On January 6 we were supposed to get the first gameplay reveal trailer for the next entry in SNK’s flagship fighting series, King of Fighters 15. The trailer was to debut at 9 PM ET, but earlier that same day at 11:27AM, SNK made a tweet from their official account stating that the trailer for King of Fighters 15 would be delayed. This also included the reveal of the third season pass for Samurai Shodown. No one is sure why the delay was made, let alone so close to the reveal. The only information on King of Fighters 15 we have ever seen was a logo reveal at EVO 2019 and a short trailer with concept art last month, which indicated yesterday as the supposed date for the next trailer. However, late this morning, around 2 AM to be exact, King of Fighters 14 Ultimate Edition was announced.
King of Fighters 14 Ultimate Edition will contain the base game, all 8 DLC characters, all 10 DLC costumes, and 10 new PS4 themes. Which doesn’t sound like a bad deal until you realize, that this kind of already exists. In 2017 King of Fighters 14 Special Anniversary Edition was released which contains the base game, the first four DLC characters (Rock Howard, Vanessa, Yamazaki, and Whip) and the same 10 DLC costumes. This special bundle is currently available for $20.99. The second DLC character pack, which contains the final four characters of Oswald, Heidern, Najd, and Blue Mary, is available for $19.99.
This means you could pick up everything that Ultimate Edition offers, right now, for $39.99, minus the 10 PS4 themes. Even stranger, King of Fighters 14 Ultimate Edition will also be released for $39.99. North America will receive a digital version on January 20, and Europe will receive a digital version today, January 7, and a physical version later this Spring. No physical version is slated for North America. The kicker to all of this? The price for the Anniversary Edition is a sale price, which ends on January 20, when Ultimate Edition comes out.
It’s there… if you want it I guess?
The entire situation is incredibly bizarre. Between the delay of the trailer for King of Fighters 15, the reveal of Ultimate Edition, and the almost superfluous nature of its existence in the first place, it is unclear what is going on with SNK, and that isn’t even bringing up its recent acquisition, which is a whole other can of worms to unpack. Oh yeah, and apparently SNK is coming out with a console this year too? So whatever is going on at SNK is anyone’s guess, and it isn’t inspiring a lot of confidence in their future either.
Published: Jan 7, 2021 04:34 pm