The King of Fighters XV and SNK's troublesome hype train

Another week, another character trailer, another round of excitement for those looking forward to seeing more of The King of Fighters' upcoming 15th installment.

Or so it should have been, but for the second time in a month developer SNK’s official Twitter account announced that the trailer following last week’s reveal of flashy pugilist Vanessa and the surprise formation of Team Secret Agent (comprised of herself alongside the lovely Luong and Blue Mary) would be delayed until the following Wednesday, July 7th.

For reference, this is the third time so far that a trailer has been pushed back to the following week and the second since the announcement regarding the delay of the game's release into 2022 due to impacts from the ongoing pandemic.

It is also the second time that the announcement was made the night before the trailer would have been released with no warning or explanation. This would be disappointing enough on its own, but their choice of timing also serves to derail a routine they’ve gone out of their way to establish with these trailer drops.

Fans have come to expect a tweet on Tuesday night, 24 hours before the trailer is released, featuring a silhouette of the character to be featured in the next day’s reveal. The who’s-that-Pokémon guessing game has been a fun little marketing tactic and gives fans something to get excited about before the trailer’s release, and it’s not uncommon to see loads of positive interaction on those posts every Tuesday night, with users excitedly sharing hopes and speculations about the identity of the character in question.

Their failure to adhere to this pattern in recent weeks has been backfiring dramatically on them, as their abandonment of the weekly release format in favor of a bi-weekly one and decision not to clearly communicate their intent to their audience has garnered increasing frustration and backlash from even their most dedicated fans while also spilling over over into the general discourse surrounding the game's development.

For example, it’s worth noting that while still moderately well-received, Vanessa’s trailer has been far and away the most harshly critiqued reveal since XV's first reveal trailer despite her design, moves and stage all looking pretty good, or at least no better or worse than any other character shown off so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb3ldoiHIIg

The voices that have stood in support of the game with each trailer were noticeably less enthusiastic and far more vocally critical of the game’s perceived flaws including characters’ odd proportions and the comparative lack of polish on the new European café stage compared to the recently revealed concert stadium and Metal Slug themed oasis seen in past trailers.

It’s odd to see this lack of transparency from the developers, especially after the remarkably positive community response to their press release regarding the game’s delay. Fans of anything are not normally known for delivering calm and composed reactions to negative news about the things they love, but with coronavirus continuing to disrupt life globally the KOF fanbase rallied together to respond to the delay with patience, understanding and encouragement.

We wrote at the time that while it was heartening to see a community manifest such a wholesome attitude towards bad news rather than the usual outcry, SNK should have taken one lesson from that instance: maintain open communication, and your audience will forgive anything.

Sadly, it seems their marketing department is intent on learning that one the hard way.

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The King of Fighters XV is slated for release in Q1 2022.