Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
A full day of panels at EVO 2022 kicked off with a look at what's next for Guilty Gear Strive. While the game has been a hit since launch, Arc System Works is certainly not resting on its laurels. A full roadmap for the future has been laid out and it includes some noteworthy release windows for the long-awaited crossplay feature between PlayStation and PC.
The Guilty Gear Strive roadmap slide was shown towards the end of Friday's The Past, Present, and Future of the Guilty Gear Series panel. Among the noteworthy items include a crossplay beta test, which is slotted for the fall season. Strive General Director Daisuke Ishiwatari narrowed that window further, noting that the beta test is being targeted for mid-September. He also added that if the test went well, the crossplay update would be deployed as quickly as possible.
Other items to note include the release windows for new characters. One will debut later this summer and will presumably be revealed later this weekend. The game's seventh character will come this fall, while two more characters (along with a new stage) are slotted for 2023. PlayStation players will also be happy to hear that PS5 input delay reduction is set to come within the next few weeks with Ishiwatari noting that it will be on par with the PS4 Pro, while PC users should expect to see reduced connection time for initial server connections. Lastly, a major balance path is set to release this winter.
Arc System Works has been steadily teasing crossplay throughout the year. The developer initially promised crossplay back in 2020, but only between PS5 and PS4. Our own TJ Denzer also brought up the topic to Producer Takeshi Yamanaka during Shacknews E5, who noted that it had become a priority because of the increasing PC player base.
"We expect that there will be more PC players in the future," Yamanaka said in June of last year. "In general, I also believe our priorities and balance will change. As a company, we are hoping to provide our games on as many platforms as we can, in addition to crossplay between platforms, so that as many players as possible can play our games. Just as rollback netcode became a necessity for us with Strive, we foresee that crossplay will also become an absolute must."
We're keeping an eye on all of the latest news to come from EVO 2022 from Guilty Gear Strive through the other various fighters on display this weekend. Keep it on Shacknews for the latest updates.