Three years after its launch, Avenue Fighter 6 continues to go sturdy, with over 2,000 attendees at this 12 months’s Evo in Vegas, recent faces within the upcoming fourth character go (together with the long-awaited debut of Tifa from the preventing recreation Last Fantasy 7), and a vibrant on-line aggressive scene.
videogameaddicted spoke with director Takayuki Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto at Evo 2026 to speak in regards to the present state of the sport and future plans. Subjects coated ranged from the significance of Yasmine’s inclusion as the primary Filipino character in Avenue Fighter historical past, the way forward for single-player content material now that common World Tour updates have been suspended, and somewhat banter about what gamers can count on from Arjun, Tifa, and Bosch’s playstyles.
videogameaddicted: Initially, you guys beforehand confirmed that there can be no future World Tour updates, not less than for now, however you additionally mentioned that Avenue Fighter 6 is aiming for a 10-year lifespan. Are you able to speak somewhat bit about what you intend so as to add to the sport, not simply new characters, however to take care of their lifecycle?
βAvenue Fighter 6β Producer Shuhei Matsumoto: One factor I wish to make clear on this interview is that there could have been some misunderstanding concerning future plans for Avenue Fighter 6. Fairly than having a 10-year life plan, like a 10-year roadmap, from our perspective, we’re attempting to strategy Avenue Fighter 6 as a recreation that would doubtlessly final 10 years. And there’s no certainty that this might be a 10-year mission. Fairly, we approached growth with the intention of constant to develop Avenue Fighter 6 for the subsequent 10 years. So I need to make that clear.
Takayuki Nakayama βAvenue Fighter 6β Director: And there is a lot by way of what we need to do shifting ahead. Any particular particulars we will share at the moment might be fairly troublesome from a world tour perspective. That is one thing we needed to develop upon. Nonetheless, there are different issues that we’re at the moment contemplating, and we hope to have the ability to present extra particulars at a later date.
So, it is protected to say that the way forward for single-player content material continues to be shiny.
Nakayama: Yeah. In different phrases, there are numerous issues I need to do. Sure issues are exterior of their management. Simply since you need to do one thing does not essentially imply you are able to do it. However we hope that we will try this – and there are a variety of new gamers as nicely – so we hope that we will meet the wants of these individuals.
Maybe not having to do World Tour content material for each character featured frees up growth sources, however do you foresee any modifications to DLC frequency or choices in the way forward for Avenue Fighter 6?
Nakayama: So, simply to be clear, there could have been individuals engaged on world excursions prior to now, however simply because their bandwidth is freed up does not essentially imply these sources can simply be moved to one thing else solely. As a result of creating a world tour requires a unique talent set, and people talent units do not essentially switch to creating content material for different issues. Due to this fact, they don’t essentially match in that sense.
As for different content material, I do know individuals are actually excited in regards to the new costumes. Now, I do know that when Ingrid was launched, all of the characters had jerseys, however are there any plans to give attention to new costumes or present extra costumes for the characters within the close to future?
Nakayama: Yeah. Due to this fact, we plan to ship and create the identical quantity of outfits and costumes for all current characters. We’ve prime quality benchmarks that we try to attain and we attempt to make sure that we obtain them. So we hope that we will overcome the persistence of our gamers, however that is one thing we’re striving for.
Properly, at this time we get to see Yasmine in Evo, however the remainder of the DLC characters on this pack are all new to the sequence. So we don’t know and no concept how they are going to play. Are you able to inform us somewhat bit in regards to the archetypes or how Arjun, Bosch, and Tifa will play in Avenue Fighter 6?
Nakayama: So I might say they undoubtedly really feel distinctive and totally different from the present members by way of their preventing model and what you’ll be able to count on from their playstyle.
Arjun is a really distinctive character and feels very totally different from others. I will not go into particulars, however I’ll say that his gameplay will embrace some kind of dance component.
As for Tifa, he beforehand talked about this on SGF, however she plans to make the most of the Materia-like elements of the FFVII sequence. Though she is totally different, she has a preventing model that appears like a translation of the world of Last Fantasy VII to Avenue Fighter 6.
And for Bosch, for many who loved his world tour, he was certainly one of Luke’s disciples. And I used to be in a position to struggle him all through the World Tour and see his preventing model, however he will have a very totally different model than the World Tour. So you’ll be able to count on one thing totally different and distinctive.
After we spoke beforehand, I do not suppose they’d any plans to introduce new mechanics as a result of they had been fairly proud of the present state of the sport. It looks as if the participant base, not less than within the Western world, needs some modifications to be made to the Drive system, particularly Drive Rush. Do you could have any plans to regulate that individual mechanic, and the way a lot participant suggestions do you take into account when making stability modifications or patches?
Nakayama: So by way of making any main changes to the system mechanics, the drive system, we haven’t any plans to make any modifications at the moment. To reply your query by way of how a lot we take heed to person suggestions, we take note of it. We see individuals commenting on social media, in surveys, and so forth., and that is what we’re listening to. We’re contemplating it, however we now have a reasonably large battle workforce that truly analyzes these requests and checks them by some battles by the battle workforce to see if it is proper.
Matsumoto: Not solely that, however we’re taking a look at not simply professional tournaments, but in addition informal tournaments like influencers, new challengers tournaments, and so forth., and making selections based mostly on a variety of how which may influence issues.
Again to Yasmin. I believe lots of people are actually enthusiastic about this character as a result of he is Filipino. Are you able to speak somewhat bit in regards to the significance of getting a Filipino character in Avenue Fighter and whether or not there have been any distinctive efforts that had been made to make her really feel genuine to this tradition?
Nakayama: So, I believe the origin of this character stemmed from the will to introduce a Filipino character for the primary time on this sequence. The rationale we need to do that’s as a result of it is the primary time we have been in a position to specific ourselves like this, however there are fairly just a few individuals inside the FGC who’ve this sort of Filipino roots, so we needed to spice up the scene with this specific viewers. And past that, we needed to introduce a model new martial arts model that many individuals with Filipino or Indonesian backgrounds are most likely aware of. So we did a variety of analysis and homework and enlisted the assistance {of professional} martial artists who use the Filipino model for movement seize. And past that, we talked internally with individuals from that background, Filipino background, to be taught extra about their tradition, what they worth, and the way necessary household is to them.
Visually, Yasmine’s designs appear to attract from numerous elements of Filipino tradition and the area itself. I believe some individuals had been speaking about how her coiffure appeared to take inspiration from hawks, eagles, and even the nationwide flag, and the way her coiffure can be the wrong way up throughout wartime. Is that every one appropriate? And the way deeply did you’re employed on incorporating these small particulars into her visible design?
Nakayama: So, yeah, we’re undoubtedly taking a look at among the theories and assumptions that the gamers have made and analyzing the Tagalog motion and issues like that. In reality, Yasmin tried extra with the design of this character in comparison with different characters within the roster. A personality like Arjun truly got here to us comparatively rapidly and we had been in a position to solidify the ultimate design early on. However within the case of Yasmin, despite the fact that we began with a Filipino highschool woman setting, we experimented together with her character design to see what truly labored.
And by way of the design path, we needed her to face out…maybe among the many roster of fourth graders and really feel like the principle character or major character of a Japanese manga or one thing. And yeah, we put a variety of effort into her.
This character pack is all new characters for Avenue Fighter 6. I used to be simply questioning from the event facet, in your opinion, do you benefit from the course of of making a personality from scratch in a recreation like Avenue Fighter 6, or do you just like the problem of molding an current character into one thing just like the Avenue Fighter 6 mildew?
Nakayama: Yeah. So each are troublesome in several and distinctive methods. Certainly, creating new characters is troublesome. Nonetheless, the sport system of the sport we’re engaged on is extraordinarily necessary in relation to how we resolve on previous characters. For instance, the sport programs of Avenue Fighter 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are very totally different, so it might not work out if characters that appeared in earlier video games seem in Avenue Fighter 6. Nonetheless, I really feel just like the world will develop somewhat by creating new characters. And if they’d an infinite finances and time, they might preserve attempting to deliver everybody again. However yeah, we’ll do one of the best we will.
Virginia (she) is the information editor at videogameaddicted. With 10 years of gaming and leisure reporting expertise, she has a storied historical past within the preventing recreation group, influencer information, and viral on-line developments. Discover her on Twitter. @a_a_o_o_o_o_. Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at videogameaddicted. Yow will discover him on Twitter @JurassicRabbit