Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. has “exceeded expectations” in North America; now more popular than VF5 Ultimate Showdown

Pat yourselves on the back, VF fans in North America. Legacy Virtua Fighter Project Producer Seiji Aoki has found himself pleasantly surprised with the latest version of Virtua Fighter 5’s sales performance in the region so far. He even says it “exceeded expectations” already and that it’s done much better sales-wise than Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown had done on PlayStation 4 since its release way back in 2021.

This news comes from an interview with him and New Virtua Fighter Project Producer Riichirou Yamada at Event Hubs. Here’s what Aoki-san had to say exactly about the matter.

“Compared to Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, VF5 R.E.V.O. has been enjoyed by a significantly larger number of players. In particular, its popularity in North America has exceeded our expectations. Moving forward, we plan to implement various initiatives and updates to ensure that even more people around the world can pick up and enjoy the game. Our goal is to continue growing and further developing the VF community.”

If that’s not impressive enough, recall that on Ultimate Showdown’s release, it was given away free to PlayStation Plus subscribers for a while. R.E.V.O. was discounted a couple of times, but never free as of this writing. Still, fans spoke with their wallets and their message was heard loud and clear. Maybe it was the long requested rollback netcode that sweetened the deal? Maybe just the simple fact that a Virtua Fighter game was available officially on PC for the first time since Virtua Fighter 2 28 years ago? Whatever the case may be, we’re not complaining.

Wanna see more? Walk the walk past the break.

This is certainly uplifting news for any fan of Virtua Fighter, as it cements Sega’s commitment to nurturing a brighter future for the franchise and this game in particular. It’s no wonder that Sega recently revealed that the currently PC exclusive Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. will soon come to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2 and that all four versions will feature cross-platform multiplayer. And lets not forget that Virtua Fighter 6 is still on the way (and in case you had doubts, Wolf Hawkfield will be back as usual).

On that note, this was also said about how the success of R.E.V.O. and Ultimate Showdown helped to re-establish Virtua Fighter and its community as something worth investing in at Sega.

“‘Virtua Fighter’ is one of the titles that helped establish the SEGA brand in the past, making it a very important IP for the company. As part of the New Virtua Fighter Project, we are committed to expanding the VF franchise. To reignite the Virtua Fighter community moving forward, we hope to engage with VF fans around the world and build excitement together through platforms like the official VF Discord, ‘Virtua Fighter Official,’ as well as social media.”

Be sure to read more of Event Hubs’s interview to hear more exciting news about the continued development of the Virtua Fighter franchise. If you’re a Virtua Fighter fan, then this will make your day for sure.

Are you as pleasantly surprised to hear this news as Aoki-san was to say it? Are you enjoying Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. on Steam right now? Are you getting any of the console ports? Is it still too early to say Virtua Fighter is back? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Ad: