Fans of the fighting genre are going to be quite busy in the coming weeks and months. Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown just launched, and Guilty Gear Strive is coming soon as well. Meanwhile, when SNK unveiled The King of Fighters 15 earlier this year, they set a late 2021 launch date for it- but specifically in that case, we’re going to have to wait a little bit longer for that.
SNK has announced that The King of Fighters 15 has been pushed back from its 2021 launch window, and is now targeting Q1 2022 release. The reason? Pretty much the same reason as virtually every other game delay these days days. In a message announcing the delay, the fighter’s producer Yasuyuki Oda stated that COVID-related challenges have affected the game’s development.
“There are many fans who are anticipating the release of KOF XV in 2021, however at this point in time, we unfortunately have to announce that KOF XV will now be launching within the 1st quarter of 2022,” Oda wrote. “The development timeline we set out to reach in the beginning has been affected by the ever-still rising cases of COVID-19 within Japan. We have made the ultimate decision in the end that the product’s quality must come first, and so with that decision comes an altered release window.”
So far, SNK hasn’t confirmed what platforms the game is going to launch for either.
From Terry Bogard and Iori Yagami to Mai Shiranui to many more, a number of characters from The King of Fighters 15’s roster have been revealed so far. Stay tuned for more updates.