Why is Namco making a single-player only Soul Calibur?
New details on Lost Swords as designer defends decision.
Namco has explained the thinking behind its decision to make a single-player only Soul Calibur with Lost Swords, a free-to-play beat 'em-up that's coming to PlayStation 3 next year.
In a pre-Tokyo Game Show briefing Namco announced that Heihachi and Siegfried would star in the game, and Sophitia - a character absent in Soul Calibur 5 - would also be making a return.
Soul Calibur Lost Swords is a traditional one-on-one beat 'em-up that introduces new features to the series, including elemental gems that can be added to customize weapons.
It is a single player only experience, a decision that producer Masaki Hoshino explained to Eurogamer.
"This was done intentionally because as we said people do enjoy fighting other people, but one thing we noticed with the Soul Calibur fanbase is that a lot of people really enjoyed the game for its story, setting and atmosphere," Hoshino said. "They didn't like playing against other people - when you lose it's not exactly a great feeling. So we decided to tailor something to this player base."
"This might seem unusual, but we've done a lot of research and noticed the Soul Calibur group was different to Tekken. That group like fighting against each other, whereas Soul Calibur fans really want to look at the characters and enjoy the atmosphere, and we had an overwhelming response in that direction, so that's why we chose that."
Hoshino said that fans who are after a competitive Soul Calibur can play the soon to be released HD remake of Soul Calibur 2, which is headed for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
There is no Wii U version planned, but when asked whether it'd be possible for a Nintendo version of the game that would feature Link, a guest character in the GameCube original, Hoshino said he was open to the idea if fan demand was there.
