Apparently, the Saudi prince is a big fan of their games. He currently owns 96% of the damn company lol: https://www.pcgamer.com/saudi-arabia-now-owns-96-of-snk
SNK seems to be putting their new oil money to good use; they've been hinting at a couple of new titles that they have planned or are currently working on. The most interesting of these is an action RPG title based on the Samurai Shodown series.
There were a couple Japanese interviews with 4Gamer where they talked about the new title. Apparently, they've already had a prototype some years ago that consisted of Yashamaru (the protagonist from Samurai Shodown 2019) flying across fields, defeating enemies, and running on rooftops (like the Tenchu series, I imagine):
https://www.4gamer.net/games/649/G064915/20230912029
https://www.4gamer.net/games/649/G064915/20230729022
They're looking for experienced developers and even foreigners, so they're not just winging it all on their own, which is a good sign:
https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/recruit/eng/#topabout
The art on the hiring page also makes it pretty clear they're sticking with Yashamaru as the protagonist in this game, as well: https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/recruit/newproject01
I think this depiction resembles his stage from Samurai Shodown 2019 also:
SNK is currently doing a large-scale hiring process:
It seems like they're mostly focusing on artists but also a sound director, battle planner, etc. Looks like it's going to run on Unreal Engine 5 too. I must say, I also like how stylish their hiring page is.
I'm excited even though I probably shouldn't be. It probably won't have the scale of a Western title but it should be a good visual experience, if nothing else.
However, interestingly, there's a small clip from Evo 2024 that basically confirms that the director of this game isn't Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMmahJCXfWo
I looked him up out of curiosity, and it seems this would be his first attempt at something like this: https://www.mobygames.com/person/499411 ... eatherford
In any case, it's nice to see SNK experimenting with more advanced genres, like Capcom did a long time ago, and it'll be cool to see Samurai Shodown in a fully-realized 3D environment.
I look forward to whatever they announce on the 24th.
