Much of today’s fighting games, such asStreet Fighter 5,Mortal Kombat 11, andTekken 7, have their own esports leagues. So, it only makes sense for a title such as SNK’s Samurai Shodown to have one of its own. Well, it seems there may be plans to expandSamurai Shodownesports in the future.
We recently interviewedSamurai ShodownLead Producer Yaduyuki Oda about SNK’s latest release on the Nintendo Switch, as well as the developer’s future plan’s for the critically lauded fighting game. Naturally, this included the tournament and esport scene.Samurai Shodownwas featured in EVO 2019, Combo Breaker, and many more tournaments, and recently named one of the nine games to be played at EVO 2020.
As such, we asked Oda if there were any plans to further or expand onSamurai Shodownesports beyond just tournament presence. The simple answer is yes, however, there is one obstacle that seems to be halting that process.
“Yes, we do have a plan concerning that,” Oda said in regards to expandingSamurai Shodown’s esports presence. “After the coronavirus is contained, we hope that we can work something out.”
How exactly SNK will expandSamurai Shodownesports is still unknown. Will it be something akin to Tekken World Tour or the Capcom Cup? Will it just be continued support with new DLC, and balance changes to keep the meta fresh? Maybe a mixture of both? We can only speculate until the coronavirus is contained.
The coronavirus has affected the video game industry to a rather large degree since the outbreak began. Big companies, such as PlayStation,have opted to not go to events like GDC 2020and PAX East to avoid travel. Events, such as theTaipei Game Showand theChinese release of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, have also been delayed.
If you want to see our full interview with Oda, check DualShockers soon. In the meantime,you can see our thoughts on the initial release ofSamurai Shodown, as well asthe Switch port.
