Sega has officially announced that a new Virtua Fighter game is in the works as part of the company's drive to revive some of its classic franchises.
Speaking to VGC, Sega transmedia head Justin Scarpone revealed that alongside revivals of franchises like Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, and Shinobi, which were announced during last year's Game Awards, a new Virtua Fighter game is also in development, although Scarpone stopped short of revealing further details.
Scarpone also says that "in certain instances", Sega has transmedia projects in development alongside its games, pointing to the recently-revealed Shinobi movie as an example, although it's not clear whether Virtua Fighter is also part of that initiative.
Sega's Virtua Fighter revival is part of a company-wide initiative on Sega's part to emphasize its classic franchises, with several games currently in the works based on old-school Sega IPs.
These projects include a reboot of Crazy Taxi, which Sega says will be an open-world MMO in contrast to the original game's classic arcade approach to gameplay, as well as reworks of Golden Axe, Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, and Streets of Rage (in the latter case, a reboot distinct from 2020's Streets of Rage 4).
We don't have any kind of inclination regarding what exactly Sega is planning to do with these franchises (beyond the Crazy Taxi reboot, of course), but we'll likely learn more in the coming months.
Elsewhere in recent Sega news, the company achieved major success with Metaphor: ReFantazio, the JRPG developed by many members of the core creative team behind the Persona franchise. The game managed to sell a million copies within its first few hours on sale.
The gaming giant has also enjoyed recent success thanks to the release of 3D platformer Sonic x Shadow Generations, which, much like the aforementioned JRPG, sold very strongly indeed on its launch day.
