State of Fighting Games in 2023 (Spoiler: Looking Good!)

With all of the announcements that have been made, I’m really looking forward to this year. We have announcements that include Street Fighter 6 coming out in June, Tekken 8 getting teasers throughout the year, and improvements on older games. The main thing that’s great is the new focus on online play and making games more playable with more people whether they decide to play on PC or console. Capcom announced that Street Fighter 6 will have rollback net play. Rollback is going to be a big deal because instead of relying solely on frame delay and quality of connection, we will now get online play that uses a predictive model which is quite accurate. The game will complete moves on behalf of the player if there might be data issues between the players. This is by no means perfect, but it at least makes the game more playable with people that might not have the best internet available.

Fighting game fans are excited about Street Fighter 6 because it really does seem they have learned from all the mistakes they have made in the past with this upcoming release, but they have also noticed what other developers have done when it comes to features they have been offering. Street Fighter 6 seems like the ultimate package but we will have to wait until June to find out. From personal experience, I did get to play in the closed beta, and I did enjoy myself. The inputs felt great on PC, online play only had an issue once in a great while, crossplay with consoles was nice, and the presentation seems like it’s on the right track. The game will be a day one purchase for me, and I believe this will be the Street Fighter game for new and old players to get into. Competitors will also be all over the game with the announcement of a $2,000,000 prize pool for Capcom Cup this year with 1st place getting $1,000,000.

Tekken 8 is another game that was announced recently. We don’t have a lot of information yet, but it does seem like they will be changing up how players will be approaching the game. One of the key things the game is going to focus on is aggression. They also have changed up the meter system works which will now be called the Heat System. From the demonstrations the developers have shown us, it looks like it will be a type of cancel system where certain combos or moves wouldn’t be possible unless one activates the meter they have gained. Rage Drives will no longer be in the game. We will see a return of Rage Arts which will be similar to how Tekken 7 implements them. If you want a full rundown, I would recommend watching the YouTube video Bandai Namco has put out below:

As a current Tekken 7 player, I’m optimistic about Tekken 8, and I’m looking forward to a change. I can see why some fans might be nervous with the new mechanics or the changes to them, but we won’t know how it all plays out until we have a chance to play the game. I almost see the Heat System as a replacement for Rage Drives that have more freedom. A few other things we need to find out is how online play is going to work, will there be crossplay, and who will all be in the game.

Here are few other games that will be getting new releases on other platforms or are getting new updates for improved online play:

• BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Releasing on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in Q2 2023)
• Samurai Shodown (Update for rollback netcode in 2023)
• The King of Fighters XV (Crossplay net play update coming hopefully in 2023)
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (New release coming for PC and Playstation 4/5 in 2023 and will include rollback netcode and crossplay)
• Guilty Gear Strive (Crossplay coming soon in 2023)

I might have missed a few. If so, please feel free to let me know. Overall, I am looking forward to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising because GBVS came out at a horrible time for it’s first release (beginning of COVID-19), and we will be able to see how the game really does with a proper release with better netcode as a bonus. I didn’t put DNF Duel on the list of upcoming updates but a season pass is being released for the game. I’m sure fans of the game are happy the game will still get support because I honestly thought the game was going to get a few updates and be done with.

It’s an exciting time to be a fighting game fan, and I’m happy the genre is becoming alive with more choices coming up. Time to learn your match ups, get those fundamentals down, and make sure your wallet doesn’t get punished too much.