During the ongoing Tokyo Game Show, Sega had something rather unexpected to show off. Did Virtua Fighter 6 just get teased? With a new teaser trailer and website, it looks like. As the official website that popped after the announcement says, Virtua Fighter “will be restarted as an esports title to commemorate the 60th anniversary of SEGA’s establishment.”
The one-minute teaser does include a few little sprinkles for hardcore fans, like mixing in the audio of the classic Virtua Fighter “Press Start” sound effect, but it’s lacking some meat on its bones. The future certainly does look bright, if unpredictable.
As to what that means, it’s very much unclear. The teaser does include the line “Virtua Fighter x esports.” But what that could turn into has not been announced.
Having fighting games and Esports finally bleed together would be a boon for both genres. Fighting games have exploded in popularity in the last decade, becoming a huge investment and passion for millions, and a yearly spectacle for the community around them. That is still eclipsed by the multi-million dollar industry that is Esports. Fighting games latching onto this subset of competitive competition could help push the genre to improve in areas where it’s sorely needed.
People are tired of networking issues and how constant they are. Gamers are fed up with a lack of substantive new content, even for the most popular fighting games. Maybe the infusion of new blood into the sport can help push publishers to pay attention and support the lifestyle al little more. Sega could just be getting ahead of the game here, so to speak, by pushing for more inclusion into Esports for what could possibly be Virtua Fighter 6.
