Back in 2022, SNK producer Yasuyuki Oda insisted that its acquisition by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund wouldn't have any impact on the games it made, but recent events appear to have proven that statement to be utterly false—and SNK fans aren't happy.
When SNK announced it was producing a sequel to one of its most beloved fighting games, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, there was much celebration. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves—which launches this April—is highly anticipated, but recent announcements regarding its roster have caused understandable upset among fans who have been waiting more than 25 years for a proper follow-up.
First came the news that footballer Cristiano Ronaldo would be joining the game. Putting aside the fact that Ronaldo is totally out of place in a Fatal Fury game, many fans have pointed out that, despite his high level of fame and achievement, the footballer is mired in controversy; he was accused of rape in 2017 (the case was eventually dismissed in 2022) and, also in 2017, was charged with tax evasion, ending up with a two-year suspended jail sentence and a €16.8 million fine.
Despite Oda's assurances back in 2022, many people have pointed out that Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman's ownership of Al Nassr FC (the football club Ronaldo currently plays for) is surely no coincidence. The Crown Prince is also the lead figure in Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which owns a majority share in SNK.
Then, this week, it was revealed that DJ Salvatore Ganacci—who, surprise, is apparently quite close to the Saudi Royal Family and has performed at various events in Saudi Arabia—would be joining Fatal Fury's cast.
This news has been met with almost as much vitriol as the Ronaldo announcement.
How do you feel about this news? Let us know with a comment below.
[source pushsquare.com]
Comments 25
Cannot wait for the Greg Norman and David Beckham announcement!
Man imagine those guys would fully buy nintendo... we might have those idiots in Mario Kart or Smash...
Kinda like Salvatore but he has no business being in the base roster. At all.
I have less than zero interest in another SNK fighter. But even as someone with no (negative?) interest, this is incomprehensibly bad. Just random unrelated pet celebs the Saudis own? I don't even know who they are. (I don't watch football nor do I... Listen to DJs?)
I stand with SNK fans in support. FREE SNK. ✊
I was already absolutely sick of the modern obsession with crossovers and guest characters in games as I find they destroy my belief in the world the game/series has built. I'm all for Smash or Capcom vs SNK, I just don't like them featuring all these guests in the main series games. Unsurprisingly, I am unamused by the new additions to the world of Fatal Fury. I don't even want to see Street Fighter characters in there!
Hmmm... Salvatore is a funny DJ, his music videos are absolutely hillarious... I didn't know about his affiliations which do temper my fondness for his art, but even if they had put in my absolute favourite artist of all time, I would have hated it.
I actively evade looking at Ronaldo's smug face as much as possible. I cannot stand him. Fortunately I don't watch soccer.
@BionicDodo I feel the exact same way. Completely upends my suspension of disbelief. It's fine in games like Fortnite or Smash, where it's already ridiculous, but I didn't even like Link in Mario Kart for this reason.
Man, I don't know what I'll do, but I can tell you I was excited for this game before and this has just made everything feel incredibly weird.
I don't even know who this other bloke is but between him and that washed up Portuguese footballer, this only turns me off the game. As added dlc down the line it may not be so bad, similar to Mortal Kombat but they shouldn't be part of the main roster
I let the first one slide even though it was dumb. The second addition pushed me to cancel my preorder. What a couple of stupid characters to add to a fighting game series with a deep cast.
We get this guy instead of Duck King?
I don't care that he was supposedly trained by Duck King himself. Duck King has charm, which I don't see with this DJ.
Removed - inappropriate
I mean, it's stupid, but at the end of the day Im getting Fatal Fury for the story, not the multiplayer, and i doubt either of these guys will appear in that.
17 was always an awkward starting roater number, so i think this is less an example of replacing Lucky Glauber and Duck King, and more "We proposed 20 characters to start, with the assumption 5 would be saved for DLC, and then the boss gave us extra money to put in his fan-fic OCs."
At the very least, i can respect the call to not have either celebrity voice themselves in either language. I've heard both of them speak now. They suck at it. Plus, Sean Chiplock is a master at arrogant box canoes, so a self absorbed jester of a royal family is the role he was born to play.
I have no idea who Salvatore is so I can just pretend he's a brand new character and I actually kinda like him, he's amusing and I like the idea of a DJ character.
@PKDuckman That... is avery good question, actually. Every other fighter has a Saudi/UAE rep now, but not any SNK franchise. Maybe that sand guy from KOF is, but his face is never seen, and he's on the bad guy side. Meanwhile, when SNK was owned by China we got Shuei. Without our consent.
It's very odd.
just wait until the third playable guest character, Jamal Khashoggi
wondering where he's been all this time? he's been training!
So the goofy stuff no fan asked for is sold via the base game and the fan favourites will be sold via Season Pass...what a d**k move.
I won't be buying the game right away at least.
I literally have no clue who Salvatore Ganacci is.
I honestly thought from the design it was Maximilian Dude being put in the game.
Next it will be an announcement that they're adding Abdelrahman Munif to "SNK vs the American Literary Canon". Bad enough they skipped over Whitman in the base roster...
So, what you are saying, between Garou 2 in the pocket and Teken going full MUGEN, is that Virtua Fighter is in its Endwalker Glow?
@Zeebor15 Shun'ei, Meitenkun and Tung were a cool hero team, at least. Kukri [the sand guy] is African.
The amount of people that were probably interested in acquiring SNK were probably limited. Am I thrilled with it? No. Am I surprised? Not entirely. Will I still buy it? Yes.
@Quick_Man Thank you. I am too American to keep track of SNK lore most of the time.
Yeah, the celebrity guess suck, why the heck I want soccer player and rapper fight with terry bogart and mai shiranui, it's so distracting. At least have the decency to make the guess fighter dlc download so people have the option not to download it 😕
That's pretty random! 😂Still, not sure it's worthy of a boycott.
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