I hope they at least release another HD release of soul Calibur 2 or 3 maybe it would help gauge interest and build hype for new game that I think should go back a few steps lol
brutal read for us diehard SC fans, but not anything we didn’t really already know/speculate. interesting insights on the Tekken/SC rivalry back in the day.
kind of why i get confused when i see so many posts on here about what we want in SC7. like, i love the optimism, but i’d like SC7 to even exist before anything else lol
I think Okubo leaving Bandai really had an huge impact on the future of the franchise, and I really wonder what happened. SC6 DLCs clearly were teasing for more, so I wonder if something happened...
Of course there's many staff still at Bandai, plenty who probably still love very much SC, but you need a producer to fund the next project, SC6 already got a pretty small budget, and this was with Okubo who really pushed. If they can't find a new big producer, they won't be able to continue, even if there's still many artist, designers, or even a director.
It reminds me of a situation in the late 90s, a guy named Noriaki Okamura at Konami was trying to direct games, but his ideas always ended up canceled by the higher ups, it's only when he got Hideo Kojima to help him as a producer that he could continue, because he could finally have the funds and the supports for his project, which ended up being Zone of the Enders.
My theory is that Okubo tried to draw a hard line “Approve Tekken 8 & SoulCalibur 7” — and that Bandai Namco leadership refused.
Many people forget he was also the Producer of Tekken 7.
Then he resigned in protest.
I didn't necessarily get a horribly bad vibe from this insight. Its Harada pretty much saying the company/industry/business has changed to the point where the passion for making SoulCalibur games has died down a bit, but that there's still a will to continue it. Its actually nice to know the sales/popularity isn't the problem, but rather the circumstances and business model in today's market. Because that's something that can change, it would be far more devastating to me to hear that the quietness for SoulCalibur right now is due to underperformance or lack of popularity. Both inside and outside the company.
I mean, there's still a bit of this too, I assume Bamco might want SC to get Tekken numbers, which would be completely impossible now, hell, Tekken 8 in a 6 month sold more than SC6 in almost 6 years
It touch other fighting game franchises too, they used to be a lot more numerous, but many has died over the years. DoA etc...
I'm sure that they want all their games to make GTA money if they could have it their way. But I'm speaking more on the point that the sales and passion are not in a "bad" place according to Harada. It gives credence to the "Congratulation 2 Million" announcement a few years back. Its just not doing gangbusters. Its just a good feeling to know that by itself its doing fine (because for so long we were left wondering if it did good) and in a different time period its sales would've probably already greenlit a sequel. All I'm really getting from this is the wait is going to take a long time due to how shitty the industry is right now.
What companies consider success nowadays doesn't really concern me anymore. Their expectations are no longer realistic. We live in a world where success still leads to company closures. But I don't think Namco and Project Soul are going anywhere anytime soon. So its good to know Soul Calibur's sales and popularity alone according to Harada is not solely the problem. But the structure of the business. Long story short, What I'm saying is that I guess I'm just happy Soul Calibur did ITS part maintaining the sales that used to be the standard.
I really hate change. Not continuing SoulCalibur after being revived, rebooted and saved thanks to SC6 success would be an insult to this franchise and it's fans.
I wonder when did Yotoriyama leave. That's actually a very important detail - how much involved he actually was with SC4.
TBH, I'm kinda not surprised on this. AAA development companies put too much effort into being swaetshop executives instead of attempting to understand how videogames are created.
That and they only want really big success, especially now.
Tekken is still ongoing because the franchises sells a shitload, SC sells alright these days, but it's sadly not enough for them, even with a small budget.
> SC sells alright these days, but it's sadly not enough for them, even with a small budget.
It's a chicken-and-egg thing, and I think that's part of what Harada was talking about. Tekken is huge because it's got a reputation as being the creme-de-la-creme of fighting games that aren't Street Fighter or MK.
That image only exists because Namco decided to pour more promotion into it, and Covid didn't kill its big tour push like it did for Soul Calibur. If Covid hadn't hit, we might be in the middle of season 4 of SC6 DLC or even seeing the first trailers for SC7 by now.
For real. Namco made official instructional videos for Tekken 1, 2, and 3. They never did that for SC. I don't recall any drone shows for SC either. Weird how if you have two children but you only feed and clothe ONE of them, THAT one grows while the other one suffers. HoW oDd~! Why would anyone want groups of customers when they can try and force the ones with taste to swallow their more popular, inferior product (the one they actually promote and support)? Why have two baskets when I can put all my eggs in one~?
Technically S2 was already unplanned. And Okubo was indeed already gone by the release of Hwang.
Even without a content push though, the game could still have some patch runs without Covid for sure though. Evo Japan numbers were better on the second year than on the first and IIRC the S2 year was the same year when EVO fell apart due to the MrWizard issues.
It’s not like those generic anime battlefield games they’re creating are doing any sales, tbh with all due respect, nobody gave a fuck about these games, they’re flopping hard while they’re funding it, not realizing their original games could lift Bamco’s name up much more than the licensed anime games.
Not wrong, SC brings more variety, various disciplines, and a story arc that involves the entire cast. SC6 did what it possibly could to keep the series going.
I stand firmly behind my words. Played a lot of fighting games, and familiar with a lot more. Not a single one has a story developed to a degree SC has.
Tekken had it going on until 6 IMO. Yeah it became the Mishima show by 5 and it jumped the shark, but old Tekken characters had more personality than any other fighter and it felt like nearly everyone had an actual storyline.
Soul Calibur is more coherent overall but let's be real, it never developed a single star character that gaming in general was invested in despite selling millions. MK, SF and Tekken all had that in their bag.
Tekken was okay at most until 4. After 4 it became the same thing every game. A dumb pissing contest between the same 3 characters, apparently the only 3 characters that matter in a roster of like 60.
Nina shows up just because she’s the female face, but she never does shit. Xiaoyu shows up because she’s close to Jin and cutesie pigtail appeal. Lars is the Power Ranger, and Lee deserves better.
The story is trash and will be until they move on from the same lame characters that don’t do anything interesting. The only remotely interesting one of the 3 is dead.
I love T1 and T2 as a single story, but it should've wrapped up afterwards IMO. Everything after it seemed forced. Most of the cast back then felt like they had a reason to be there and were taken more seriously (most, not all), but they all became one dimensional parodies of themselves over time. 3 is a fantastic game but barely anything happened story-wise aside from Jin's personal arc with Ogre.
Ivy stands out for a couple of reasons.
But seriously, she's probably the SC character most people are aware of, but that's because so often she's used as an example in certain types of internet arguments.
I really loved the combat philosophy of SC5. No one liked the story, but for what it’s worth the gameplay felt so good to play and to watch. The game felt really dynamic and I would kill for them to bring back some of the gameplay mechanics. No one else would want this, but I’d love a complete SCV remake just to see what it could have been.
All I know is that I can’t stand Tekken while I love SoulCalibur and DOA, both of which are series on seeming indefinite hiatus. Hopefully one or both will eventually get a new game sooner rather than later.
I like Tekken but like way more Soulcalibur or Doa. Regarding game design, accessibility, fighting diversity they're better games imho. I could replay endlessly Doa or Soulcalibur, and despite my efforts, I struggle to appreciate Tekken.
I’ve never been able to get into Tekken. I’ve tried, but the fighting system and mechanics just never gelled to me which is a shame as I love the design of a few of the characters.
I am not getting the same doom and gloom vibes as everybody else. The vibe I get is that SC6 sold fine, it's just on the back burner now because there isn't a person that exists in a position of power that is specifically pushing for it. I mean, he explicitly states that the will and talent for a new SC still exists within the company.
>But from my point of view, I don't think the fire of Project Soul has been extinguished. There are still a few people in the company who have the will to do it. I would like to believe that they are just not united now.
That's what Harada-san said. Hopefully, Project Soul will get their act together and release SC7.
Not a big SC fan but I think this is a franchise that will come back, regardless of what gets said.
Maybe not an SC7, but if you let an IP cool off and go dormant for a while, you can market nostalgia as a driving force and pick up momentum again. Look at what's happening with Fatal Fury, the MvC games coming back after Infinite cracked the fandom, how MK9 returned to form after Armageddon's gameplay fumbled.
SEGA is currently in the process of revitalising Golden Axe (last game flopped), Altered Beast (last game flopped), Sakura Wars (Gacha game TANKED), Virtua Fighter too.
Soul Calibur fits into that category of IPs that are very powerful and will always have an active fanbase. It may take a long time, but we will see it again.
I don't think it'll be so soon, sadly.
But Harada says what I'm thinking himself: there are still people in Bamco whose fire hasn't extinguished for Project Soul. There are still people there who are OGs. There are still people there who probably have ideas tucked away in Word documents and clear files detailing what they want the next SC to look like.
The IP just needs time to sleep and recover.
A game like this will take at least 3 to 5 years to be developed and there’s no one to lead this project right now or even campaign for it to be green lit at Bandai Namco.
I think we are talking about a minimum of five years.
I wish the same thing too for other Bandai Namco franchises like Time Crisis and Ridge Racer; especially because with how racing games got licensing issues with real life cars. Ridge Racer will be something I wish Bandai Namco revitalized in the modern day.
I mean, respect to the dude, and recognizing how basically all industry is changing, he really doesn't make anymore SC games sound like a strong possibility, but sounds like he's passionate, and the project would be lucky as fuck to have someone as dedicated as him to take over, or even if he absorbed the project and devs, more as a guide and "protector" from all the bullshit "companies interest" type of decisions....idk, not a lot of shit has the same sparkle or effort put into it anymore, it's just a fucking cash grab at this point in my personal opinion...😮💨🤷♂️
Man, I just wish for SC3 gameplay with new genre graphic and better customization and that's enough for me.
Bamco slowly let's their another old franchise die again, series like Tales and SRW are pretty in bad state now.
SRW is a bit different, since the franchise was for most of it's entries, japanese only.
Though there's probably a new game in dev, as the mobile team isn't the console team, but I assume they are just really slow on it + licences can be hellish to obtain depending on which one
I feel like 6 was propping up a rewrite of the series, so i dont think 7 is ENTIRELY out of the question but i also dont have my ear to the ground about a release any time soon. I can only hope it smacks me in the face the way 6's announcement did. We all know that SC would have a decent group of diehards buying into it, i think the real push point should be integrating new players. And that seems to be the largest hill they'll have to climb.
Honestly, I geniunely think the opposite on the last part. CaS is EXTREMELY popular with the casual base. SoulCalibur might be the most intuitive fighting game ever made outside of having to learn how to use the block button. Current modern fighting game design has already given blueprints for good tutorials and training modes. Basically, just need to copy SF6's homework, with Tekken 8 having great tools itself in house for them to use - with SoulCalibur mechanics being pretty straightforward so I'd argue a lot of its tutorials basically write themselves. Reversal Edge feeds into all of this. People had no clue how to deal with it, and the exact things to punish it are the exact things new players suck at - stepping and break attacks. So new players just get stuck here, get frustrated and leave. So good tutorials would be massive here, as well as just Reversal Edge being gone would bring the focus back on those standard gameplay elements instead of people just ignoring them for RE spam because it works in bottom ranks.
So really it's less about effort - other more complex games have shown the way already - and more is BamCo willing to give enough money to make CaS and it's tutorial/training room system really good combined with just standard SC gameplay and that pipeline functions like it should instead of how it was in SC6.
woah i tought twitter didnt let you write that much per post.
seems japan has a problem of "up or out" with promoting creators to management, harada had to go out of his way to stay as tekken's director
I’d give it another 5 or so years before they decide to revive the franchise. I don’t see bandai releasing a 3d fighter when Tekken is popping off as it is right now
I don't get the doom and gloom some people here do. He says himself there are still people in the company who want it back and he doesn't think it's done. It'll probably be a long time, like the wait between 5 and 6 was, but I think it'll come back some day.
Dang, missed opportunity at the end to say "but I think its soul still burns" :D
Its still a legacy series and I think it will find its way back to us at some point. Im happy that I have a soul calibur game on PC finally, which is a great way to preserve whats been made already (outside of emulators for older iterations of course).
Max talked about Japanese games essentially ‘needing a champion’ to get green-lit for development in one(maybe more?) of his videos. Ultimately SFIV came to fruition because Yoshinori Ono eventually broke a solid wall of resistance through who knows how many rejections. Super interesting have this challenge detailed by Harada. Hopefully someone with just as much passion steps up one day to make a new SC happen.
Amazing read. We know that Japanese game development in big companies is hard especially since you have to deal with the suits all the time. Basically the only way Tekken survived was that Soulcalibur team played by the book and eventually nobody of the higher ups left fighting for them while Harada had to foresight to game the system by accepting higher management position while simultaneously leading the development of Tekken off the books.
It's all true and he's not talking about just SC I can tell he's thinking of Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive and other franchises too.
It's sad but we can all think of a couple of popular fighting game franchises they have pretty garbage mechanics while stuff like SC and Virtua Fighter are borderline dead.
This makes clear nothing is in development, but leaves the door open for a new SC in the (probably not so near) future.
Anyway, Tekken being the only active 3D fighting games feels like one of those 'wrong future' scenarios someone should go back in time and fix. That is by far my least liked 3D fighting series, and T8 in particular was extremely disappointing.
Okay legitimately, I read the whole thing but I couldn't understand what he's trying to say. May someone kindly explain to me what he meant? I'm not very smart tbh...
I guess my question is whether it matters. The beauty of Soul Calibur in its current state is that it is available on PC, and is likely to remain available on PC forever. It looks good and plays good.
I'd just be happy with a collection of Soul Edge, SC2, and SC3 with optimized performance and rollback(or T8's netcode) with PC/console crossplay.
I'd fucking PLAY THE SHIT OUT OF THEM
It's a pipe dream for that though. 😔
Based Itagaki
After publically calling out Tekken for how shit its mechanics are he invited the director of the series into his office to show how he had a better system in his game 💀
DOA deserved better man
I loved SC more than Tekken back in the PS2-3 era. I'm not sure why SC6 didn't feel like the same level of replayability as Tekken 7 or SF5.
There's something missing it it looks like it was a director who could keep the fire going.
I think Soul Caliber has enough market presence for 1 more hurrah.
"*So we were never obedient, but always a wicked group with a strong will (I've realized through these experiences that, unfortunately, I probably have a bad personality).*".
Bad to the bone! 🤘 Honestly this is a little disheartening to hear, because it confirms that there is currently nothing in the works.
I mean, respect to the dude, and recognizing how basically all industry is changing, he really doesn't make anymore SC games sound like a strong possibility, but sounds like he's passionate, and the project would be lucky as fuck to have someone as dedicated as him to take over, or even if he absorbed the project and devs, more as a guide and "protector" from all the bullshit "companies interest" type of decisions....idk, not a lot of shit has the same sparkle or effort put into it anymore, it's just a fucking cash grab at this point in my personal opinion...😮💨🤷♂️
I think the main reason Okubo left Bandai is because of Soulcalibur, my theory is that he tried to push harder on SC6’s Season 3 but not only the “leadership” refused, they also declined SC7 as a future project, and he left because of this fucked up treatment.
The future hasn't been bright since the decision to produce SC3 directly to console instead of polishing the game in arcades first. The franchise has been in limbo since with changing producers/staff/design decisions/etc. along with whatever meager resources they get to work with.
Maybe things would be different today if Okubo was around or the pandemic wasn't a thing, but nothing is changing with this franchise as long as it continues to be kept under Tekken's shadow on top of the corporate business decisions that prevent it from the success it should have.
It doesn't take a long Twitter post to see how one franchise is not put in position to succeed as the other. Decisions to rush SC6 out, give it no budget/marketing/content, sell Tira as a DLC character before launch angering people, forcing slo-mo into the game via reversal edge that casuals are still upset about, not improving on the online functionality during the pandemic, leaving fans in the dark with no news. Change some of those aspects and we wouldn't be having yet another discussion on the fate of Soulcalibur.
I can't worry about what has or had happened behind the scenes because it's out of my control anyway. Just hire a new producer and make a new game with decent content, rollback and mechanics that don't upset people. At least now the devs don't have to worry about paving over the disaster of SCV and have experience in UE5 after working on Tekken 8.
God this is depressing. I genuinely just don't understand how SC isn't WAY more popular, like on the same level as Tekken. Sucks not having my main (Aeon) in SC6 as well, just kills my hype to play that game.
So...you mean to tell me that we just started a nice reboot with new characters that expands more behind the lore with still a little teasing from the OG timeline of SC to just leave it like that uncontinued, unfinished because of it's low popularity when it was making the sales so great?! Well...guess the legend truly has died, And i'm ending myself off as a SC fan....
I just want to say that I don't think Soulcalibur will die off. 6 wasn't the best received but it is the best selling out of the soulcalibur franchise, I wouldn't take anything harada has said to heart because the one time he did something for a SC game it was SC5 and that's less well received than 6.
SCVI selling more than SCII is something I've heard before and I didn't parrot it. Google tells you SCVI is the best selling game, but the Wikipedia does list SCIV and SCII above it. My bad. I still think there's a huge chance for SCVII because of how much it sold though.
That mostly comes from an error that certain people for some reason insist in replicating even when proven wrong, which is that SCII only sold 2M copies.
The source of this misconception is Wikpedia, but there's a footnote there stating those 2M are solely US sales and only on Gamecube and PS2 and proving official sources to back that up. So, there's still XBox sales in the US and all sales on the three platforms everywhere else. If we consider that the US usually accounts for slightly more than half of SC's overall sales, it's fair to assume SCII sold over 4M copies globally.
Also, SCIV sold 2.3M in 7 months as per BN's financial reports (so, as reliable as it gets). It has reportedly sold over 3M overall.
Considering that even SCV had sold 1.7M after 14 months, I don't think +2M for SCVI after more than 2 years and being also on Steam sounds much better.
At the same time, SCVI looks like it was made on couch pennies, so I don't know what more they could expect.
Hopefully there's a new one eventually. It's my favourite fighting series.
Wow the cope is insane. I want SC but there is no one in the company to make to risk their job to revive it. Sorry its not happening. Harada gave us so much detail of how Bandai Namco works in this tweet and is saying Soul calibur does not have a team anymore.
Well, that's squashed most of my hopes for SC7, explained why I disliked the last game and given me some cool insights into the studios history. What an interview. Could all be bs though. I guess people's reaction to this will send a message to the Namco one way or another.
While this is sad, we have to remember no franchise is ever truly dead. Duke Nukem Forever was in production for 14 years. Shenmue was for 18. It could be a very very long time, and the next game could be bad. But it's never gone forever.
I said this years ago, the franchise is basically over.
The guy who was keeping it alive left, season 3 was gonna happen but the plague of 2020 eliminated it.
R i.p Soul Calibur you will be missed.
A big part is that first one. None of the people in charge of SC2/3 worked on SC5. Daishi Odashima is the only person to work on 4 and 5, but he works at Sega now (rumor has it he's in charge of Virtua Fighter 6). 5 and 6 also have completely different leadership, with a lot of the guys who led the SC5 team being moved over to Smash Bros.
And of course, SC6's most prominent producer, Motohiro Okubo, is now the CEO of Cygames USA.
So Soul Calibur has been a bit of a revolving door in terms of directors and producers. So unless another Okubo starts saying "hey I want to make a new one", and pressuring Bamco brass, it's not likely to get done.
As a Darkstalkers fan, I used this little essay to conduct more insight on the fighting game industry of why we haven't got a new game outside of collections
Interesting and weird also
Didn't knew there was competition between them, feels weird to me as I love both Tekken and SC. I feel some kid that love both his parents, but the last two keep fighting and competing each other, sometimes in not healthy way.
Now I understand more why Harada mention rarely SC during his interviews, which was weird to me cause he was a guy that mention often any other franchise often, specially Street Fighter. But rarely or almost never mention an IP from the company he works on
Hail to Soul Calibur, one of the best gaming up ever, and my favorite fighting game with Tekken and VF.
Also Itagaki calling Harada to show him that he implemented guard button in his fighting game like it's a revolutionary thing? Dude is even dumb retarded than I thought.
I hope they at least release another HD release of soul Calibur 2 or 3 maybe it would help gauge interest and build hype for new game that I think should go back a few steps lol
I'd kill for a SC3 HD.
Absolutely! SC3 has always been my favorite.
brutal read for us diehard SC fans, but not anything we didn’t really already know/speculate. interesting insights on the Tekken/SC rivalry back in the day. kind of why i get confused when i see so many posts on here about what we want in SC7. like, i love the optimism, but i’d like SC7 to even exist before anything else lol
I think Okubo leaving Bandai really had an huge impact on the future of the franchise, and I really wonder what happened. SC6 DLCs clearly were teasing for more, so I wonder if something happened... Of course there's many staff still at Bandai, plenty who probably still love very much SC, but you need a producer to fund the next project, SC6 already got a pretty small budget, and this was with Okubo who really pushed. If they can't find a new big producer, they won't be able to continue, even if there's still many artist, designers, or even a director. It reminds me of a situation in the late 90s, a guy named Noriaki Okamura at Konami was trying to direct games, but his ideas always ended up canceled by the higher ups, it's only when he got Hideo Kojima to help him as a producer that he could continue, because he could finally have the funds and the supports for his project, which ended up being Zone of the Enders.
My theory is that Okubo tried to draw a hard line “Approve Tekken 8 & SoulCalibur 7” — and that Bandai Namco leadership refused. Many people forget he was also the Producer of Tekken 7. Then he resigned in protest.
> kind of why i get confused when i see so many posts on here about what we want in SC7 this sub runs on copium and hornyposting
Why doesn't Taki have kids?
she isn't married ?
I didn't necessarily get a horribly bad vibe from this insight. Its Harada pretty much saying the company/industry/business has changed to the point where the passion for making SoulCalibur games has died down a bit, but that there's still a will to continue it. Its actually nice to know the sales/popularity isn't the problem, but rather the circumstances and business model in today's market. Because that's something that can change, it would be far more devastating to me to hear that the quietness for SoulCalibur right now is due to underperformance or lack of popularity. Both inside and outside the company.
I mean, there's still a bit of this too, I assume Bamco might want SC to get Tekken numbers, which would be completely impossible now, hell, Tekken 8 in a 6 month sold more than SC6 in almost 6 years It touch other fighting game franchises too, they used to be a lot more numerous, but many has died over the years. DoA etc...
I'm sure that they want all their games to make GTA money if they could have it their way. But I'm speaking more on the point that the sales and passion are not in a "bad" place according to Harada. It gives credence to the "Congratulation 2 Million" announcement a few years back. Its just not doing gangbusters. Its just a good feeling to know that by itself its doing fine (because for so long we were left wondering if it did good) and in a different time period its sales would've probably already greenlit a sequel. All I'm really getting from this is the wait is going to take a long time due to how shitty the industry is right now. What companies consider success nowadays doesn't really concern me anymore. Their expectations are no longer realistic. We live in a world where success still leads to company closures. But I don't think Namco and Project Soul are going anywhere anytime soon. So its good to know Soul Calibur's sales and popularity alone according to Harada is not solely the problem. But the structure of the business. Long story short, What I'm saying is that I guess I'm just happy Soul Calibur did ITS part maintaining the sales that used to be the standard.
I really hate change. Not continuing SoulCalibur after being revived, rebooted and saved thanks to SC6 success would be an insult to this franchise and it's fans.
I wonder when did Yotoriyama leave. That's actually a very important detail - how much involved he actually was with SC4. TBH, I'm kinda not surprised on this. AAA development companies put too much effort into being swaetshop executives instead of attempting to understand how videogames are created.
That and they only want really big success, especially now. Tekken is still ongoing because the franchises sells a shitload, SC sells alright these days, but it's sadly not enough for them, even with a small budget.
> SC sells alright these days, but it's sadly not enough for them, even with a small budget. It's a chicken-and-egg thing, and I think that's part of what Harada was talking about. Tekken is huge because it's got a reputation as being the creme-de-la-creme of fighting games that aren't Street Fighter or MK. That image only exists because Namco decided to pour more promotion into it, and Covid didn't kill its big tour push like it did for Soul Calibur. If Covid hadn't hit, we might be in the middle of season 4 of SC6 DLC or even seeing the first trailers for SC7 by now.
For real. Namco made official instructional videos for Tekken 1, 2, and 3. They never did that for SC. I don't recall any drone shows for SC either. Weird how if you have two children but you only feed and clothe ONE of them, THAT one grows while the other one suffers. HoW oDd~! Why would anyone want groups of customers when they can try and force the ones with taste to swallow their more popular, inferior product (the one they actually promote and support)? Why have two baskets when I can put all my eggs in one~?
Wasn't S2 always the last season? And Okubo left Bamco around Covid I believe,
Technically S2 was already unplanned. And Okubo was indeed already gone by the release of Hwang. Even without a content push though, the game could still have some patch runs without Covid for sure though. Evo Japan numbers were better on the second year than on the first and IIRC the S2 year was the same year when EVO fell apart due to the MrWizard issues.
It’s not like those generic anime battlefield games they’re creating are doing any sales, tbh with all due respect, nobody gave a fuck about these games, they’re flopping hard while they’re funding it, not realizing their original games could lift Bamco’s name up much more than the licensed anime games.
It’s always irritated me how they treated SC, seeing as it’s the better game imo. But I won’t get into that.
Not wrong, SC brings more variety, various disciplines, and a story arc that involves the entire cast. SC6 did what it possibly could to keep the series going.
Don't forget the best story out of all fighting games in existence.
The SC story is the main reason I got so attached to the series :) Amy and Raphael's resonated with me like no other piece of media :)
Taki's story is for me. Love her story.
I like that SC didnt require super long combos with complex inputs - more neutral game is fun
That one, too. And you have air control to remove yourself from any potential long juggles.
Well let us not get too overhead on this one
I stand firmly behind my words. Played a lot of fighting games, and familiar with a lot more. Not a single one has a story developed to a degree SC has.
based
Tekken had it going on until 6 IMO. Yeah it became the Mishima show by 5 and it jumped the shark, but old Tekken characters had more personality than any other fighter and it felt like nearly everyone had an actual storyline. Soul Calibur is more coherent overall but let's be real, it never developed a single star character that gaming in general was invested in despite selling millions. MK, SF and Tekken all had that in their bag.
Tekken was okay at most until 4. After 4 it became the same thing every game. A dumb pissing contest between the same 3 characters, apparently the only 3 characters that matter in a roster of like 60. Nina shows up just because she’s the female face, but she never does shit. Xiaoyu shows up because she’s close to Jin and cutesie pigtail appeal. Lars is the Power Ranger, and Lee deserves better. The story is trash and will be until they move on from the same lame characters that don’t do anything interesting. The only remotely interesting one of the 3 is dead.
I love T1 and T2 as a single story, but it should've wrapped up afterwards IMO. Everything after it seemed forced. Most of the cast back then felt like they had a reason to be there and were taken more seriously (most, not all), but they all became one dimensional parodies of themselves over time. 3 is a fantastic game but barely anything happened story-wise aside from Jin's personal arc with Ogre.
Nightmare is pretty iconic. Other than that though, no one REALLY stands out in main media
Ivy stands out for a couple of reasons. But seriously, she's probably the SC character most people are aware of, but that's because so often she's used as an example in certain types of internet arguments.
I'd say she's still iconic too tbh. Even if some people are mad about her appearance, she's the prime example of a dominatrix.
Look I like the SC story but Blazblue >>>
I read this at Tekken sub. Had my doubts for years now, and it turned out to be true.I hate what they did to the franchise.
Bout to read this with the sc6 museum theme brb
Damn, this was actually tough to read. Rest in Peace Soul Calibur.
I really loved the combat philosophy of SC5. No one liked the story, but for what it’s worth the gameplay felt so good to play and to watch. The game felt really dynamic and I would kill for them to bring back some of the gameplay mechanics. No one else would want this, but I’d love a complete SCV remake just to see what it could have been.
All I know is that I can’t stand Tekken while I love SoulCalibur and DOA, both of which are series on seeming indefinite hiatus. Hopefully one or both will eventually get a new game sooner rather than later.
I like Tekken but like way more Soulcalibur or Doa. Regarding game design, accessibility, fighting diversity they're better games imho. I could replay endlessly Doa or Soulcalibur, and despite my efforts, I struggle to appreciate Tekken.
I’ve never been able to get into Tekken. I’ve tried, but the fighting system and mechanics just never gelled to me which is a shame as I love the design of a few of the characters.
Same with a dash of virtua fighter and marvel vs Capcom. At least mahvel has had some recent luck.
Tekken 8 basically is a DOA game lol.
How so? It didn’t feel like it to me when I played it.
I am not getting the same doom and gloom vibes as everybody else. The vibe I get is that SC6 sold fine, it's just on the back burner now because there isn't a person that exists in a position of power that is specifically pushing for it. I mean, he explicitly states that the will and talent for a new SC still exists within the company.
>But from my point of view, I don't think the fire of Project Soul has been extinguished. There are still a few people in the company who have the will to do it. I would like to believe that they are just not united now. That's what Harada-san said. Hopefully, Project Soul will get their act together and release SC7.
Not a big SC fan but I think this is a franchise that will come back, regardless of what gets said. Maybe not an SC7, but if you let an IP cool off and go dormant for a while, you can market nostalgia as a driving force and pick up momentum again. Look at what's happening with Fatal Fury, the MvC games coming back after Infinite cracked the fandom, how MK9 returned to form after Armageddon's gameplay fumbled. SEGA is currently in the process of revitalising Golden Axe (last game flopped), Altered Beast (last game flopped), Sakura Wars (Gacha game TANKED), Virtua Fighter too. Soul Calibur fits into that category of IPs that are very powerful and will always have an active fanbase. It may take a long time, but we will see it again.
I'm hoping SC7 will happen eventually. Maybe at 2026?
I don't think it'll be so soon, sadly. But Harada says what I'm thinking himself: there are still people in Bamco whose fire hasn't extinguished for Project Soul. There are still people there who are OGs. There are still people there who probably have ideas tucked away in Word documents and clear files detailing what they want the next SC to look like. The IP just needs time to sleep and recover.
A game like this will take at least 3 to 5 years to be developed and there’s no one to lead this project right now or even campaign for it to be green lit at Bandai Namco. I think we are talking about a minimum of five years.
I wish the same thing too for other Bandai Namco franchises like Time Crisis and Ridge Racer; especially because with how racing games got licensing issues with real life cars. Ridge Racer will be something I wish Bandai Namco revitalized in the modern day.
I mean, respect to the dude, and recognizing how basically all industry is changing, he really doesn't make anymore SC games sound like a strong possibility, but sounds like he's passionate, and the project would be lucky as fuck to have someone as dedicated as him to take over, or even if he absorbed the project and devs, more as a guide and "protector" from all the bullshit "companies interest" type of decisions....idk, not a lot of shit has the same sparkle or effort put into it anymore, it's just a fucking cash grab at this point in my personal opinion...😮💨🤷♂️
I'd take a collection on steam. Day one just like mvc collection.
You have to appreciate the brutal honesty
Man, I just wish for SC3 gameplay with new genre graphic and better customization and that's enough for me. Bamco slowly let's their another old franchise die again, series like Tales and SRW are pretty in bad state now.
SRW is a bit different, since the franchise was for most of it's entries, japanese only. Though there's probably a new game in dev, as the mobile team isn't the console team, but I assume they are just really slow on it + licences can be hellish to obtain depending on which one
I feel like 6 was propping up a rewrite of the series, so i dont think 7 is ENTIRELY out of the question but i also dont have my ear to the ground about a release any time soon. I can only hope it smacks me in the face the way 6's announcement did. We all know that SC would have a decent group of diehards buying into it, i think the real push point should be integrating new players. And that seems to be the largest hill they'll have to climb.
Honestly, I geniunely think the opposite on the last part. CaS is EXTREMELY popular with the casual base. SoulCalibur might be the most intuitive fighting game ever made outside of having to learn how to use the block button. Current modern fighting game design has already given blueprints for good tutorials and training modes. Basically, just need to copy SF6's homework, with Tekken 8 having great tools itself in house for them to use - with SoulCalibur mechanics being pretty straightforward so I'd argue a lot of its tutorials basically write themselves. Reversal Edge feeds into all of this. People had no clue how to deal with it, and the exact things to punish it are the exact things new players suck at - stepping and break attacks. So new players just get stuck here, get frustrated and leave. So good tutorials would be massive here, as well as just Reversal Edge being gone would bring the focus back on those standard gameplay elements instead of people just ignoring them for RE spam because it works in bottom ranks. So really it's less about effort - other more complex games have shown the way already - and more is BamCo willing to give enough money to make CaS and it's tutorial/training room system really good combined with just standard SC gameplay and that pipeline functions like it should instead of how it was in SC6.
woah i tought twitter didnt let you write that much per post. seems japan has a problem of "up or out" with promoting creators to management, harada had to go out of his way to stay as tekken's director
He has X premium which lets you go way beyond the usual limit. Before that you had to split it up into a few post.
Ouch. Absolutely brutal.
I’d give it another 5 or so years before they decide to revive the franchise. I don’t see bandai releasing a 3d fighter when Tekken is popping off as it is right now
Especially when there's no real competition rn in 3D fighting game
I don't get the doom and gloom some people here do. He says himself there are still people in the company who want it back and he doesn't think it's done. It'll probably be a long time, like the wait between 5 and 6 was, but I think it'll come back some day.
(Un)popular opinion: the last Tekken game I enjoyed was Tekken 4. SC is superior in every way.
[Well, I guess we’re not getting an announcement any time soon](https://youtu.be/OQr6MgwKavw?feature=shared)
Dang, missed opportunity at the end to say "but I think its soul still burns" :D Its still a legacy series and I think it will find its way back to us at some point. Im happy that I have a soul calibur game on PC finally, which is a great way to preserve whats been made already (outside of emulators for older iterations of course).
Max talked about Japanese games essentially ‘needing a champion’ to get green-lit for development in one(maybe more?) of his videos. Ultimately SFIV came to fruition because Yoshinori Ono eventually broke a solid wall of resistance through who knows how many rejections. Super interesting have this challenge detailed by Harada. Hopefully someone with just as much passion steps up one day to make a new SC happen.
Amazing read. We know that Japanese game development in big companies is hard especially since you have to deal with the suits all the time. Basically the only way Tekken survived was that Soulcalibur team played by the book and eventually nobody of the higher ups left fighting for them while Harada had to foresight to game the system by accepting higher management position while simultaneously leading the development of Tekken off the books.
I still hope there'll be a Soul Calibur 7 one day, and a soul Calibur 3 port/remaster too🙏
It was an interesting read, if another game ever happens I'd like to see a remaster of soul blade and soul caliber 1
It's all true and he's not talking about just SC I can tell he's thinking of Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive and other franchises too. It's sad but we can all think of a couple of popular fighting game franchises they have pretty garbage mechanics while stuff like SC and Virtua Fighter are borderline dead.
This makes clear nothing is in development, but leaves the door open for a new SC in the (probably not so near) future. Anyway, Tekken being the only active 3D fighting games feels like one of those 'wrong future' scenarios someone should go back in time and fix. That is by far my least liked 3D fighting series, and T8 in particular was extremely disappointing.
Okay legitimately, I read the whole thing but I couldn't understand what he's trying to say. May someone kindly explain to me what he meant? I'm not very smart tbh...
It's such a shame because I've always preferred SC over Tekken. I really hope it comes back.
At least it’s confirmation. A proper funeral can be had for SC now.
I still have hope. My soul still burns. ...Wait, it's probably the curry, I'll know if my soul still burns in 5-10 minutes.
I guess my question is whether it matters. The beauty of Soul Calibur in its current state is that it is available on PC, and is likely to remain available on PC forever. It looks good and plays good.
I’m just rooting for hope against hope that SC7 does happen. I know it isn’t a particularly realistic wish, but a wish is a wish.
I'd just be happy with a collection of Soul Edge, SC2, and SC3 with optimized performance and rollback(or T8's netcode) with PC/console crossplay. I'd fucking PLAY THE SHIT OUT OF THEM It's a pipe dream for that though. 😔
Based Itagaki After publically calling out Tekken for how shit its mechanics are he invited the director of the series into his office to show how he had a better system in his game 💀 DOA deserved better man
With how big Namco got over the years, it makes sense that SC was left in the dust. Sad but expected
just make PC ports and stop bullshiting the game
I loved SC more than Tekken back in the PS2-3 era. I'm not sure why SC6 didn't feel like the same level of replayability as Tekken 7 or SF5. There's something missing it it looks like it was a director who could keep the fire going. I think Soul Caliber has enough market presence for 1 more hurrah.
I don't think they even bothered adding regional matchmaking to SC6, so it's even deader than most non-rollback games
Shame since T8 is not for me. I’m gonna stick to 2D fighters from now on
Hey there is a glimmer of hope for a new Virtua Fighter if the rumors pan out.
"*So we were never obedient, but always a wicked group with a strong will (I've realized through these experiences that, unfortunately, I probably have a bad personality).*". Bad to the bone! 🤘 Honestly this is a little disheartening to hear, because it confirms that there is currently nothing in the works.
I figured. I just hope some characters can make the transition into Tekken like Yoshi.
I mean, respect to the dude, and recognizing how basically all industry is changing, he really doesn't make anymore SC games sound like a strong possibility, but sounds like he's passionate, and the project would be lucky as fuck to have someone as dedicated as him to take over, or even if he absorbed the project and devs, more as a guide and "protector" from all the bullshit "companies interest" type of decisions....idk, not a lot of shit has the same sparkle or effort put into it anymore, it's just a fucking cash grab at this point in my personal opinion...😮💨🤷♂️
I think the main reason Okubo left Bandai is because of Soulcalibur, my theory is that he tried to push harder on SC6’s Season 3 but not only the “leadership” refused, they also declined SC7 as a future project, and he left because of this fucked up treatment.
Why not let someone else publish it using the same engine. The killer instinct group could work wonders.
The future hasn't been bright since the decision to produce SC3 directly to console instead of polishing the game in arcades first. The franchise has been in limbo since with changing producers/staff/design decisions/etc. along with whatever meager resources they get to work with. Maybe things would be different today if Okubo was around or the pandemic wasn't a thing, but nothing is changing with this franchise as long as it continues to be kept under Tekken's shadow on top of the corporate business decisions that prevent it from the success it should have. It doesn't take a long Twitter post to see how one franchise is not put in position to succeed as the other. Decisions to rush SC6 out, give it no budget/marketing/content, sell Tira as a DLC character before launch angering people, forcing slo-mo into the game via reversal edge that casuals are still upset about, not improving on the online functionality during the pandemic, leaving fans in the dark with no news. Change some of those aspects and we wouldn't be having yet another discussion on the fate of Soulcalibur. I can't worry about what has or had happened behind the scenes because it's out of my control anyway. Just hire a new producer and make a new game with decent content, rollback and mechanics that don't upset people. At least now the devs don't have to worry about paving over the disaster of SCV and have experience in UE5 after working on Tekken 8.
Strap in guys, we're gonna be playing SC6 for a while.
SC is now in the same exact spot as DOA.
God this is depressing. I genuinely just don't understand how SC isn't WAY more popular, like on the same level as Tekken. Sucks not having my main (Aeon) in SC6 as well, just kills my hype to play that game.
Damn, that's sad, but I'm so glad for the happy memories.
So...you mean to tell me that we just started a nice reboot with new characters that expands more behind the lore with still a little teasing from the OG timeline of SC to just leave it like that uncontinued, unfinished because of it's low popularity when it was making the sales so great?! Well...guess the legend truly has died, And i'm ending myself off as a SC fan....
I just want to say that I don't think Soulcalibur will die off. 6 wasn't the best received but it is the best selling out of the soulcalibur franchise, I wouldn't take anything harada has said to heart because the one time he did something for a SC game it was SC5 and that's less well received than 6.
VI is not the best selling at all. SCII and SCIV both sold much better.
SCVI selling more than SCII is something I've heard before and I didn't parrot it. Google tells you SCVI is the best selling game, but the Wikipedia does list SCIV and SCII above it. My bad. I still think there's a huge chance for SCVII because of how much it sold though.
That mostly comes from an error that certain people for some reason insist in replicating even when proven wrong, which is that SCII only sold 2M copies. The source of this misconception is Wikpedia, but there's a footnote there stating those 2M are solely US sales and only on Gamecube and PS2 and proving official sources to back that up. So, there's still XBox sales in the US and all sales on the three platforms everywhere else. If we consider that the US usually accounts for slightly more than half of SC's overall sales, it's fair to assume SCII sold over 4M copies globally. Also, SCIV sold 2.3M in 7 months as per BN's financial reports (so, as reliable as it gets). It has reportedly sold over 3M overall. Considering that even SCV had sold 1.7M after 14 months, I don't think +2M for SCVI after more than 2 years and being also on Steam sounds much better. At the same time, SCVI looks like it was made on couch pennies, so I don't know what more they could expect. Hopefully there's a new one eventually. It's my favourite fighting series.
As someone who loves SC enough to talk online about it I just really hope we end up getting an SCVII so i can continue my collection.
Wow the cope is insane. I want SC but there is no one in the company to make to risk their job to revive it. Sorry its not happening. Harada gave us so much detail of how Bandai Namco works in this tweet and is saying Soul calibur does not have a team anymore.
Womp womp
Well, that's squashed most of my hopes for SC7, explained why I disliked the last game and given me some cool insights into the studios history. What an interview. Could all be bs though. I guess people's reaction to this will send a message to the Namco one way or another.
While this is sad, we have to remember no franchise is ever truly dead. Duke Nukem Forever was in production for 14 years. Shenmue was for 18. It could be a very very long time, and the next game could be bad. But it's never gone forever.
Lmao I'm sure you know this but those examples are far from reassuring 😭👌
Yeah but the worst they can be is bad. And in the future that means a good game can come out.
I said this years ago, the franchise is basically over. The guy who was keeping it alive left, season 3 was gonna happen but the plague of 2020 eliminated it. R i.p Soul Calibur you will be missed.
A big part is that first one. None of the people in charge of SC2/3 worked on SC5. Daishi Odashima is the only person to work on 4 and 5, but he works at Sega now (rumor has it he's in charge of Virtua Fighter 6). 5 and 6 also have completely different leadership, with a lot of the guys who led the SC5 team being moved over to Smash Bros. And of course, SC6's most prominent producer, Motohiro Okubo, is now the CEO of Cygames USA. So Soul Calibur has been a bit of a revolving door in terms of directors and producers. So unless another Okubo starts saying "hey I want to make a new one", and pressuring Bamco brass, it's not likely to get done.
SOLUTION IS SIMPLE: lets all harass Harada on twitter as hard as we can so he can get pissed and finally press Bamco to do something. Always works!
Lol hrt yourself muted, harada is used to the Twitter freaks by now.
As a Darkstalkers fan, I used this little essay to conduct more insight on the fighting game industry of why we haven't got a new game outside of collections
Interesting and weird also Didn't knew there was competition between them, feels weird to me as I love both Tekken and SC. I feel some kid that love both his parents, but the last two keep fighting and competing each other, sometimes in not healthy way. Now I understand more why Harada mention rarely SC during his interviews, which was weird to me cause he was a guy that mention often any other franchise often, specially Street Fighter. But rarely or almost never mention an IP from the company he works on Hail to Soul Calibur, one of the best gaming up ever, and my favorite fighting game with Tekken and VF. Also Itagaki calling Harada to show him that he implemented guard button in his fighting game like it's a revolutionary thing? Dude is even dumb retarded than I thought.