SNK developer confirms King of Fighters 15 is in development

King of Fighters is one of the longest-running fighting game series, getting its debut in 1994 and finding a comfortable niche within the fighting game community.

The game is unique in that it has players build a team of three fighters and has them play in sequence, only playing the second or third members if the previous members get knocked out. This mechanic, along with a wild anime design, helped distinguish it from the pack of other fighting games.

Q：Many players are concerned about the new developments of KOF. Can you tell us something about it?A：It is currently under active development and is expected to release some intelligence early next year. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/FMtDSj1LaQ

— 八神燁 (@_YeMaster_) November 20, 2020

Current information about King of Fighters XV

At the moment, information regarding King of Fighters XV is sparse. The series director, Yasuyuki Oda, answered questions on Twitter regarding the future of King of Fighters and confirmed that King of Fighters XV is currently under development, with further information to be released next year.

King of Fighters, as a series, has been a niche fighting game for years, always present within the fighting game community but never quite as big as the core fighting games such as Street Fighter and Tekken. Despite this, the games’ uniqueness always draws curious players in to try it out.

For anyone who hasn’t played King of Fighters, the games are interesting and fun. King of Fighters games generally have a high bar for execution, letting players who excel at combos show off their abilities. While this makes the games more difficult for newer players, it also helps retain older players as most modern fighting games are moving in the opposite direction.

Prior to King of Fighters XIV, King of Fighters also stood out among other fighting games for its commitment to an older, more time-consuming and expensive art direction. While not technically a part of gameplay, King of Fighters had a visual identity due to having fully hand-drawn animations and characters in the game.

This was done away with for King of Fighters XIV, though not without fan outcry. Whether King of Fighters XV will return to hand-drawn animations or further refine its digital character models is not yet known, but it will certainly be a point of contention for fans.

Not 【intelligence】, but 【information】

— 八神燁 (@_YeMaster_) November 20, 2020

Is it worth it to get into the King of Fighters series?

While all fighting games have some intrinsic value, King of Fighters is perhaps one of the more difficult ones to learn from scratch. It requires a certain degree of dedication and time in order to be able to play at an intermediate level, something which naturally stops many people from picking up the game.

Nevertheless, once players do learn King of Fighters, it can become a rewarding and exciting game to play. Anyone who wants to pick up the game and give it a shot can find it on PC and PS4.