Capcom brand manager and producer Yoshinori Ono has stepped down from the company and, in doing so, leaves Street Fighter VI in the midst of its production. Ono worked for over two decades at Capcom and served as a producer on a number of their games, including Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter V and Street Fighter X Tekken. He is widely regarded as the man behind the Street Fighter franchise's revival for his work on Street Fighter IV. As a result of Ono's departure, Street Fighter VI, which was initially slated for a 2021 release date, has been delayed indefinitely.

With the latest edition of one of the most popular fighting game franchises of all time being put on hold, alongside general community discontentment with Street Fighter V, the opportunity for another franchise to seize the moment has appeared. With Guilty Gear Strive and King of Fighters XV being the next big releases, one of these franchises may step up and revive its series while garnering the interest of new and old fans alike.

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King of Fighters XV is a title with little to no information available. The only announcement surrounding the game was a very short trailer at 2019's EVO, which was less so a trailer and more so a reveal of a title card. Developed by the legendary SNK, King of Fighters as a franchise has cemented itself as one of the greatest in fighting game history. While its most recent entry, King of Fighters XIV, never garnered immense popularity (partially due to its initial PlayStation exclusivity), King of Fighters XIII is considered one of the best in its genre of the last generation. Consisting of high paced, momentum-based gameplay with incredible combo potential, XIII was truly something special. Serving as a follow up hot off the trails of 2019's incredibly polished Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters XV may just be a return to form for the series.

However, with this massive potential for SNK's success comes with a caveat. If King of Fighters XV hopes to get off the ground in the modern fighting game scene, it must have an improved online environment. One of the major factors that led to the downfall of both its predecessor and Samurai Shodown was not the gameplay itself, but the low-quality online experience that very quickly snuffed out any potential interest in these titles. SNK has already applied the superior rollback net code to some of its classic titles, such as Samurai Shodown V Special and Garou: Mark of the Wolves, with great success. Now it's merely a matter of implementing it into their major titles. If SNK ultimately listens to community feedback and continues the same level of gameplay development that they've demonstrated in previous entries, King of Fighters XV's success is all but assured.

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In terms of available information, Guilty Gear Strive is King of Fighters XV's polar opposite. While both were announced with EVO 2019 trailers, Strive's contained a small glimpse of gameplay as well as a 2020 release date. Since then, developer Arc System Works has released a plethora of character reveal trailers, gameplay and even a closed beta early this year. Graphically the game looks better than the franchise ever has, with beautiful visual effects and dynamic stage transitions that match the over the top and intense fights the series is known for. Not to mention that Arc System Works has confirmed that the game will implement rollback net code, which means that connection problems from the previous entry will seldom be an issue for this new title.

Although it seems promising enough, Strive is not entirely without its share of controversy. A finicky online lobby, which the developers have since stated will not be in the final product, as well as some awkward interfaces led to some mixed reception toward the closed beta. On the gameplay end of things, some veteran players expressed qualms with the reworked combo system, which functions very differently than the previous entry's. Concerns were also levied at high damage output, particularly from rather low hit combos.

While neither of these games is the perfect candidate, they both come from incredible legacies and have the potential to work beyond past issues. If there's ever been a time for their developers to keep an ear to the community and continue to improve, it's now. With a bit of polish and the right decisions along the way, either of these games could come into their own and grow into a smashing success that breathes new life into the fighting game community.

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