Akuma and the Season 2 update is slated to be released on May 22 — tomorrow. This will mark the end of the Season 1 DLC fighters as Rashid, A.K.I., and Ed have all been released already.
Of course, the roster will continue to expand beyond 22 characters in Season 2 and beyond. Whereas the Season 1 roster was revealed from the very beginning, information about the Season 2 roster is currently very scarce.
In an interview with Game Informer, Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama was asked about what the team might be planning with Season 2. Of course, Nakayama was able to provide just a tiny tease while still remaining mostly tight-lipped about the subject.
“With Akuma serving as the final character from the Year 1 pass, how has the process gone for selecting the characters for Year 2?” asked Game Informer. “I know you likely can’t go into specifics, but did the team identify any holes in the current roster that needed to be addressed or filled with the next batch of playable characters?”
By this point, the development team has already been working on the Season 2 roster for over a year, so Nakayama should be well aware of who’s coming next. Though some have already been casting their predictions, Nakayama seems fairly confident that the team has some surprises in store for the fans.
“Of course, I can’t make any specific comments yet, but I think you will find there to be some unexpected characters,” responded Nakayama. “Sorry, but the method of selection is also a secret (no fortune telling or divination involved). We hope you’re looking forward to it.”
It seems that Nakayama has caught on to how the community is able to analyze patterns and processes, which is apparently why he’s not willing to divulge any information regarding how the Season 2 roster was decided upon.
“Of course, I can’t make any specific comments yet, but I think you will find there to be some unexpected characters.” — Takayuki Nakayama
For example, we recently speculated that Season 2 could have emphasis on SF4 due to Season 1’s focus on SF5. From here, Season 3 would incorporate fighters from SF3 and so on.
If this theory turns out to be true, then Nakayama obviously wouldn’t be able to discuss this as being the team’s method of selection since it would narrow things down a little too much right now. Of course, this is just one possibility.
Nakayama’s comment involving the phrase of “no fortune telling” regarding the secret selection process could be noteworthy. In particular, Rose and Menat are known as fortune tellers, so Nakayama could potentially be hinting that they aren’t part of the Season 2 roster, though that honestly seems like a stretch even if they aren’t planned for Season 2.
Regardless, it seems that the best thing to do is to somehow expect the unexpected. Things will certainly be interesting since this is the first time in a long time that we didn’t know what was coming next for Street Fighter 6 considering how the entire base roster and Season 1 roster were leaked very early on.
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens from here after Akuma is finally made playable starting tomorrow.