Ed Boon is a huge fighting game fan, even outside of his own work. The co-creator of Mortal Kombat is constantly talking about fighting games and franchises he'd love to work on. For fans who might see Boon's comments as teasers, it can be frustrating. Boon, however, can't help himself from being a huge fan of the fighting game genre. That's why it's not surprising that Boon recently posted a comment on Twitter regarding a fighting game franchise he'd love to see rebooted.
Boon's fighting game franchise of choice is none other than the historied Virtua Fighter series. The creative director of Mortal Kombat 11 must have been waxing nostalgic this past week. He posted to Twitter about Virtua Fighter completely unprompted, saying that, "Someone needs to reboot VIRTUA FIGHTER." Boon didn't add any further context to the idea or try to clarify it. He apparently just had to let everyone know his thoughts on Virtua Fighter.
Virtua Fighter is one of the fighting game genre's most notable franchises. It's also a franchise that hasn't been active in well over a decade. Virtua Fighter 5, the most recent game in the series, was released in 2007 on consoles. However, it was supported in Japanese arcades from 2006 through 2011.
The thing that hurts fans most is that Virtua Fighter 5 is a great game, just like Virtua Fighter 4 and Virtua Fighter 3 before it. There's also the fact that other 3D fighting games including Tekken and Soulcalibur continue to be released and are successful. Virtua Fighter likely could do very well in the modern marketplace, but remains absent. It's up to developer Sega to bring the series back, but Sega doesn't seem interested.
Ed Boon doesn't have the power to bring back Virtua Fighter, unfortunately. Boon's previously talked about trying to take on more fighting game projects, like a discussion with Marvel that didn't work out. He's also made Injustice with DC Comics, though it's markedly similar to Mortal Kombat. Since NetherRealm Studios is a subsidiary of Warner Bros., he isn't empowered to pursue a partnership with Sega.
Mortal Kombat 11 is available now on Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.