Virtua Fighter was the original king of 3D fighting games, and there are some interesting signs that it could be trying to come back for that crown.
Evidence has been mounting that Sega could be gearing up to reveal a new Virtua Fighter title at The Game Awards 2023 this week though not everything is pointing in that direction now.
A couple days ago, fighting game community members Maximilian Dood and Curiousjoi (and apparently UnRoolie too) received a letter from Sega in the mail with a message.
“New Era. New Energy. Make sure to tune in to The Game Awards December 7th.”
I got one too. Curious, have these gone out to others that are NOT huge fighting game creators? pic.twitter.com/Nqommjigkj
— Maximilian Dood (@maximilian_) December 2, 2023
That by itself could just be seen as a coincidence, but Brodoof also pointed out on Twitter that the font appears to be basically the same one the developer used in their promotion of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown back in 2021.
Moreover, Virtua Fighter is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year for the original arcade release with that birthday coming for the Sega Saturn release next year as well, which paints a potentially positive picture for the company to do something with their fighting game property.
It seems to use the same font that the VF5 Ultimate Showdown trailer used, just in blue/not italicized. VF6 likely pic.twitter.com/GrP3dUTHAD
— Brodoof (@Brodoof) December 2, 2023
There is some more context and maybe even hints, however, that many people have looked over / haven’t seen in this discourse yet.
It wasn’t just fighting game people who got the invite, as Lindsay Elyse also received the letter who seems to stream primarily World or Warcraft.
SEGA sent this today… WHAT DOES IT MEAN pic.twitter.com/RDa1NLW8mh
— lindsay elyse (@gglindsayelyse) December 2, 2023
That’s leading some to believe it could also end up being something related to Phantasy Star since Maximilian has a history with that series as well.
On top of that, TGA host Geoff Keighley and Zack Reese (who works for Sega’s PR) have both seemingly responded to these letters getting sent out using the word “crazy” specifically.
This of course has raised the hopes that a new Crazy Taxi game is going to be revealed.
It might be too early to reveal it yet, but there are the reports of Sega working on a “super game” as well with a planned release for 2026 that could be on the table here as well.
Virtua Fighter hasn’t received a brand new game in the series since all the way back in 2006 though as mentioned above, we did get the enhanced version of VF5 in 2021.
Sega did recently announce a new version of Virtua Fighter 3tb is coming to Japanese arcades as well as the game being included in a Yakuza title for the first time with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
The initial postings and reports did make us quite hopeful that a new Virtua Fighter is finally on the way, but looking at the totality of the evidence now, our hopes are more muted with Phantasy Star, Crazy Taxi or perhaps something totally different appearing equally if not more likely to happen.
We only need to wait a few more days to see what is actually going to be announced by Sega with The Game Awards 2023 going down December 7.