The news that SNK is releasing The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match on Steam should be cause for celebration, but fans have reacted angrily to the announcement—and with good reason.
One of the significant additions in Global Match is the introduction of rollback netcode. In case you weren't aware, this is a feature which reduces lag in online modes by predicting moves and "rolling back" if that prediction is incorrect. It all happens so quickly that it makes online matches feel snappier.
While other publishers have added this much-requested feature to their games in free-of-charge updates, SNK is making existing owners pay for the privilege.
In the past, even SNK has added rollback netcode to its games for free, but not this time. The vanilla version of King of Fighters XIII is already available on Steam (it launched over a decade ago), whereas the Global Match edition—which is based on the PS4 and Switch versions and includes rollback netcode—is being treated as a brand-new release.
SNK is allowing those who already own the original version to upgrade to Global Match for $6.99, but this hasn't been enough to satisfy some fans, who are now review-bombing the original game and leaving negative comments on Steam (thanks, PCGamesN).
Here are some examples:
I love SNK, but I never thought I'd see greedy tactics from them. Who in the world re-releasing a decade-old game with a rollback update that most FG studios provide for free? What a disappointment.
SNK would rather delist this game and re-release it with rollback netcode instead of just updating, very scummy move. I don't care if i get a discount for already having this one on my library, this should be a free update, reminds me of when Namco charged people for a frame data display on Tekken 7, the game industry has become very greedy.
Other fighters like Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 got a free rollback netcode update. Why not this product? Shame on you, greedy SNK!
If you want the rollback update you have to buy the new game. Bravo SNK! What a greedy company!
Insanely comical that console players recently got a good port with rollback netcode meanwhile PC players gets a really bad port with insanely outdated delay-based netcode.
In SNK's defence, the game arrived on Steam back in 2013, when rollback netcode wasn't common. Given the time that has elapsed since its original launch, it might seem a little optimisitc to expect SNK to patch it in.
King of Fighters XIII: Steam Edition will be delisted from Steam on Thursday, January 23rd. King of Fighters XIII: Global Match will launch just under a month later on Thursday, February 20th.