u/Winscler

With Guilty Gear Strive and Granblue Fantasy Versus nearing the ends of their cycles soon and go into a retirement fadeout, I think ArcSys can start working on the next mainline BlazBlue. However, rather than take it all upon themselves, ArcSys can farm the game to another studio. As BlazBlue was originally envisioned as an RPG, they can farm the game's story mode (which will be an RPG) to UnitePlus, who's working on Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow (a game that ArcSys is also co-developing). This RPG segment would serve as the game's story mode and would combine gameplay mechanics from Persona+Shin Megami Tensei and XCOM. Meanwhile the fighting game mode can be farmed to Dimps (with ArcSys co-developing it with them). In term's of the fighting game portion, farming it to Dimps can help ArcSys expedite production without cannibalizing on Guilty Gear during its final days. This way by the time the new BlazBlue mainline entry comes out, Guilty Gear Strive will have been done.

The only way to reliably play the game is by buying the PC version, and that's only because it got a rollback netcode update in January 2022.

On the consoles it's a graveyard. I know the PS4 version (yea surprisingly) will get the DLC character but the later-released Nintendo Switch release won't. None of the console versions (PS3 forget it) have the rollback netcode, and trying to update them to incorporate it would be way too risky and expensive.

It would actually make good sense to have BBCF be released on the current-gen consoles (PS5, XBOX Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2) with the rollback netcode (and also crossplay). ArcSys is missing out on a huge competitive playerbase by leaving the most reliable version limited to the PC.

Think of the PC and PS4 as the appetizers to the main course that are the PS5, XBOX Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2 versions. The fact that ArcSys is making this new character after around a decade or so later is indicative that they're trying to gauge interest in a new BlazBlue installment given that Entropy Effect X came out earlier this year and Guilty Gear Strive will wrap up for good by 2027. But this is a seriously flawed (and dangerous) method to gauge interest in a new BlazBlue game.

Xrd got away because the release window between Xrd and FighterZ, and between FighterZ and Strive was fairly close (also FighterZ cause a meaningful spike in Xrd's sales and Xrd was lower-profile overall compared to BBCF). Centralfiction has been out for far longer and doesn't even have a game to piggyback off of (BBTAG's ultimately a miserable failure and its premature announcement doomed BBCF to an early grave in the competitive scene). I know ArcSys can afford the $250,000 price tag and take their sweet 6-8 months dubbing the thing but if they wanna best justify it, they're gonna have to release it on the current-gen consoles. BlazBlue's missing out on a whole generation (the 9th) when it enjoyed the 7th and 8th. Guilty Gear's got to enjoy every generation (5th with TML, 6th with X and XX, 7th with Accent Core, 8th with Xrd and 9th with Strive). Now it's time for BlazBlue to enjoy being on the PS5, XBOX Series X/S and Switch 2 beyond Entropy Effect X.

Stéphane D'Astous, founder of Eidos Montreal and former general manager of Human Revolution, recently gave an interview where he mentioned Deus Ex and the current state of the gaming industry, here some excerpts from the article:

• D'Astous in a recent interview said that game development has changed significantly. The modern gaming business somewhat resembles the cyberpunk setting depicted in the Deus Ex series, with a handful of mega-corporations pulling the strings and controlling most of the industry's money. Unfortunately, C-suites are no longer interested in creativity.[...]
• Modern AAA publishers are largely driven by Excel spreadsheets rather than a passion for gaming, D'Astous said in the interview. Over the past 15 years, the industry has been turned upside down. A small number of corporations now control most of the available funding in the business, leading to extreme consolidation and leaving little room to go against the prevailing trend.
• Fewer decision-makers now control spending, and they have deeper financial resources than ever before. The creative DNA that gave rise to Deus Ex is largely gone. Back in 2005, development teams were much smaller and could work on more experimental projects capable of reshaping the industry.[...]
• Speaking about his potential future projects, D'Astous said he would very much like to make a new Deus Ex title. The executive left Eidos-Montréal in 2013 but is confident he could bring together many former developers who would be interested in working on the project.

Some lights might be shedded with this

Let's face it BlazBlue is prime What Happened? material, from the legal drama surrounding the Guilty Gear IP that led to it being retooled from an RPG to a fighting game, to ArcSys's reclamation of the Guilty Gear IP declaring its days numbered, to the financial problems ArcSys was facing in the mid-10s that led to BBCF's dub getting axed, to the fallout from BBTAG over its DLC, to the troubled development and failure of BBDW, leading to Toshimichi Mori leaving ArcSys to establish Flare Studio, to the rocky launch of Entropy Effect and the franchise's uncertain future.

https://preview.redd.it/k8ixi7icup0h1.jpg?width=2838&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac6409b1a778cdc7fe030c2b44f54d0923d32cad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agqqjUd2bIY

IGN are at Ghost Story office from the background, could be a preview coming somewhat soon?