In current year 2021, the need for stable and functional netcode for Fighting Games has reached a fever pitch. After the recent open beta for Guilty Gear Strive, many people have experienced first-hand how well-implemented netcode can enhance the overall impression of a game. While Guilty Gear Strive is a fantastic game mechanically, having a great netcode only sweetens the experience. After you have experienced it, it is hard to go back to terrible Delay-based netcode. We’ve discussed netcode here several times in previous editorials and podcasts. It is important and Japanese developers can no longer ignore their international playerbase as they have done in the past.
During the Japan Fighting Game Publisher Roundtable last weekend, when the topic of rollback netcode was presented, SNK devs were suspiciously quiet. This lead to people feeling that SNK did not have a plan to add rollback to their upcoming King of Fighter XV. And thus #SNKRollback was born from that frustration. Fans from around the world voiced their concern using the hashtag. Some fans were a bit kinder discussing how the pandemic had negatively affected their ability to attend locals and netplay was the only way to play people. The ask was for SNK to add rollback netcode to King of Fighters XV and retroactively to Samurai Shodown.
After a few days of #SNKRollback trending, it got the attention of one Yasuyuki Oda, Game Director & Series Producer at SNK. He tweeted this:
While this is promising, I need them to confirm it. And I need them to discuss it more in-depth as well. My hope is that CodeMystics is helping them implement rollback into the game. We’ll have to be patient and see how this unfolds over the next few months. King of Fighter XV still has no release date. We’ll keep you updated on this story as it unfolds.
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