The latest Famitsu issue has special coverage to mark the release of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown. It included an interview with chief producer Seiji Aoki from Sega. The interview revealed that Sega still has yet to make any plans for Virtua Fighter 6 as of Ultimate Showdown‘s release. [Thanks, Ryokutya.]
In the interview, Aoki also mentioned the new game’s availability on PlayStation Plus and arcades. Here are some highlights from Famitsu‘s interview with Seiji Aoki:
- “At the beginning of development, I didn’t think the game could be free (with PlayStation Plus). (laughs)”
- “If it were to be always free, it would be naturally difficult [business-wise]. So it will be available on PlayStation Plus for 2 months.”
- “I thought from the beginning that if a game was born in arcades, we must also release the newest title for arcades.”
- “I want to complete the features for team battles and esports management.”
- “Nothing has been decided yet regarding Virtua Fighter 6, so I cannot make any statement. But if you ask me whether I want to create it or not, I do want to create it.”
- “This title [Ultimate Showdown] will let us know whether there are demands and potentials for Virtua Fighter. We want to hype it up so it can connect to the next one.”
- “I hope a lot of players will receive this present from Sega.”
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, also known in Japan as Virtua Fighter esports, just released for PlayStation 4 on June 1, 2021, and arcades on June 2, 2021. The PlayStation 4 version also has a Legendary Pack DLC containing retro character models and music tracks.
