Virtua Fighter 6 has the potential to be cancelled if the head of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Masayoshi Yokoyama, finds that it’s not good enough. The game is a new installment in the Virtua Fighter franchise with up-to-date graphics compared to its predecessors.

In an interview with Famitsu via EventHubs, Yokoyama said that he’s not scared to pull the plug if ever they start feeling that “it won’t be good enough.” Virtua Fighter 6 producer Riichirou Yamada added by saying that he’s putting in a lot of his energy into the game to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Additionally, he revealed that the team is not just “creating games from games.” They aim to create something that hasn’t been made before. He then added, “That’s exactly how Yu Suzuki-san was too.” 

Yu Suzuki was the creator of the Virtua Fighter franchise, which was released in 1993 and was the first-ever 3D fighting game. Its success inspired other 3D fighting games like Tekken and Soul Calibur. Not only that, but it was also seen as the savior of the PlayStation console, as it prompted the designers over at Sony to make the console 3D-focused instead of the initially planned focus on 2D graphics.

Virtua Fighter 6 still has no release date, and little is known about its gameplay. It was first announced in 2024 at The Game Awards and has since released a few tidbits of information here and there. Lately, the developers announced that Wolf Hawkfield is returning in the new game.

SEGA announced on March 14 that Chicago’s Combo Breaker 2025 is the first tournament to be part of the Virtua Fighter Open Championship. The Open Championship will have a grand prize of $100,000.

The Virtua Fighter Open Championship was announced at a Virtua Fighter Direct in December 2024. It’s a tournament that aims to bring the best Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. players in the world and put them in a bracket to see who’s the best of the best. Combo Breaker 2025 is going to be the first qualifier tournament in the Open Championship.

Additionally, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O is also chosen for the lineup at EVO Japan 2025. It is unclear whether that tournament will be a qualifier for the Open Championship. The Open Championship’s venue and date is also undetermined.

This format isn’t new in fighting games, the recently finished Capcom Cup XI used the same method. Players will enter a tournament that is part of the Capcom Pro Tour and whoever wins that tournament will be invited to Capcom Cup. Capcom Cup also has online qualifiers which doesn’t seem to be the case for Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.

Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. is a remaster of Virtua Fighter 5 for Steam, this is the version of the game that will be played in the tournament. PlayStation 4 consoles already had the remaster as early as June 2021. As of writing, there are around 150 players on Steam with a 24-hour peak of more than 300. The announcement of the qualifier is expected to increase these numbers.