After the King of Fighters series celebrated its 30th anniversary, SNK announced that a KOF (King of Fighters) Studio would be created, according to a new subdirectory on their official website. The site also lists the latest titles released since 2016, including Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, along with a surprising project for the studio.
Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, and more… SNK fighting games have thrilled and delighted fans worldwide ever since their landmark debut in the 1990s.
The 30th anniversary of The King of Fighters brings with it another milestone: the launch of the all-new KOF Studio.
KOF Studio will proudly carry on the storied legacy of our iconic fighting game IPs while driving their evolution well into the future.
Get ready for the new battles ahead as SNK gears up for the revolution at hand, and remember:
The dream match never ends!
From SNK alone, there are several fighting game IPs that they have created over the years. From Aggressors of Dark Combat to Samurai Showdown (2019), SNK has a truckload of games within the genre that they could resurrect at will. The name itself is fitting since many of SNK’s title characters have at least passed through the King of Fighters series – including games that are from totally different genres.
For instance, the Ikari Warriors team’s Ralf and Clark had their rail shooter in the 80s with the same name. Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and Garou have a bit of a shared universe with these other titles in the form of the King of Fighters games – which is nearly similar to DC and Marvel comics holding their own separate but shared continuity. The tagline is from the King of Fighters series, also, which is a reference to that of the titles. The King of Fighters is more or less a “What if” of different SNK franchises that come together to duke it out, ignoring age differences and other factors that would make the matchups canonically impossible.
At the current time, next to City of the Wolves being developed and KOF XV support since 2022, SNK will be giving Samurai Shodown fans another RPG. Yashamaru, the newcomer from the latest game, seems to be taking on a demon for this cover. From the looks of things, it’s through this studio as listed by the site. Job positions seem to be available for this new project, also. The company might be using this studio to also produce the brand new Art of Fighting game which was discussed this summer.
