About us, we only focus on making games. We’re not a political company or anything like that, so it doesn’t affect us in any way. This has no effect on our creative output.
Asked about the issue of inclusivity, including LGBT characters, Yasuyuki Oda insisted that SNK remains in control of its creations.
We have complete freedom over what we want to do. And then honestly, the results speak for themselves. For example, if this was a real problem, then characters like Shermie probably wouldn’t be in the game. What I can tell you is that our owners are generally fans of IP, and they are forever, so it’s up to us what we want to do when it comes to content creation.
Like Quantic Dream, which reassured players about its total takeover by NetEase Games a few weeks ago, the arrival of Saudi Arabia will therefore have no impact on the creation of games and their content. It should therefore be remembered that Mohammed ben Salmane is above all a lover of the NeoGeo and that his interest is above all to make an increasingly lucrative business prosper, with the success of KOF XV, Samurai Shodown and the announcement of old past glories such as Fatal Fury / Garou Mark of the Wolves. Saudi Arabia will perhaps give the means of its ambitions to an SNK which only asks to shine with a thousand lights, as in the 80s and 90s.
