SNK To Expand Samurai Shodown Esports After Coronavirus is Contained

SNK To Expand Samurai Shodown Esports After Coronavirus is Contained

In an interview with SNK Lead Producer Yaduyuki Oda, he stated there are plans to expand Samurai Shodown esports, but after the coronavirus is contained.

Much of today’s fighting games, such as Street Fighter 5, Mortal Kombat 11, and Tekken 7, have their own esports leagues. So, it only makes sense for a title such as SNK’s Samurai Shodown to have one of its own. Well, it seems there may be plans to expand Samurai Shodown esports in the future.

We recently interviewed Samurai Shodown Lead Producer Yaduyuki Oda about SNK’s latest release on the Nintendo Switch, as well as the developer’s future plan’s for the critically lauded fighting game. Naturally, this included the tournament and esport scene. Samurai Shodown was featured in EVO 2019, Combo Breaker, and many more tournaments, and recently named one of the nine games to be played at EVO 2020.


As such, we asked Oda if there were any plans to further or expand on Samurai Shodown esports beyond just tournament presence. The simple answer is yes, however, there is one obstacle that seems to be halting that process.

“Yes, we do have a plan concerning that,” Oda said in regards to expanding Samurai Shodown‘s esports presence. “After the coronavirus is contained, we hope that we can work something out.”

How exactly SNK will expand Samurai Shodown esports is still unknown. Will it be something akin to Tekken World Tour or the Capcom Cup? Will it just be continued support with new DLC, and balance changes to keep the meta fresh? Maybe a mixture of both? We can only speculate until the coronavirus is contained.

The coronavirus has affected the video game industry to a rather large degree since the outbreak began. Big companies, such as PlayStation, have opted to not go to events like GDC 2020 and PAX East to avoid travel. Events, such as the Taipei Game Show and the Chinese release of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, have also been delayed.

If you want to see our full interview with Oda, check DualShockers soon. In the meantime, you can see our thoughts on the initial release of Samurai Shodown, as well as the Switch port.