The CEO of Arc System Works, Minoru Kidooka, told Dexerto that Guilty Gear players used some absurd methods to ask for changes to the games back before social media was rampant.
The fighting game community is rife with players begging for fixes for their favorite characters. In fact, while attending the Arc World Tour Finals on March 23, we at Dexerto saw one fan in particular brandishing a sign asking for Bridget buffs in Guilty Gear Strive.
The current state of Strive has been hotly debated by competitive players across social media as of late, with many demanding fixes to improve the game’s balance.
We got the chance to sit down with Arc System Works’ CEO, Minoru Kidooka, and asked him directly about his feelings on players’ demands and how the company handles balancing the game from both a casual and pro player perspective.
In our conversation, he referenced a past incident that occurred at the ArcSys offices before the advent of social media that shows just how far fans are willing to go to have their voices heard.
Arc System Works CEO responds to players’ demands for Guilty Gear Strive changes
While Kidooka himself couldn’t speak too much on the state of Strive’s balance, he is well-aware that fans have been outspoken about their wants for the game over the 25 years of Guilty Gear’s lifetime — even sharing an eye-popping story from the franchise’s early days.
“Guilty Gear has been around for 25 years at this point. And throughout those 25 years, people have been telling us, ‘Nerf this, buff that, we want this or that,’ constantly. That’s not to say that this isn’t a good thing.
“You know, back in the day, we even had people walk into our office and drop off documents, stating what they wanted changed. People are very passionate and very dedicated, and they will go through hoops to make themselves heard.”
Guilty Gear fans have made their voices heard in a myriad of… interesting ways over the games’ 25-year lifespan.
Kidooka went on to assure us that Arc System Works is always listening to fans’ feedback — something he says “has not changed” for the past 25 years.
“We are always paying attention to feedback from the community, and we’re always sharing it amongst ourselves. So it’s not like, ‘Okay, like we’re gonna listen to the top players, but not these guys.’ We have to treat everyone equally, and that’s the reason why we’ve survived for 25 years.”
In fact, Kidooka called player feedback the thing that “keeps us going” — something proven by the enthusiastic response to Venom’s gameplay trailer and the addition of frame data in Strive’s training mode.
