Crossovers are nothing new and have always been a thing in fighting games. Still, Street Fighter has always avoided them and resisted inviting characters from other universes to its core-numbered entries.
However, with the recent announcement of Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui, both of Fatal Fury and King of Fighters, coming to Street Fighter, their previous inhibitions have evolved as they tread towards becoming more welcoming.
Street Fighter 6 Opens its Gates To Outsiders
Street Fighter 6 has been going through a massive change by inviting characters from other games and incorporating them into the game. Street Fighter has never been big on opening its doors to outsiders, but all of that is bound to change with its latest announcement of invitations for many other characters from other games.
During an interview with VG247, Takayuki Nakayama, the director of Street Fighter 6, was asked about the sudden change in their inclusivity policy, why he reflected on the decision to include other characters at this moment in time, and how it has become necessary, all while teasing one of the biggest crossovers of all time.
Takayuki Nakayama revealed that his reason for inviting other characters from different worlds was solely because of his desire to increase inclusivity in the fighting game community. He wanted to try to make the community as large as possible, and he felt this was one of the ways to do so. He also revealed his desire to include one character from Mortal Kombat that will be one of the biggest Crossovers for them yet. He said:
I don’t see it as a negative! In fact, like you just mentioned… What about Sub-Zero? Well, there may well be Street Fighter 6 players who aren’t as familiar with the Mortal Kombat IP. So if the goal is to get more people interested in fighting games in general, and a crossover like that gets people talking about which characters should cross over…
He continued:
I mean, obviously I can’t make any promises. But the fact that we’re having this conversation just means that more and more people are getting interested. There is a chance for the fighting game community to reach a whole new audience – so we see it as a positive thing, and we encourage that kind of discussion and comments.
Whether we will see Sub-Zero as a guest character in Street Fighter 6 or not is still up for speculation, but it is clear that the chances of that happening are not totally out of the picture. As Nakayama mentioned, he would like to include him in the future in an attempt to get more and more people interested in the fighting games community.
Street Fighter 6’s Attempt To Make A Community
The reason for this recent inclusivity by Street Fighter 6 is largely due to their desire to form a strong fighting game community where more and more people can get attached.
Their desire to include guest characters in Street Fighter 6 was because they wanted to kind of reinvigorate and just spread the love of fighting games and try to make the community as large as possible.
The future of fighting games looks bright, as a community existing within a single bubble universe will expand the scope and reach of many games while being able to attach interesting lore to them altogether.
What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments below.
