them now.

Warning: Long post ahead…

Fighting games had for a loooong time been seen as a genre for “competitive players” only, and had thus intimidated the casual crowd away from it. However, in the last few years, fighting game developers have made their games more appealing to casual players by adding more modes and made the learning curve less steep. I personally think Mortal Kombat was one of the first ones to become more available to the casual crowd, both with the gameplay, but also by adding some fun offline and single-player modes which can be played in their living rooms with friends.

After Mortal Kombat (MK9), storytelling in fighting games has become more and more prevelant and are more or less seen as an expectation of the genre, and a certain quality is expected as well. Mortal Kombat has always had a developing story throughout the series which got a bigger focus in the later games, and with MK9’s Story Mode, it has become one of the biggest focal points of the single-player experience.

Since Street Fighter 2, Arcade endings have been a fighting game standard, though games like Virtua Fighter haven’t bothered with such and though it is a good technical fighting game, it is still seen as sub-par due to the lack of content. A bare-bones fighting game just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Other fighting games like Tekken, Dead or Alive 5, Soul Calibur V, King of Fighters, Blazblue and Guilty Gear have dabbled with story modes as well, but I personally think Mortal Kombat is still in the lead of that part. Even a game like Street Fighter V is soon coming out with a Story Mode as well.

And because there is something like this as part of the single-player experience, the genre has brought in a lot more of the casual gamers which is what is necessary for fighting games to become more mainstream and popular - which is also pivotal to the game’s survival. However, the leading fighting games have not compromised on the gameplay aspect, so it doesn’t hurt the experience for the competitive players.

Another point is what Killer Instinct has been doing - evolving as a game over time while releasing seasons, adding more and more content as long people support it. This was very intimidating at first, as we did not see a “complete” game when it launched, which took some time for alot of people to get used to, but over time the game grew and become more of a complete experience. However, this was done out of necessity, due to Microsoft wanted the game to be a launch title for the Xbox One, and the devs simply did not have the time to complete the game before the deadline.

Now Street Fighter V is doing the same, Capcom wanting the game out so competitive players could practise before EVO. This has hurt the experience for the more casual players though, as the game was lacking content at release. However, because I have already seen how KI has grown over time, I am also being patient with SFV as that grows as well, more modes and characters being added over time.

However, alot of people seem to expect a complete game at the game’s release, and everything else added to it afterwards to be “extra goods”. So it can be a very dangerous practise to do it like KI and SFV has been doing, and from what I’ve read on different fighting game forum, the community is afraid that it will become a standard practise for fighting games.

I personally don’t mind it that much, though I must admit that the lack of content on a game’s release can feel rather disappointing - especially if the game comes at full price like SFV did. That said, Capcom releases the lacking modes and DLC characters FOR FREE, as in not for an additional fee, so that the game can feel more complete and worth the full price.

TLDR; No, I don’t think the fighting game genre is going to die out any time soon, as long the developers keep adding content to their games that not only appeals to the competitive crowd, but also the casual crowd which makes up most of the videogame market.

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What about the characters? I mean aren’t fighters suppose to have like martial arts? I mean look at Tekken 6 & 7 and Street Fighter V. Some of the fighters’ fighting styles aren’t real.

I feel fighting games in the old days, aren’t like Bloodsport anymore.

Okay I’m talkin’ martial arts films.

Bloodsport? King of the Kickboxers? Jackie Chan? Bruce Lee?

I was actually thinking about this today.

Short post ahead.

2d fighters are kind of like chess. Or more like Starcraft 2. As changes are more likely to happen in SC2 than chess.
But all the special moves, supers, gamemodes, type of attacks so on & so forth have all basically been done. It is extremely hard to come up with new, interesting & fun systems.

Improving graphics, changing rosters & maybe storymodes & characters stories will probably change the most in future fighting games.

As long as E-sport & youtubers still are active among the scene & new & updated games are coming I don’t know when or how it will die again.

I think it all depends on the game. Games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter are more rooted in real-life fighting styles, while Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat just take inspiration from them and make up their own styles.

I like it either way.
A fighting game doesn’t need to be 100% realistic. I mean, these games contain fireballs, monsters and magic as well, so their fighting styles don’t need to be 100% correct to any real-life style.

Fighting games are actually more popular then they have been since the 90s. Ever since the arcade generation back in the 1990’s and Street Fighter 3 not having a financial success, the fighting game Community has struggled to get back in the prominence of video game industry.

I think with the recent releases of the reboot of Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat X, also Street Fighter 4, the fighting game Community has thrived and the casual market loves these games.

Even with the potential hype of Tekken 7 fated retribution and King of Fighters 14, fighting games are getting big Triple-A releases. This means that they are at the Forefront again.

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I disagree with this sentiment. KI’s S2 has proven this, with effective thinking outside the box from the devs at IG by offering us characters like Aganos and ARIA, for example. What they can, and will likely do, is take something that already exists and try it a little bit differently in an interesting way - they did this by taking the concept of armor to the next level with Aganos (as well as stage boundaries) and taking the concept of how life bars work to the next level with ARIA. This, I think, is what will help fighting games, as well as their characters, stay pertinent in the video gaming world in the years to come.

When you really think about it, this is kind of how KI was born too. Combos came long before KI, but KI decided to do something a bit differently with the concept of combos, and in doing so, made it far more interesting and engaging to the players. That’s a large part of why it’s still relevant today - nobody else was (and still isn’t, I might add) doing it.

Fighting games are in the limelight much more in the last few years than they have been for a long time, it seems.
Games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Killer Instinct have reemerged and taken the world by storm, and that’s not even getting into the appeal something simple like Smash has. While not as popular as your typical AAA annual franchises like Call of Duty, Madden, Assassin’s Creed, etc, these games have developed dedicated and tight knit communities around the world.
I mean, Mortal Kombat X was one of the best selling games last year. Killer Instinct has proved successful enough that even after 20 years of dormancy it’s gotten nearly 3 years of regular updates to system mechanics, graphics, and of course character variety. Maybe it’s just been a change in my perspective, but fighting games seem to be getting pretty big compared to the early 2000’s. EVO gets bigger each year, even if the prize pots and attendance don’t match things like Starcraft or League of Legends.

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I don’t think fighting games will ever die, because the competitive gameplay of two people competing against each other is pretty compelling - and usually pretty fun.

The 2D fighter came pretty darn close to dying in the late 90’s early 2000’s. People became enamored with 3D graphics and the fighters followed that trend. MK went 3D (badly - although a few of those games sold ok) and only 3D games like Tekken and Soul Calibur were in active production. SF IV changed this by making a game with 3D graphics in a 2D plane and really revitalized the 2D fighting genre. MK 9 followed suit.

It looks like MK has figured out a formula that works for them - lots of single player content for their casual fans coupled with all the MK gore that attracts a casual (i.e. non tournament) audience. Capcom is stumbling focusing on tournament players first. But I think it’s a bit early to write off the genre.

It’s tough to know how KI is really doing and what level of support the franchise will get after S3. MS makes decisions that are puzzling to me - so I could see them killing the thing the second S3 ends or carrying it for another ten years.

But there is plenty of hope. Looking at games like SkullGirls and Rising Thunder, I don’t think there will ever be a time when there is nothing in the fighting game genre to look at.

can’t forget the Naruto: Ninja Storm series, those games are crazy man

or like Smash Bros which I heard I kinda popular

IMO we are right in the middle of a second golden age of fighting games. MKX, SFV, KI, Tekken 7, Skullgirls, Blazblu, Guilty Gear, KOF14, Rising Thunder, Sm4sh etc. all released in a matter of a couple years. This is great for the fighting genre. Not to mention that fighters are doing well in esports, people are tuning into streams for fighters, EVO and its attendance numbers is only getting bigger and bigger every year etc.

I think the fighting genre is doing great right now and it’s future is looking pretty bright as well.

And after that I also said “It is extremely hard to come up with new, interesting & fun systems”. I actually had Aganos in mind while I was typing that :slight_smile:
And somehow I quoted myself and not you :S Goodnight!