It’s been announced that some sort of Hunter x Hunter fighting game is being developed according to Dengeki Online (a Japanese website). Very little has actually been revealed about this Hunter x Hunter fighting game, but it’s been promised that more will be unveiled on January 6, 2024 at the Bushiroad New Year Grand Presentation 2024.
As reported on by Gematsu, Bushiroad is acting as the publisher while Eighting is the developer. In particular, Eighting is important due to their history with fighting game development.
Back in 2011, Eighting codeveloped Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 alongside Capcom. To this day, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is cherished by fans as being one of the best team-based fighting games of all time.
Eighting has also been responsible for developing or codeveloping the Bloody Roar series, Tekken Advance, the Naruto: Clash of Ninja series, Castlevania Judgment, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. Most recently, Eighting also codeveloped DNF Duel alongside Arc System Works and Neople.
Outside of fighting games, Eighting has also acted as the codeveloper of Pikmin 4 along with Nintendo. The latest sales stats have indicated that Pikmin 4 has sold over 2.61 million copies, making it the most successful entry in the series thus far.
Needless to say, there’s a wide range of possibilities of what this Hunter X Hunter fighting game could be. It could end up being an arena fighter, but it’s also possible that the success of Dragon Ball FighterZ may have inspired other anime series to be adapted into 3v3 fighting games like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
However, it should also be noted that Bushiroad’s history as a publisher mostly has the company publishing mobile games and creating card games. Indeed, Bushiroad doesn’t appear to have any connection to fighting games outside of this announcement.
While the Dragon Ball series might be the most influential manga/anime ever, Hunter x Hunter has proven to be pretty popular within its own right. As of July 2022, it’s been estimated that Hunter x Hunter has sold over 84 million copies of its manga.
All of this seems to suggest that something big could be in the works, especially with the promise that this is a “full-scale Hunter x Hunter fighting game.” The most ideal scenario would be the creation of a 3v3 Hunter x Hunter fighting game that is similar to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Dragon Ball FighterZ.
However, there’s also the possibility that this could just be another arena fighting game like the Naruto: Clash of Ninja series. An even worse possibility means that this could just be some sort of fighting game for mobile devices.
Ultimately though, we’ll have to wait and see what actually gets announced on January 6, 2024 at the Bushiroad New Year Grand Presentation 2024. Here’s hoping that a trailer for this Hunter x Hunter fighting game is released then.
Sent in by: DaRyo.