Fighting games in 2026 are floundering, with everything not called Street Fighter 6 relegated to the trash bin of history.

You lost me on the first sentence. Are we pretending Guilty Gear didn’t just go from being an extremely niche IP to a household name last generation? While there are issues worth talking about, fighting games have been steadily growing year-over-year with no sign of slowing down.

I still love Puyo Puyo, but I don’t love Sega’s decision to rehash the same bad crossover again and again and again. It’s been nearly a decade since the last main series game and I’m convinced we’re never getting another. And queue times have gotten rather sad whenever I relapse and try to play Champions ranked again, Sega’s mismanagement has hurt the playerbase pretty badly.

I’m not so sure MK1’s woes speak volumes about anything else besides MK1. Has any NRS game ever had three years of content updates?

I remember when Riot first bought Radiant Entertainment, all the discourse about how the League fighter would kill every other FGC title just by being F2P and having Riot money behind it.

Then they took a whole decade to release, and the development hell was not kind to the final product. But I’d also just say that the landscape changed so much in that decade, other fighting games have become a lot more mainstream now, enough so that this was not enough to compete with them anymore.

This game spent nearly a decade in development to end up like this.

Matrix exists as a federated Discord-like. Though the problem I have with it is that it is a Discord-like, with the same problems of not being indexed by search engines. I don’t think these types of platforms are where most online communities should be. Not to say there’s no use case for a private group chat, but I hate that in a lot of communities Discord is being used for the wrong reasons.

The alternative for most Discord servers should be forums. Actually, I think Piefed/Lemmy/Mbin can work great as a modern federated forum, one that solves some of the friction of old-school forums by only needing users to have one Fedi account they can use everywhere.

I’m expecting that if/when Discord does fall, people will just go to another corporate-owned platform that hasn’t enshittified yet… but inevitably will. And the cycle will repeat.

This is what we’re seeing with BlueSky. Sure, BlueSky pays lip service to federation in order to convince users they’re totally different, but in reality they’ve set it up so that nearly everything goes through their master server and they hold control. I don’t trust BlueSky any further than I can throw it, but ActivityPub is clearly losing the battle here.

Trying to convince people to come to Fedi is like trying to convince them to switch to Linux. They’re not gonna do it and they will get mad at me if I don’t shut the fuck up.

Discord is the last mainstream social media platform I still use, and god do I hate it. I hate the impact it’s had on online communities, moving everything underground to a place that isn’t indexed by search engines.

Unfortunately, I’m kind of stuck with it, I can’t disconnect from those communities that have chosen to tie themselves to this platform. If I did I really would be a hermit living in a cave.

When buying a console, the only question that matters is what games you want to play on it.

Xbox One X is the last generation model, so it won’t run newer Xbox Series exclusives. The line between console generations is quite blurry these days, the Series line has been out for over five years and some games still get cross-generation releases, but even then you should be aware that cross-gen titles may be poorly optimized for older hardware.

If you’re only looking to play games from the Xbox One era (2013-2020), those should all run great on the One X and you can save a lot of money by deliberately staying a generation behind. See [email protected]

But if you want to play anything newer, if you want to be future-proof going forward. Series X is the high-end current generation model for current generation games.

You’re looking for actual Roguelikes then. That’s what the genre originally was before it got bastardized.

I sincerely wish these kinds of grinding games would keep the good name of Rogue out of their mouths. No, it’s not -lite, it’s the exact opposite of Rogue!

Tetris: The Grand Master is the only good Tetris. Honestly sad that they had a good thing going and TTC decided to throw it out in favor of Guideline.

There are a lot of bots on Steam. If I get a random friend request from someone I don’t recognize who has only F2P games in their account, or just no playtime in anything that I play, I ignore it.

But if it’s someone you’ve been playing with, that’s a human. A bot would’ve just gone straight to the scam as soon as you accept their friend request.

I’m guessing they’re probably talking about Discord, which is what most people use for voice chat these days (and other social media-y stuff). It’s not a virus or anything, but it is another proprietary corporate-owned social media platform, which I’m sure a lot of us here on Fedi might have opinions about.

Yeah, regardless of where it came from, the lack of disclosure reflects very poorly on AdHoc.

Unconfirmed, but the rumor I’m hearing is that AdHoc submitted one universal binary for all regions, and it’s CERO who won’t allow this content in Japan. FWIW, the JP version of Cyberpunk is also censored, but it’s separate from the international release.

It’s also worth noting that the JP PS5 version just launched alongside it, separate from last year’s international version. Haven’t been able to find confirmation on whether that version is censored too, but if it is then it’s definitely CERO.

How would you define oversaturated then? Since you counted them up and said seven isn’t a lot, is there a certain number that’s a cutoff?

Oversaturation should be relative to what the market will bear. They’re absolutely right that the time commitment is what really matters here. You might not think seven sounds like a lot, but no one’s committing to grinding battle passes in seven live services at once.

If we were talking about something like visual novels, seven isn’t a lot because you’ll finish one and move on to the next. But seven live services is a lot of live services, because it’s more than what people will play.

Breaking news: Company wants consumers to buy new product. Details at 11.

I feel like hero shooters, and many other genres, have players swearing allegiance to one game and hating on all the rest. The FGC is a unique anomaly for having this shared space where the only way we can make our offline events sustainable is to put them all under one roof and encourage players to support as many games as possible.

That’s something you don’t see in any other genre, even the idea of a HSC sounds laughable. I think that’s why in other genres it’s saturation, only in the FGC is a rising tide lifting all ships.

People say they’re sick of live services, but the successful ones are still doing hella numbers. Execs have seen how much money Marvel Rivals is making and they want a piece. I think the real problem is that they’ve become so saturated. Most gamers already have one or two live services they’re hooked on, and these games demand so much of your time that they’re not going to fit another into their rotation. Do people truly hate live services, or do they just hate the ones they’re not currently playing?

Live services also come with an expectation that they have to be a massive megahit overnight or else they’re dead on arrival. All or nothing. With the budgets that get poured into these games, the only way to get a return on investment is to hit it big big big. I have a lot of opinions the way gamers throw around the word ‘dead’ to describe any multiplayer game with a less than Fortnite-sized playerbase, argumentum ad SteamCharts has done irreparable damage to gaming discourse, but it is a sad truth that a lot of modern multiplayer games can’t just find their niche and be comfortable with that.

And I say all this as someone whose favorite multiplayer games have a matchmaking system that consists of just pitting you against whoever’s available, or even a Discord server where you ping a matchmaking role and hope someone responds. A modest little indie game can sustain a tight-knit community that way, but it’ll never fly for a big budget live service. I have games I love dearly that I can’t actually recommend to people because getting matches can be a chore that I doubt most of you want to deal with.

This then leads to this self-fulfilling prophecy where a live service with this kind of anti-hype train is what seals its grave. Live services are an investment to get into, but it’s already been pronounced dead, so don’t sink any cost into it because no one else will. I have games that I’ve enjoyed but couldn’t justify putting money into because the future looked too uncertain, which is exactly how they ended up dying.

Maybe there’s even a bit of us vs. them, because market saturation has made the fight for an active playerbase so cutthroat, people don’t want to see a competing title risk siphoning players away from their preferred game. I’ve even been there too, my favorite game of all time dropped off because another game came in and split its playerbase.

But mostly, I think a lot of people just like shitting on the new target of the day without even thinking too hard about why. Making fun of a flop has always been a popular gamer pastime. I’ve seen this sort of thing happen all time time, dating back before we even had the term ‘live service’. TORtanic is the one that immediately comes to mind for me, the one people made such a big deal out of that they had to come up with a funny name for it. Anyone remember that?

Out of all the features Steam offers, the most useful is probably just automatic updates. Much better than having to go check for an update myself and maybe even redownload the whole game every time instead of just the changes.

Also Steam Workshop, multiplayer (if it goes through Steamworks), controller fixes, screenshot and recording functions, chat, forums, etc.

I heard puzzle games and am legally obligated to shill Petal Crash (and it’s upcoming sequel). It’s a great accessible entry point into versus puzzles, and tbh it’s practically the only good thing to happen to the genre in a decade or so.

Can also check out Panel Attack as a FOSS clone of Panel de Pon, and FightCade for emulating all kinds of classics with netplay.

Did you have a modded console? Without modification, the 10NES lockout chip prevents PAL cartridges from running on NTSC or vice versa. But it is possible to disable the chip to get around this.

The real point here is that they don’t have the ability to manufacture at the scale of the big three. It literally can’t be in direct competition.

I don’t think that’s had much of an impact when Nintendo sold more Switch 2s at launch than Valve has manufactured Steam Decks over its entire lifespan. The Steam Deck is still an enthusiast product for a niche crowd, and will likely never be in direct competition with the big three.

NES and SNES were region-locked. In addition to an actual lockout chip, they even had different cartridge shapes so you couldn’t physically fit Famicom or Super Famicom games.

Handhelds were not (until DSi and 3DS), but I specifically said home consoles.

It’s early and there aren’t a lot of heavy hitters yet. But for me, Kirby Air Riders alone was well worth it, I waited 22 years for this sequel and it delivered.

That was always the case for Nintendo’s home consoles, not like it was a new thing that started with the Wii. Switch was the first one to be region-free.

It sounds like you’re upset that a game that clearly put a lot of focus on PvP in its design, has PvP in it. I’m not sure it’s fair to blame the game because you expected something else.

I think this just a sign of changing times regarding how games are made. We’ve come a long way from the days when one programmer added multiplayer into Goldeneye at the very end of development, that could never happen today. And those are the footsteps Halo 1 followed in, they didn’t even have Xbox Live until the sequel.

Today, I think trying to make a game do a little bit of everything may risk struggling to stand out against titles that focus all of their development resources on just doing one thing really really well. You do have a point that having solo content to fall back on is at least a safety net, but does the opportunity cost of implementing that solo content make it even harder to succeed as a multiplayer game in such a competitive market?

But would @[email protected]’s statement also apply to go?

Maybe in just one specific genre, but other kinds of competitive games do exist. It’s worth noting that fighting games have never had even a single cheating scandal.

I think that’s a rather shallow way of looking at. Would you describe something like chess as ‘lazy’ then?

A good competitive game has to put a lot of thought and care into its design to make it so that two players trying to make each other miserable actually ends up coming out the other end as a fun experience.

I’d argue that if a game doesn’t have anything to nitpick at, it probably wasn’t doing anything bold enough for me to truly fall in love with either.

It’s a purely narrative game, the original version (this is now a remake of a remake in a new engine) was made in RPG Maker but without any RPG elements. Walk around, talk to NPCs, watch the story unfold.

The one big thing it has in common with Undertale is that the less you know going in, the better. If the art style and vibe is enough to get your attention, go ahead and give it a shot, go in blind.

Physical copies, yes. If it’s a game I absolutely know I’m definitely buying and I want it badly enough to spend full price and I want to play it on day 1, I’ll preorder to ensure it ships on day 1. Because if I actually ordered it on release day, it’d take a few more days to ship. Last game I preordered was Kirby Air Riders, and I’m very happy with that purchase.

As for Early Access, my criteria is to just evaluate the game in its current state - if it offers enough to be worth buying now, I’ll buy it now.

The person I replied said Nintendo wasn’t making their old games playable at all. You’re complaining about something else.

Panel Attack

Bit of an odd example to cite since both Golden Sun games are officially available on NSO.

Attending Combo Breaker is the highlight of my year every year. In 2025 I was able to fit Frosty Faustings into my travel budget too. Managed to place 17th in Mystery Bracket both times, and they were very wild bracket runs. I saw Gyakuten Puzzle Bancho and turned to my opponent to utter a sentence no one wants to hear in Mystery: “I’m sorry, I know how to play this game.” Also at CB I was able to make it out of pools in Under Night In-Birth II, and it was a hella stacked bracket so I’m pretty happy with that one.

Been focusing more on my mahjong career, attended Riichi Nomi Open and Philadelphia Riichi Open as my first two tournaments. Didn’t do so hot though. But of course, when I win it’s because I’m skilled, when I lose it was just bad luck.

New arcade opened up near me with modded Maimai, Wacca, and Chunithm cabinets. I told myself I’m never going back to Round 1 again, though R1 does have the new official international Maimai now so I guess that’s something. I also got back into Dance Dance Revolution a little, but I’m still not very good.

As for actual new releases, Deltarune is obvious. Kirby Air Riders is a sequel I waited 22 years for, and it was worth the wait. The original is one of my favorite games of all time and I’m blown away by how much higher they raised the bar. Online City Trial is everything childhood me ever dreamed of. And I have to shout out Rhythm Doctor finally exiting Early Access, the final chapter is a wonderful conclusion that gave me a lot of emotions.

Visual novels would be good if you’re looking for something low-energy.