The 5th World Fighting Tournament - E-Sport

Virtua Fighter has always been known for its quasi-realistic martial arts styles. The game has always been about pitting the various martial arts styles against each other with realistic human movement and in the context of beautiful realistic stages. Its always been known for its unique and balanced roster and rock solid fighting engine where the fighting just has a feel of authenticity.

For VF to thrive and grow(not just survive) It needs to get out of the shadow of Tekken, SF, MK, SC, KOF, and other 2D and 3D arcade games and pursue its true destiny as a fun but martial arts combat simulator game. Its always been a combat simulator at heart. Ask Yu Suzuki

The innovative move for Sega/AM2 to make here is to market the 5th World Fighting Tournament itself as the 1RST true full martial arts simulation e-sport. Yup, make the World Fighting Tournament a real thing in the e-sports world The UFC 3D Fighting games are all about the Ultimate Fighting Championship that feature mixed martial arts. and VF should seriously market the World Fighting Tournament as the first true full martial arts combat simulator. The WFT would pit quasi-realistic martial arts styles against each other in the same way the UFC games pit mixed martial art styles against each other. The UFC games leave out some of the martial arts styles. The VF Series would include any legitimate martial art style.

So the innovation would be to focus on the World Fighting Tournament as a true e-sport and VF would pursue more realism not less. More true combat simulation not less. Drop the vestiges of the old 3D/2D arcade games and go head to head with EA's UFC 3D Combat games. That's a much , much bigger audience, who would actually appreciate as opposed to denigrate Virtua Fighter's plain realism. Right now EA Sports has no competition in the 3D Combat Sport Simulation space. Sega's Virtua Fighter series could actually be the first legitimate challenger. with its own World Fighting Tournament . And the combat simulator fighting game market is big enough to get more players than Virtua Fighter has ever seen. Taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Lucha Libre, Judo, Wrestling, Sambo, Sumo, Kickboxing as combat sports are trending HUGE right now and are popular world wide. Karate Combat is blowin up and Cobra Kai is breaking Netflix records:

https://www.newsweek.com/cobra-kai-netflix-chart-top-10-record-1533582

Now would be the time for VF to just leave the old 3D Arcade look and feel alone and move into the true future of 3D Fighting games. The UFC games have millions of players and a few 100 ,000 viewers that like to spectate who don't even play the game.

 

I'm sorry, my friend, but the answer is "NAH x 1000"!!

The reasons the UFC games are so popular is because of the well-known characters and legends from the real world (past and present) and of course the UFC brand itself. Without these factors, I highly doubt that these games would even sell at all if the characters are just "fictional". That is also the case with GT racing simulation. The cars are real cars from the real world with well-known brands, exotic cars, racing, and sports cars that only a few lucky people could actually own and drive. Simulation games were developed to mimic the real-world feeling of driving those cars.

If you changed VF combat concept as above then it's NOT going to please any of the VF fans and UFC fans. The game simply will not sell and is doomed to fail.

 

@SSShinji here's why you are absolutely dead wrong. Amateur Mixed Martial Arts have a huge, I'm mean huge following. As does Amateur Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, Kickboxing, Wrestling, etc. While it is true that many players of UFC games do play the game for and because of the named fighters, many players don't and prefer to create their own generic fighters with fully customized move lists. Many, many players and spectators of the EA's UFC and THQ UFC 3D Video games are simply fans of martial arts, mixed martial arts both amateur and professional. What you don't seem to understand is the world of amateur martial arts, how big it is, and how many gamer's themselves practice real martial arts, are amateur competitors, and enjoy games that are centered around one or more martial arts regardless to whether there are known fighters. My friend the focus is on the martial art, not a particular fighter. I do play the UFC games. I am in that community and I do understand what the market is for VF in that community.

I'm not suggesting that Sega turn VF into a UFC game. I'm suggesting that Sega forget about trying to compete against Tekken, SF, MK, and SC because VF just has too much realism. I am suggesting that Sega market VF5US(minus the Hit Sparks of course) and VF6 to the massive market of gamers and spectators that follow and enjoy both amateur martial arts of all kinds and professional martial arts of all kinds. VF would be appreciated for what it is with that audience. Currently the Tekken, SF, MK, etc players alway Bitch about VF being too plain, not enough characters, no comeback mechanics blah, blah, blah. Virtua Fighter will never, I mean never satisfy that type of game. Which means VF will always have a small niche market if they don't make some dramatic changes.. To be sure rollback is a step in the right direction, but rollback won't be enough. Once Tekken 8 drops, that's it good-bye VF.

The best move for Sega is to market VF to a completely different crowd. Sega should make the World Fighting Tournament a thing in e-sports where players and spectators can see state of the art full martial art combat simulation, that matches pit famous martial arts styles against each other.

@SSShinji I know its hard for you to understand my point, but it will become clearer around next year this time. I know you like 2D and 3D arcade fighting games. But the fact of the matter is Virtua Fighter is different, because the originator of the game Yu Suzuki was trying to make it a martial arts simulator but he was stuck with arcade machines. The console weren't a thing when VF was first being introduced. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the fact of the matter is Virtua Fighter 1 was the first true martial arts simulation game and is the grand daddy of the UFC games

 

@masterpo, All fighting games are more or less simulators. You can call them fantasy-fighting simulators if you want. Just like in drawings, there is realistic style and fantasy/stylized art. So do many games. VF is a stylized fighting simulator. Change it’s core and it’s no longer VF. Let games be their own. If you like realism than just play UFC games. There is nothing wrong with that. Most if not all fighting games has their own identity. No need for any game to look like the other.

 

I've noticed that myself too. Good point.

 

Yes., and now VF has added hit sparks coming out the hand's that make it look more like Tekken and less like VF.

I'm not suggesting VF change anything, except marketing. Only to emphasize its realism. To emphasize its roster of fighting styles. If VF starts to add Hit Sparks and other things that make it more like the other 2D/3D fighting games then it no longer has its own identity.

3 Core Things Make up A Fighting Game

• Fighting Engine (Combat System & Balance)
• Roster of Fighters/Styles
• Presentation

If any one of these things is taken into the wrong direction it will change the identity of the game. VF is changing its Presentation to look more like Tekken and Street Fighter. Change its core and its no longer VF.

So what's difference? Change the Visuals to please Tekken, SF, SC, MK lovers, which makes its no longer VF, or add more realism by changing the visuals animations from floating into staggers, and stumbles and its no longer VF. At least by making VF even more realistic it will bring VF to a HUGE NEW market, and adding Hit Sparks has only put VF more in the shadow of Tekken and SF than it already is


@zakira I've been heavily playing 3D fighting games for over 2 decades my friend. I play Tekken, DOA, SC, VF and UFC I enjoy them all, and I'm competent in all of them. I own and play every version of Tekken except Tekken 1. I play DOA 2,5, DOA5LR, I own and play SC2, SC3, SC4,SC5, SC6, and all the versions of UFC games that have ever been made. I play VF2, VF4, VF4EVO, VF5, VF5FS, and now VF5US. I'm somewhere on the leader boards for all of these games (those that have leader boards). So I understand all of them, their communities, and their markets.

And its my opinion that the Virtua Fighter series would break out of its little niche, and relatively small sales, and small communities by first leaving the old 2D/3D arcade scene behind, and second by emphasizing and doubling down on its realism, by emphasizing its unique quasi-realistic fighting styles and roster, and by adding more exotic and realistic stages and by heavily marketing its World Fighting Tournament as the first true full quasi-realistic martial art e-sport.

Now the players that would not like this change are players who really only flirt with the Virtua Fighter series. These are the players that feel VF is a nice game to visit but they don't want to live here. These are players that main other 3D or 2D fighting games and use VF just as a change of pace from time to time. Or the players that secretly, or deep down inside desire VF to be a better Tekken than Tekken.

I'm only talking about improvements to VF's animations. In the same way that many people like the minor improvement and addition of HIt Sparks to VF, I'm just talking about improvement going the other way. Changing floating animation to stagger, stumble, falls, and crunches without changing the fighting engine and balance underneath. and then market the World Fighting Tournament as the first true full quasi-realistic martial art e-sport.

I'm glad there is a lot of excitement and some new players involved with VF5US. But what is going to happen to all of the excitement and all these new players when these new games drop in the near future

• Tekken 8
• Street Fighter 6
• Mortal Kombat XII (12)
• Soul Calibur 7

Will even a brand new VF6 be enough to let the VF player base grow and thrive

Virtua Fighter 5 was released in 2006 and for the first time had online modes (XBox). Tekken 6 was released in 2007. What do you think happened to all of those Tekken fans that were flirting with VF5 when Tekken 6 came out Why do the Tekken, SF, MK, and Soul Calibur series routinely out sell the Virtua Fighter series When we all know Virtua Fighter is the technically superior game in every way.

I'm suggesting if Virtual Fighter series wants to see something different happen this time, rather than the same old abandonment as soon as the other new games get released, Sega needs to market VF to a different set of gamers who also like realistic 3D fighting games. Sega needs to forget about the arcade fighting game scene and move on. UFC gamers not only like UFC games they also like realistic 3D martial arts based games of different types. The UFC fighting game community also likes

• Sleeping Dogs
• Def Jam's Fight For New York
• WWF Smack Down
• Absolver
• K1 Grand Prix
• Fight Night Series
• Ghosts of Tsushima

I've talked to many many players over the years. Their primary complaint about games like Virtua Fighter or Namco's Urban Reign, is the floating, and on screen pyrotechnics. With some minor changes in the animations and its marketing the Virtua Fighter series could easily appeal to a much larger market segment than trying to please the old 2D/3D acade fantasy fighting crowd. Which is a very small market compared to other video game segments.

Virtua Fighter can do the same thing that its always done and end up in 5th place with a small but loyal community of VF enthusiasts, or it can venture out into a new much larger market of gamer's who prefer fighting games that are based on realism. Virtua Fighter can continue to pursue the old 2D/3D arcade fighting game tropes from the early 80's and 90's, or it can focus on realism in fighting games that make games like UFC successful in the 21rst century. In the 70's, 80's, and early 90's there was a lot more fantasy fighting in Martial Arts Movies. But from the late 90's until now the trend is toward very realistic martial arts. Virtua Fighter should move to more realism not less, it should emphasize its quasi-realistic martial arts styles/roster. It should double down on and expand its realistic and exotic stages. It should look beyond the 2D/3D arcade fighting scene if it is to grow and thrive.