I feel like this is also the best time to do this.
F1 25 is not great, the game needs to be sorted out and revamped for it to prosper again in my opinion. The best time for them to have done this was last year, so they could come out swinging for 2026.
But I think coming out next year with a new game that has had time for the 2026 cars to be worked on and settled in is a good choice as well. They just need to get their shit together and put out a good game… Which for racing games seems to be almost impossible
While you may not need support for the game. The games would not do as well as they do without it. They are predominantly an online multiplayer game. I am no the biggest Tekken fan, but I am a pretty big fan of Street Fighter, I have over 1000 hours on SF6. If it didnt have the good online multiplayer, and just had just had the offline and single player stuff, I would have something like 100 hours maybe and would have moved on to other games.
And that makes a big difference, to how much I am willing to buy into both characters and costumes, and also the next game.
Tekken 8 and SF6 still have good(for fighting games) single player stuff, but you are looking at a simple story and some arcade modes. SF6 has a bit more of a single player RPG almost for its single player, and I have managed to sink around 80 hours into that, they add more with each new character and I believe it is free.
And to go back to Tekken, Tekken 3 had 22 characters, While Tekken 7 had 36, which then increases to 51 if you add in the addition characters, Tekken 8 currently has ~40 with more being added. They are fine games, with all the content that you want(mostly) in the base game, but the biggest difference between Tekken 3 and Tekken 7 or 8 is it isnt being replaced in a couple years by a new full priced game, it is getting patches and support, additional mechanics and moves, new characters. And the online/competitive community can thrive.
I think that fighting games are in a much better place with the season passes(character DLC) than previously.
They are a much more long term game, with better balance patches and additions through mechanics to the game. Tekken 7 for example was supported for 7 years and you can jump in with just the base game. This also applies to other games like Street Fighter 5 and 6, Guilty Gear Strive and so on.
Where as if you go back to Street fighter 4 as an example, The support was limited and then they added more with a new game, Super Street Fighter 4, which then got replaced with Ultra Street Fighter 4, and you could not play someone who had Super if you only had Ultra which sucked for the online community.
I do think there is a lot of issues with where Fighting Games are going, but that is more an industry thing. Like battle passes, avatar clothes and other shit as micro transactions.
Shinobi: Art of vengeance. It is a 2D brawler with stages that end with a boss, but they have metroidvania elements to add value for replaying them. It is about 10 hours to go start to finish while doing a lot of the back tracking stuff. Simple story but incredible combat and good level design(only one level I thought was a bit meh), the art and animations are fantastic as well. Very much a new take on the old games, and has a demo to try as well.
I mean, not advertised as a demo but any beta you get access to as a preorder bonus and it is close to release, I consider more of a paid demo. Has become less common now though.
I would be incredibly surprised if they charge for the update. It makes no sense to do so, you just split the community. And they announced 2 new characters(at least), so V2 will come with a new season pass they will charge for.
I also presume the V2 is the release of the new ranked mode, which hopefully fixes the garbage tower and it’s floor mechanic(preferably just delete it and give us a ranked queue with elo please)
In this context, Tekken and other fighting games have competitive and content seasons. Where over a year winners from large international events earn places in a final, and new characters/stages are released
After the final there is normally a very large update to the game which comes with new game mechanics and large balance changes, and the start of a content season pass. With enough time before the first tournament kicks off(street fighter is being weird this year though)
For Tekken that season patch dropped recently but was a massive let down(fuck up) and the community wasn’t happy with it at all.
Yeah, I have a love(like… tolerate)/hate relationship with the battle pass. I don’t mind it, cause it is cheap, pointless and you get your money back, and it is super easy to complete it.
But also, it can fuck off, battle passes suck in their timed implementation, it is pointless, you have to get premium currency to get it which is obviously not purchasable at the exact amount.
Only thing I think was good is that it bought in the emulated game catalogue.
I think that’s missing a lot of the content. If SF6 was free to play, if wouldn’t have the single player portion. And would have had a couple of free characters.
2XKO is going to launch with something like 9 characters(might be missing remembering the number), Maybe they add more before release but it is a tiny roster for a tag game.
There is also massive changes between games, and they don’t disappear, so you can still have those tournaments. If it goes free to play, I feel like they kinda get stuck with the game and systems and no easy way to move onwards, with a bit of a PR nightmare(abandoning the game and all that).
I feel like there is pros and cons to both methods, but don’t really think f2p Street Fighter is a good move. I do think sf7 whenever that is released will be another paid game, and will be more expensive upfront.
I think there is maybe 1 game that I would consider spending 100 for the base game. And that’s because I love the series and it is very much a long term game for me, Street Fighter.
But that would be a very tough sell, it would have to be something really special to part with that much, even though I know I would get 1000s of hours out of it
I have played a lot of FFXIV, but have stopped playing for a couple years now. Spending a fair chunk of time in Street Fighter and Monster Hunter, but I have a feeling that will change over the next year with Assetto Corsa Competizione and AC Evo potentially taking the monster hunter spots.