Falk

I see. I can understand how you feel. From this point on, I’m not going to give you my personal opinion. Instead, I’ll talk about this from a general perspective, based on my experience working at a major game company. If the company that owns the rights to that IP analyzes the business potential and concludes that it could generate profits commensurate with the company’s size, then a remake, sequel, or reboot is certainly possible. The phrase “commensurate with the company’s size” is actually a pretty important keyword here, so I can’t leave that part out. Timing is another factor, of course. For example, as Producer Ono has mentioned in interviews in the past, there was a 10-year gap between SF3 and SF4. During that period, people were saying things like “the fighting game boom is over.” But in reality, namco had been consistently releasing fighting games for both arcades and home consoles throughout that entire period, and was essentially enjoying a complete monopoly on the market. The scale of that market was actually quite substantial, averaging around 5 to 6 million units in home console sales. And in the arcade business, the revenue generated in the year a game was released was equivalent to the revenue generated during the first two years of its home console release. Ono-san thoroughly researched those figures and apparently used that data as one of his convincing arguments to get the SF4 project approved. In other words, finding the right moment when you can identify both a business opportunity and a realistic chance of success in a particular genre is extremely important. So it’s possible that the rights holder is simply waiting for that moment. What’s interesting about timing is that it’s not just about the competitive landscape or the overall state of the genre. Sometimes, the longer an IP has been dormant, the more excitement its eventual revival can generate. (Although I have no idea whether Bloody Roar would fall into that category.) Another factor is whether someone will emerge within the organization that owns the IP who has the confidence to BET on that IP, the authority to make it happen, and the willingness to take that risk. The reality is that even when market conditions and business circumstances are favorable, an organization ultimately needs someone to take the lead. And unless that leader has genuine passion or affection for the IP, the project isn’t going to get off the ground in the first place. (Or, in the worst case, even if they have absolutely no passion or affection for it, there at least needs to be a very strong business case with a high probability of success.) When you look at it this way, getting all of these circumstances and conditions to align might sound relatively simple, but in reality, it’s quite difficult, especially when you factor in timing. On the other hand, there have also been cases in the past where things were actually moving behind the scenes while everyone had pretty much given up hope. A recent example would be DOA. After DOA6 was released in 2019, there was a long period during which DOA fans were lamenting the fact that there had been no announcements of new games or even updates. But behind the scenes, Producer Hayashi was actually carefully watching for the right timing and developing his strategy. How can I say that with such confidence? Well, that’s because Hayashi himself was regularly coming to me directly for advice, so I knew what was going on. He would ask me about the market conditions for 3D fighting games, the state of the community (I was still on the front lines at the time, attending FGC events and observing the community firsthand), and what factors he should be taking into account if he were to start planning something new. He was surprisingly passionate and thorough in the way he sought advice, and he was genuinely serious about bringing DOA back. And as a result, we saw the announcement this year, didn’t we? The same thing happened with VF, didn’t it? Everyone had pretty much lost hope, but that despair eventually turned into hope. As for Bloody Roar, I genuinely don’t know anything about it. That’s why all I can offer is this kind of general perspective. But if you’re going to make your voice heard, I’d recommend making sure that your message reaches the company that actually owns the rights to the IP. I’ve personally witnessed several cases where feedback like that became the catalyst for a producer to start seriously considering an idea, which eventually led to an actual game being made. Or maybe one of the fans could even get a job at that company! In any case, telling me what you want from Bloody Roar isn’t going to change anything. So if you want to create even the slightest opportunity for something to happen, you need to communicate your wishes directly to the company that owns the IP, and do so “in a positive and friendly manner.” (This is really important, by the way. If you start your request with something like “I know you guys probably won’t listen to anything we say anyway, but…” remember that the people receiving those messages are human beings too. A lot of people would simply get irritated by that kind of opening and end up disregarding the request entirely.) I also wouldn’t recommend online petitions. (Of course, it depends on the scale of what you’re asking for, but even if you manage to collect tens of thousands of signatures, they generally don’t carry much weight. Anonymous online petitions are so easy to participate in that they tend to lack not only credibility but also any real sense of significance or commitment.) Instead, figuring out how to communicate your genuine passion and enthusiasm directly to the people who can actually make decisions would be far more effective. Well, that’s about all I can tell you. I realize this is all pretty general advice, and you might be thinking, “Yeah, I already know all that.”