Virtua Fighter Producer Explains Why They Won’t Compete With Tekken

In an interview with the website Dexerto (via EventHubs), Riichiro Yamada, producer of the new Virtua Fighter, mentioned that Tekken and Virtua Fighter players used to face off against each other in arcades in the past, and that’s something the developers hope to prevent from happening again.

“I don’t want to say anything bad, because it could go viral, but, you know, doing this job, I’ve felt that, looking at the community sentiment, Tekken and Virtua Fighter players don’t get along very well,” explained Yamada.

He went on to elaborate on the connection between the two franchises, stating that “originally, it all started with Virtua Fighter, but then Tekken was created. These games aren’t exactly siblings, but they aren’t completely different games either. Tekken evolved into the product it is today, and Virtua Fighter came first.”

Despite this sibling-like rivalry, Yamada clarified that he doesn’t intend to create competition between the upcoming Virtua Fighter and Bandai Namco’s current flagship title, Tekken 8.

Regarding Virtua Fighter‘s development, the team acknowledges that Tekken is Tekken, and there’s no reason to battle them on their turf. Instead, they aim to offer something different so both can coexist harmoniously without rivalry.

“I’m not thinking: ‘what do we need to do to fight Tekken?’ I respect other games and do plenty of research, but I don’t feel the need to compete or ‘beat’ them,” noted Yamada. He further framed internal discussions as: “it’s more like, okay, they have their games. What can we do? There are things they don’t have that we do. So I’m more focused on how to bring something new to the world.”