The resurgence and possible oversaturation of the fighting game genre

#1

Hey guys,

i need your thoughts on this.

As with most members in here, i am absolutely thrilled at the way the fighting game scene is being reignited. HDremix and MVC2 fueled the fire and Streetfighter 4 was certainly heaven sent.Quirks aside, it was pretty enjoyable and got everyone hyped about competitive fighting games again. Soon after, we got ssf4 and blaze blue and now we have mvc3, sfxt, TxSf and mortal kombat on the way. An assumption on my part is that sometime in the near future we will have another interation of Virtua Fighter, Soul Caliber and another standaloneTekken title.

My question is this…do you think that this phase or cycle we are going thru is similar to what happened in the early 90’s?. And where as the duration of the “reign” of fighting games was assisted by their presence in the arcades, now that the arcade scene is dying out will this phase be shortened? or will online play and tourneys help the scene to endure as it did in the 90’s?

Secondly, do you think that the presence of all these fighting games will oversaturate the market? Will one game suffer because of the sales of another…? Will gamers neglect purchasing or playing another title because of their devotion to understanding the dynamics ( links combos spacing) of another? Are the game companies doing a good job in satisfying both the hardcore fighting game player and the casual gamer?
( i asked this because if the casual gamer drives sales, companies might be tempted to release more iterations of a particular product with a lot of “style” but no real substance in an attempt to capitalize on sales)

Open for discussion.

#2

It’s not quite the same-back in the 90’s it was ridiculous, you had 4-5 versions of SF alone come out between 94-97, the additional burn being that everytime they’d release a home version of the game, the arcade was getting the next update within a matter of months. As long as Capcom doesn’t announce SSF4T for next year, I’m happy with the current release schedule. You get a new title every year, and in between they can farm out HD versions of classic fighters if they want. The amount of people playing games now vs. the 90s is vastly different so every game can survive if people like it enough. I think Capcom is wary of overdoing it by releasing update after update, but I don’t think they’re on the verge of oversaturating the market. FPS games have that on lockdown

#3

Hopefully as network play improves, the connectivity between players should keep the scene alive and give companies a reason to keep making these games. It’s unfortunate to see almost sacred communities like the arcade scene die, but at this point I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it. At least companies are still giving us games we love and thrive to keep the scene alive, almost as much as we do…

#4

I don’t believe giving people many choices can be considered over-saturating of the fighting game market in the least. I really don’t.

#5

I wouldn’t say its that much of a difference besides just have a lot of new games. It feels like buying a hamburger but your only allowed to hold it instead of eat it. A few minutes later you buy a cheeseburger to hold onto for another few minutes before trying one with fish and what not. I only want 1 prefect game of any genre. So give or take out of everything that is coming out, which would be recommended? If I were to chose, I would rather get an original game instead of a remake or even a remake of a remake of a remake, you get the point.

#6

What people forget is that Capcom is actually very aware of how many games it’s releasing into the market and when they’re doing it. If nothing else, Capcom is very good at knowing when to release their games…at least in this century. They’ve learned from their mistakes in the 90’s so I don’t think we’ll have a problem.

#7

In the early nineties you were looked at as a nerd if you played games all day .Now it has become the social norm and the amount of people playing games today dwarf’s the numbers that played back in 90’s.With a larger market to cater to it will allow for more brands to be successful and at the same time hopefully drive competition to make best game possible or it could go the other way and companies try to cash out make crap rehash after crap rehash and that will kill market quick

#8

I can see where you are coming from, but the thing is: None of these games suck.

Every fighter they’ve released since the genre’s popularity returned has been either extraordinarily good or way above average. The resurgence has also made old classics get revamped, ported and find a new, much bigger audience thanks to network play or just being released again at such a great era for the fighter genre (I really never thought I’d play Garou: MOW again, but I ended up playing it a ton since its release on LIVE Arcade.)

So, as long as they don’t start making sequels to War Gods, Clay Fighters and Tattoo Assassins anytime soon, I think we’re good.

#9

Casuals get bored with a game after a few months, just in the to buy the new one.
And we can pick and choose to play the best of the best. Everybody wins.

#10

lol wut?!

sf4 is a watered down version of a good SF game. jab jab jab is the only true poke string in sf4, that crap is fucking awful. Tekken 6 is pretty easy to play, with bound and rage, its designed to help newer players. Its the namco ultra basically. BB is a watered down version of GG. I haven’t had a chance to play BB:CS but the first version of BB tells you when you’re about to be hit by an overhead or a throw and iirc, BB didn’t have a FRC which was basically a reward for having good timing. Instead of players dominating scrubs with good timing because they practiced, they just threw it out the window and made everything a RC. My BB knowledge isn’t the greatest but I think my post is pretty accurate.

The new games have been watered down to help boost the scene, they’re not great games themselves.

When street fighter alpha 2 has more game play elements than ssf4 and a2 was released 14 years ago, there is a problem. I don’t know how any of you guys can say ssf4 is a good game. Yes, it has helped boost the scene but @ the same time it has hurt it IMO due to bland ass game design. Fighting games are supposed to test you as a player and ssf4 doesn’t do that when you compare it to other games like ssf4\vampire savior.

#11

There’s like hundreds of different FPS, 10 different RAcing Games, 30 Sandbox Games, and a bunch of Action-adventure platformers coming out in the next 2 years.

Oversaturation of a niche market has happened with different genres ala Guitarr hero.

#12

How?

No.

#13

I don’t think they’re oversaturating at all. Mainly because just about every worthwhile game coming out is drastically different from one another. Let’s have a look:

  • SxT: This will likely replace TvC in tournaments. It’s much slower paced than Marvel and a drastically different type of game from typical 1v1 fighters judging by the early gameplay video. Should hold up on it’s own, and isn’t coming til at least 2012 anyways.

  • Tekken 7: Still in it’s infancy and not expected til at LEAST 2012, and all it’ll do is replace Tekken 6, it doesn’t interfere with 2D fighters at all.

  • TxS: See above. Basically just tag team Tekken I’d expect, certainly won’t be effecting the 2D fighter scene or tournaments like EVO unless they put it in instead of Tekken 6/7.

  • KoFXIII: Very unique fighter and quite unpopular in NA. Too obscure to really go mainstream and requires too much dedication to become truly popular due to having to not only learn at least 3 characters, but having to know the matchups for 3 characters. I love it but it won’t be around majors for long due to majors now looking to pick up sponsors, and having KoF as a main game would probably hold that back due to unpopularity.

  • BBCS: Fantastic game, but has it’s own little niche group, isn’t pulling anyone away from the big name games but can hold it’s own in tournaments. A good addition to the roster.

  • MvC3: VERY unique game, again with it’s own little niche. It shouldn’t pull away many people from other games, it’ll just give the MvC2 crowd something new to complain about.

  • 3SO (Possibly HDR): Will simply replace SSF2T HDR.

Everything else coming out with the possible exception of MK9 is negligible. There hasn’t been a good MK in YEARS so I doubt MK9 will be any different no matter what the devs say. It might be ok, but it won’t be a mainstay.

So unless I’m drastically off with my analysis, all the games coming out are spread out more than enough, and are all very different from one another with different crowds that love them. Obviously people who play one game may play the other, but I don’t think it’ll kill the market at all, it’ll be a positive thing. The community will likely continue to grow.

Look at FPS games, they’re more than oversaturated and as popular as ever.

#14

This is true.

#15

Nope.

#16

The fighting game genre will survive on the model of the sports and FPS game genres. A main release every year. Companies will be competing with each other and the dominant companies having most of the market share.

Capcom don’t seem to be rushing out crap games just yet, so I wouldn’t worry. And most importantly these days, the community is actively canvassed for reactions and feedback.

#17

SF4 & SSF4. Now it’s SF vs. Tekken.

#18

Its pretty much agreed upon that KoF sucked hard, and that the first version of Blazblue was barely playable, as well as the most recent Soul Calibur being riddled with problems, though still better than III funny enough.

#19

SF4 and SSF4 are in no way shape or form crap games.

#20

did you come here from neogaf j/w