We spoke to producer & creative director Riichiro Yamada about the return of Virtua Fighter. 

Publisher SEGA and game developer RGG Studio are bringing the Virtua Fighter franchise to a new generation of players with the release of 2027’s Virtua Fighter Crossroads. The series hasn’t seen a new mainline instalment since 2006’s Virtua Fighter 5, though it should be noted that the game has seen its fair share of re-releases over the last two decades. 

That being said, it’s clear that the franchise is in dire need of a comeback. Enter Virtua Fighter Crossroads, a highly ambitious sequel to Virtua Fighter 5 that was first announced all the way back at The Game Awards 2024 under the name “New Virtua Fighter Project”. This sixth Virtua Fighter game has since dazzled fans with its slick combat, detailed animations, and Yakuza-flavoured campaign, having finally cemented its title at Summer Game Fest 2026.

Earlier in June, we spoke to Virtua Fighter Crossroads’ producer & creative director Riichiro Yamada to glean more details on the upcoming game during a roundtable interview. He spoke at length about the sequel’s Filipino inspirations, ambitious narrative, and precise setting in the Virtua Fighter timeline.

Note: this interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Virtua Fighter Crossroads

Release date: 2027

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku (RGG)

What is the world of Virtua Fighter Crossroads inspired by?

SEGA has placed a heavy emphasis on Virtua Fighter Crossroads’ story campaign in the game’s marketing efforts of late. Recent trailers have honed in on not just the game’s new character designs, but its lived-in world, setting, and character-driven plotlines. When Yamada was asked about the inspiration behind the game’s story campaign, he had a surprising answer to share with us: HBO’s Watchmen.

He said:

“The biggest inspiration I had was the HBO drama series Watchmen. Watchmen was like a very old American comics story, which was revived as a drama over 40 years after. I thought it was very similar to the situation with Virtua Fighter, and it told me a lot about how to modernise the old settings, the old story, and then revive it."

HBO's 2019 TV series Watchmen was not a direct adaptation of the iconic graphic novel of the same name, but instead a continuation of it. Its story took place a long 34 years after the events of the original comic, and only featured a handful of the original cast returning, while shining the spotlight on a brand-new cast of characters. The similarities to Virtua Fighter Crossroads are certainly there; a brand-new cast of characters leads the story, while familiar faces like Pai Chan also return. 

“By the way, a lot of people in Japan don't watch Watchmen, so I hope you understand the idea,” Yamada added later. 

Is Virtua Fighter Crossroads set in the Philippines?

Virtua Fighter Crossroads features the series’ first appearance of Vilasapara, a fictional city in which its story takes place. Eagle-eyed viewers scanning the game’s latest trailers might have already noticed areas that appear markedly similar to Binondo, a district in Manila, The Philippines, which happens to be recognised as the world’s oldest Chinatown. 

We asked Yamada which Southeast Asian countries Vilasapara is specifically inspired by, at which point he outright confirmed that the city is inspired by The Philippines.

“People who have lived in the Philippines would probably notice that we have a lot of influence from the Philippines. When we started to design this game, we wanted to find a good location, so we actually visited several cities in Southeast Asia, and the Philippines was the biggest influence with its multi-national kind of background. They had a lot of mixed cultures; the cityscape and streets were what we wanted to see, so the Philippines was the biggest influence.”

Yamada also made mention of another fighting game, Street Fighter 6, which recently introduced Yasmine, a new fighter from the Philippines. He felt that “the wave is coming to the gaming world” but for the purposes of this game, RGG Studio is aiming to include multiple different characters that will fit into its Southeast Asian-inspired setting. 

That includes cultural elements and martial art styles that are unique to Southeast Asia, though he “can’t really say what is coming at this moment.”

Why is it called Virtua Fighter Crossroads?

When Yamada was asked why the team went with “Virtua Fighter Crossroads” instead of “Virtua Fighter 6” for this sequel, he explained that it wasn’t because the upcoming game was a reboot. Yamada specifically wanted this new game to have a subtitle of some kind, in order to signal that the franchise was going through a lot of change with the new instalment. 

The title “Crossroads” is inspired by the story campaign’s four main protagonists, who “go through crossroads, as their fate crosses over each other.”

Yamada noted that veteran fans will likely call the game “Virtua Fighter 6 anyway, so the team included an Easter egg for those fans: in the game’s logo, the letters “V” and “I” in “Virtua” are highlighted, symbolising that the game is indeed Virtua Fighter VI/6.

Virtua Fighter Crossroads returning characters

Pai Chan returns in Virtua Fighter Crossroads.

While Virtua Fighter Crossroads serves as something of a soft-reboot of the franchise that newcomers should have no problem jumping into, the game hardly ignores the series' legacy. Returning characters like Akira Yuki and Pai Chan have already been revealed as part of the fighting roster, though there are plenty of new faces too. 

Yamada explained that in the game’s world, legacy characters like Wolf Hawkfield still exist–but time has passed, and they have been relegated to the annals of history. Yamada wanted to focus on taking them “back to stardom through the storyline of the new characters.” 

The new characters, like Cielo Salinas, have been created to immerse the player in the game’s world. While they serve as the player’s eyes and ears in Vilasapara, the story will also build up to these legacy characters returning to the fray too.

When does Virtua Fighter Crossroads take place in the series timeline?

A new character called the Bakunawa Killer (left) was recently revealed.

When asked for clarification on the timeline for this new instalment, Yamada informed us that Virtua Fighter Crossroads takes place “somewhere between 10 or 20 years after the end of Virtua Fighter 5.”

He continued:

“We don't want to exactly say when [the game takes place], but the world is also connected. At the end of the Virtua Fighter 5, the J6 is demolished, so the World Battle Tournament has vanished. All the legacy fighters have disappeared from the front row of society.”

Will Virtua Fighter Crossroads have a future in esports?

Virtua Fighter Crossroads campaign features four main protagonists.

Virtua Fighter Crossroads is a brand-new title highly-anticipated by the FGC (fighting game community) scene, and there is certainly no shortage of excitement for its debut in competitive matches. When asked about the game’s competitive future, Yamada noted that he would like to see “a lot of people coming together to battle and have fun. One way is to hold a lot of tournaments and ask a lot of players around the world to join, and give them a lot of prize money.”

However, Yamada is instead hoping for a more organic community of players to simply have fun with the game. The producer said: “We are looking more into, not the esports kind of direction, but more towards growing the community, and with the change of the player cultures, it's our side that has to change as well, and adapt.”

Will Virtua Fighter Crossroads feature crossovers from other games?

Virtua Fighter Crossroads is being developed with the hopes of finding a strong player community.

From Cyberpunk Edgerunners’ Lucy showing up in Guilty Gear Strive to Homelander being in Mortal Kombat 1, it’s clear that fighting games and collabs get along like a house on fire. However, when we asked Yamada if Virtua Fighter Crossroads might include such collabs, he told us that it’s a little bit too early to even consider crossovers coming to the game. 

Yamada said:

“There might be a chance, there might not be a chance. We will probably think about it in the future, but we are in the very early stage of the game cycle itself. At this moment, we want to tell the story, we want to explain who these characters are and what this world is. [When I] worked on other titles, [I] actually did a lot of collabs with other games, and it is basically something that we do when we run out of options to attract users to the game.”

Yamada concluded that “At this moment, we are not really thinking about any collabs, but it’s too early to confirm any plans about it.” 

Hence, it might take a while for Sonic the Hedgehog to make his way over to Vilasapara. 

Who are the main characters of Virtua Fighter Crossroads?

Virtua Fighter Crossroads' new protagonists.

Virtua Fighter Crossroads’ story campaign is described as an omnibus featuring four protagonists, with the player starting out as Cielo. Heading down Cielo’s path will bring the player to a branching point, where they can continue on with one of the other available characters. The narrative will thus head in different directions, depending on which storyline the player pursues. 

Yamada also confirmed that the game will feature “side stories [where] we have the legendary characters come in” along with “sub-stories with different characters”, allowing players to learn a lot about the world, the protagonists, and also the different characters.

Will Virtua Fighter Crossroads use generative AI?

The short answer to the above question is no. Past titles in the franchise, like Virtua Fighter 4 specifically, were known to have pretty skilful and challenging CPU players, thanks to the game’s high-level enemy AI. When asked if Virtua Fighter Crossroads might feature similar AI innovations, Yamada was quick to clear the air:

"We have been doing a lot of experiments and verifications using AI. At this moment, we can’t tell if we’re actually implementing it in the live game or not. Also, mentioning AI will cause a lot of misunderstandings, so I would like to state clearly here that we don't use any generative AI to create the game.”

No clankers here, in other words. 

Virtua Fighter Crossroads is set to launch sometime in 2027.