Category: Fighting Games

Reports have surfaced that Japanese video game studio SNK Playmore has been acquired by Ledo Millenium, a subsidiary of the Chinese investment firm Leyou Technologies. This was made possible by two separate companies, Oriental Securities and Shunrong Sanqi, investing in Ledo Millenium, allowing them to acquire majority control of SNK from former CEO Eikichi Kawasaki for $63.5 million USD.

Moving foward, Oriental Securities will act as the majority shareholder thanks to their control of 80% of the company, and it would appear as if they have big plans for the future.

Oriental Securities CEO Zheng Jianhui named the developer’s vast amount of intellectual property and their tie-in possibilities as the main impetus behind their purchase, mentioning that they hope to follow Marvel’s lead and expand SNK’s presence in comics, movies, and television in addition to video games.

With SNK’s rather disappointing focus on pachislot development in recent years, this news could definitely provide a shift to more proactive work on their fighting game series as well as introduce a whole new generation to franchises like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, and King of Fighters.

Sources: Shunrong Sanqi, Sina, Yicai, hksilicon via Dream Cancel, Reuters via MMCafe

It’s impossible to deny the popularity of NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat X. On top of breathing life into its own sector of the competitive fighting scene, the game brings buckets of blood for the masses who prefer mashing to calculated bouts of footsies; in short, it has a little something for everyone.

A recent report from Fortune gives gamers a more concrete sense of just how popular the game has proven to be in the first half of 2015 with a list of the top-selling video games, courtesy of information direct from The NPD Group, who tracks such things. Mortal Kombat X ranks in at number one.

This chart tracks sales of games in the first six months of the year, regardless of when they released. That means heavy hitters like Minecraft made the list, as did other titles that saw release prior to 2015, including Nintendo’s newest Super Smash Bros. run.

While the list offers an accurate glimpse of retail sales, according to Fortune, it “does not include hard figures for digital sales directly from game platforms like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.” With this in mind, the folks at Chicagoist, in their report, wondered whether or not downloadable content sales were included when figuring out the rankings. This is a good question, and is certainly something that would have affected the outcome of the sales of most titles that made the list, but to what degree?

It’s not that Mortal Kombat X could have transcended the first place slot and found itself in 0th place–that doesn’t exist–but the sales of characters, skin packs, and, hell, even those easy fatality tokens would have likely done a fair amount of work to ensure that title’s dominance. Let’s see if it has enough staying power to last through the rest of the year.

Source: Fortune via Chicagoist

Early this morning, Arc System Works announced that they will be bringing Skullgirls 2nd Encore to Japan. Developed by Lab Zero Games, this updated release of their original indie fighter brings the action to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, bundling together a variety of post-release content made possible by a successful crowdfunding campaign.

2nd Encore is set to include full Japanese voice work upon arriving in the east, but don’t hold your breath if you’re hoping for this audio to show up in the North American version. Rights for those kinds of things can get pretty expensive.

There’s currently no word as to when players can expect Skullgirls 2nd Encore to drop in Japan, so stay tuned for more details.

Sources: Arc System Works, Lab Zero Games, tips via meja, Kongk4, and Wenzel

After five separate events in years past, the folks over at Versus Gameplay are ready to present yet another weekend of exciting competition at Absolute Battle 6 this September. With a wide variety of games and high-level production courtesy of PandaxGaming, Texas is sure to have another hit on their hands.

In addition to qualifiers for Killer Instinct and Dead or Alive 5 Last Round’s respective tours, Absolute Battle 6 will feature tournaments for Ultra Street Fighter IV (with an additional $1000 pot bonus), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Mortal Kombat X, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND. And with PxG in attendance, you can also expect a handful of exciting exhibitions courtesy of their Ultimate Fight Night series.

Online registration is currently open, and players who register before September 14 will receive an Absolute Battle 6 shirt and custom player card.

Absolute Battle 6 is scheduled for September 25-27. More details can be found through the official website.

Source: Versus Gameplay

With all the excitement surrounding Microsoft’s announcement of a third season of Killer Instinct content, one key piece of information might have been lost in the shuffle for all you crazed Battletoads fans out there.

Though the Rash reveal was crazy in and of itself, some official sources described Killer Instinct season three as having multiple guest characters show up during season three while others didn’t, leading some puzzle over the lack of parity. Fortunately, creative director Adam Isgreen was quick to answer a fan’s question concerning this matter, confirming that the fighting frog won’t be the only cameo in the upcoming season.

So, the question remains: who else is there? Feel free to let us know who you want to see make an appearance in Killer Instinct in the comments below.

Killer Instinct season three is being developed by Iron Galaxy Studios with a planned released date of March 2016.

Source: Adam Isgreen