SNK Hints At New Title Using Unreal Engine

In a recent developer interview, SNK Producer Yasuyuki Oda confirmed that a new SNK title is already in the works that is going to be using the Unreal Engine. When asked for their future plans for the Unreal Engine and if other SNK titles will be adopting its use in the future, Oda-san replied saying, “We’re currently testing a new game in the works that will be using Unreal Engine, so I can say that it’s a strong possibility in the future.”

SNK has developed 2 projects in the Unreal Engine as of now, both of which have been recent iterations of their past franchise, starting with Samurai Showdown back in 2019 and SNK’s latest release, King of Fighters XV which only arrived earlier this month. We can reasonably assume that whatever the next project SNK is busy on is probably going to be a continuation of one of their past franchises. Possibly a Garou sequel or maybe even a new Fatal Fury. 

Oda-san also confirmed more content in the future for their latest fighting game The King of Fighters XV which has received critical acclaim from critics for its fun and unique gameplay as well as its large roster of beautifully designed characters. When asked about the game’s future plan, he stated that, “We have already finalized some of our release plans for DLC content internally and hope to support the game long-term.”

The full interview is a very interesting read going over the development of KOF XV and how certain design decisions were made during development, one of the more interesting tidbits was how contrary to other fighting game developers, SNK focuses more closely on the storyline when designing new characters. When asked about that during the interview, Kaito Soranaka, who is the Lead Game Designer for KOF XV, mentioned that, “It’s case-by-case. Sometimes you add a character because the storyline requires one, other times, you create a character and find a way to add them to the story. Typically things like how they affect the story due to their position or background and their special moves get decided near the end.”

The full interview can be found here.