Over 18 years after Virtua Fighter 5 launched, Sega has finally confirmed that a new installment of the series is in development.
Justin Scarpone, executive VP and head of Sega’s Global Transmedia Group, told VGC in a new interview, “So we have a suite of titles in development right now that fall into that legacy bucket, which we announced last year at The Game Awards; Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, and we have another Virtua Fighter being developed.
“And so all that’s very exciting. And then, in certain instances, we’re also doing animation series or live-action films to augment that and be part of those roadmaps.”
Further details are pending, but there have been rumors about the next Virtua Fighter over the past few months. Reportedly rebooting the series, it will seemingly compete with Tekken and Street Fighter, focusing more on esports and online play (with crossplay and rollback netcode). Ranked matches are more akin to contemporary fighters, with streaming and spectating being important.
Offline modes still reportedly exist, including a new main story and the return of Quest Mode (which will see some changes). The characters also seemingly have a more modern style.
When it will be released remains to be seen, but given how Sega announced all its reboots at last year’s The Game Awards, this year may belong to Virtua Fighter. Stay tuned for updates until then.