We recently heard from Arc System Works producer Toshimichi Mori about BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, and Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari had some words to share about his series going forward, in an interview with Destructoid.
First, Ishiwatari shared a comment about his thoughts on Arc System Works and the pro scene:
“Arc System Works has worked on multiple fighting games, not just Guilty Gear but others as well. Our thinking behind this strategy is that fighting games are a communication tool, so if there’s more out there there’s more communication. But EVO is a larger user base, so Arc has been focusing on tapping into everyone, so our titles are appreciated on a larger stage.”
He followed with some comments about Dragon Ball FighterZ:
“What we can say is that Dragon Ball FighterZ was developed based on the lessons learned through previous Guilty Gear and BlazBlue titles, but for Guilty Gear specifically it’s important for us to maintain the people we’ve already won over. At the same time we do want to expand the userbase so more users are coming in. Daily, we’re trying to figure out what our balance point is to satisfy our users that are already with us and new users.”
Ishiwatari on a possible Switch port of Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2:
“That’s a really good question. One of the goals for Guilty Gear is achieving high quality graphics. Specifically on that point the Nintendo Switch might not be a good match, but that’s not our final conclusion. We’re still working on that.”
When asked about the assessment of Guilty Gear being a sort of “niche series for a hardcore audience,” Ishiwatari responded with the following:
“After releasing Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 it’s clear what we need to improve on. The key is to win over more users because of the complex controls. But if we implement everything the game will no longer be Guilty Gear. It’s hard to balance out all the improvements. One thing that we have to do in the next installment is to reduce the number of systems [mechanics]; it’s too complicated for everyone. You can expect that in the next game.”
Lastly, when asked how long he intended to keep making games, Ishiwatari replied with the following gem: “Until I die.”
Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC.
