What is Sega Planning For Virtua Fighter 6?
Virtua Fighter had a test demo booth at one of the biggest events in the calendar year for the fighting game community last weekend, EVO Japan. Many developers from different fighting games use these events to get their most passionate fans hyped about upcoming projects and products. Sega decided to take a noticeably different route and went live on their channels in the evening hours of Sunday night. Sega hosted a Virtua Fighter Spring 2025 direct to discuss their flagship fighting game franchise. They had a lot to talk about, but there is also a lot they didn’t talk about that leaves fans scratching their heads on what they intend to do.
Virtua Fighter Direct Features A Mysterious Character Reveal
The Sega Virtua Fighter Spring 2025 Direct took place late Sunday night on May 11. The time was actually pushed back an hour from its originally scheduled time at the last minute. This could have been due to technical difficulties, and most likely is the case. It is still interesting to note, however, that some fans speculated that this was done intentionally in order to time the direct at the end of the festivities for EVO Japan. The direct began with a bang, in any case, as Sega’s first announcement was a new spin on a Virtua Fighter roster staple.
Wolf Hawkfield was announced, hyped up, and displayed with a brand new look and an awesome pro-wrestling style intro. However, he was simply innocuously shown to the audience. There was no mention of a new game or Virtua Fighter 6 specifically. Wolf Hawkfield is already present in Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O., so fans were left a bit frustrated waiting for them to simply announce the new game. This slow drip of information regarding Sega’s new project may be a part of a larger vision, however.
Fans Reading Between the Lines for Virtua Fighter News
There were a lot of good things announced at the Sega Virtua Fighter direct. Fans were thrilled by the announcement that Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. will be getting the full online fighting game service for success. Not only will the game be coming to new platforms that fans were expecting, like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but they were surprised to see that Sega is also bringing the game to the Nintendo Switch 2. To top all of this off, all of these versions are getting cross-play compatibility and rollback netcode for the ideal online experience in 2025.
It is known that Sega is working on a new Virtua Fighter game. They announced that they were working on “a new project in the franchise” back in December and have given fans very little info to go off of since then. Many fans are trying to read between the lines of these announcements and see that this cross-play announcement could serve as a test run for their online netcode for the new game as well. So far we have seen three characters for the new project and we know that a game is coming at some point.
Final Thoughts
Sega gave us a lot to unpack in this direct but all of it looks to be all exciting news. They seem to be managing the new Virtua Fighter project in a very calculated and careful way. I believe Sega will come to reap the benefits of this approach if they are able to make a game that can satisfy high level competitors in the fighting game community.
The FGC appears to be in need of a game to dominate the 3D fighter space as Tekken 8 fans are dropping the game due to frustrations with Season 2. Sega looks like it is position to strike and take it’s shot at the 3D fighter crown. I personally can not wait to find out more about this upcoming release.
