One of the most fundamental truths about video games is that if a game doesn’t sell well enough, or isn’t beloved by the critics, it’ll never continue on. Yes, some games are meant to be one-offs, but many are meant to be the beginnings of a franchise. So if that first game doesn’t sell, or, if subsequent titles don’t meet up with what the previous games did, they won’t continue. The Soulcalibur franchise is one of the most respected fighting game franchises out there, but, if Soulcalibur VI doesn’t sell well, there won’t be a Soulcalibur VII.
This comes from Producer Motohiro Okubo, who talked with DualShockers about the state of the franchise, and noted that after Soulcalibur V, the franchise was not on the best ground both in terms of sales, and in the eyes of publisher Bandai Namco.
“The first thing is that the IP itself of the SoulCalibur franchise had low expectations from the company,” said Okubo. “It was actually facing a crisis of maybe disappearing. It took time for me to convince the company.”
It was in such a “crises” that Bandai Namco had to be well and truly won over before Soulcalibur VI could even begin work, so clearly it was not a sure thing. But all that being said, the Soulcalibur team took it as a way to go all-out with no expectations or things weighing them down:
“Since the SoulCalibur brand is facing a crisis,” explained Okubo, “we have nothing to lose, so we just decided to do what we want to do.”
However, Okubo said that though they’re not trying to “guilt trip” the fanbase, there is a chance that this could be the last SoulCalibur game if it doesn’t sell well:
“We don’t want to blackmail the users by saying that it could be the last one,” Okubo said, “but as it is, yes [it could be].”
The game is set to arrive this year.
