Sega announced a new Virtua Fighter project during a Tokyo Game Show livestream on Friday, but the nature of that project isn’t yet clear. Sega’s calling it “Virtua Fighter x esports.”
What is clear is that Sega did not explicitly announce a new Virtua Fighter game (i.e. Virtua Fighter 6). On the project’s official website, Sega says Virtua Fighter “will be restarted as an esports title to commemorate the 60th anniversary of SEGA’s establishment.” A teaser video shows mostly footage of Virtua Fighter fighting game tournaments and ends with a shot of Akira Yuki, the face of the fighting franchise.
What does seem evident is that Sega is focusing on the competitive angle for its new Virtua Fighter project, a la Puyo Puyo eSports (aka Puyo Puyo Champions), its tournament-focused puzzle game. We’ve reached out to Sega for more details about the Virtua Fighter x esports announcement and will update this story with any new details.
The most recent entry in the fighting game franchise, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, was released in arcades in 2010, and ported to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is playable in the virtual arcades of several games in Sega’s Yakuza series.
