Soulcalibur VI Producer Addresses Tira DLC Controversy

Soulcalibur VI came to gamescom 2018 with the announcement that fan-favorite Tira would be returning. That excitement was quickly tempered, however, by the fact that Tira would be a DLC-only character, meaning fans would have to pay extra. Even worse, the starting roster for Soulcalibur VI hasn’t even been fully unveiled yet. So, what exactly was the reason for this bungled announcement?

Apparently, it was all due to timing. In an interview with journalist and pro Soulcalibur player Kayane (real name Marie-Laure Norindr), Soulcalibur VI producer Motohiro Okubo said that the Tira reveal was tied to the season pass. He told her “the preorders for the season pass started yesterday and since she’s a season pass bonus, we had to make both announcements at the same time.”

As for specifically why Tira is DLC, that too has to do with timing. Tira was actually not planned for the game at all at first. Apparently, including Tira in Soulcalibur VI would have needed “some pretty complicated adjustments, so much so that she nearly didn’t make the cut.” However, following the game’s announcement, the team found her to be one of the most highly-requested characters. As the game was too far in development to add her to the starting roster and story mode, they had no choice but to make her an add-on if they wanted to include her.

Okubo did note that there were disagreements concerning the nature of Tira’s reveal. He believes the team should have been more “careful” with how they handled the announcement. He also said that the season pass will include four extra fighters, including Tira, and two character customization packs. However, full details of the season pass have yet to be revealed. As for the starting roster itself, Okubo said there “aren’t many characters left,” and we should be getting announcements “soon enough.”

Soulcalibur VI releases on October 19, 2018 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

[Source: Kayane]