This is part five of our genre-oriented look at the games market in the near future. Part one on shooters, part two on action adventures, part three on RPGs and part four on mass market "casual" games are also available. Today it’s a clean up look at the other traditional genres of the medium, including sports, fighting, racing, and sports. There’s not enough differentiated product in any of these categories this year to justify a full feature for each, but the battles fought in these sectors are still quite relevant to the industry today. This is particularly true of the fighting genre, which is becoming relevant once again.

Fighting

Two badass characters enter, one leaves. The fighting genre has had a tough time making the transition from arcades to console, but a renaissance seems to be occurring in the space now. The next twelve months will mark the first time in a while all the major genre brands are competing.




1. Street Fighter IV
X360/PS3/PC
Capcom/Capcom, Dimps
Early 2009
Fans have been waiting so long for a new numbered entry in the Street Fighter series that they almost forgot they were waiting. But it’s actually out in some arcades already, where its return to the play design of Street Fighter II is already getting a strong reaction. Street Fighter IV has also introduced a wholly unique cel-shaded art style to the franchise, which most have also seemed to welcome. It’s a game that’s revitalizing both the Street Fighter brand and the fighting genre, and if it achieves its very real goal of being the defining product in the space this generation, it will move seven figures easily.




2. Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe
X360/PS3
Midway/Midway
November 10
While Street Fighter took a long break, that franchise’s biggest western rival has been more than happy to fill the space—Mortal Kombat games have been coming out fairly consistently since 2003. But with the competition getting stronger, Mortal Kombat has also stepped up its game, adding the most market-friendly characters from DC comics. The presence of gritty, dark takes on Superman and Batman alone should help propel this to a top earner in the adolescent male demographic, although some gameplay simplification and comic-related hokieness might turn off some long-term fans. 600K is the minimum for this one.




3. King of Fighters XII
X360/PS3
SNK Playmore/SNK Playmore
Early 2009
Street Fighter’s biggest eastern rival is somehow also making a return in the same release window, and just like its competition it’s reinventing itself to remain competitive. The angle SNK has taken, however, is curious and brilliant—KOF XII is a fully 2D fighting game, with detailed sprites rendered in true high definition. It’s a risky gambit nobody else has dared to try, but in a market atmosphere where remade classics are increasingly gaining traction, it could pay off big. Well, it might in Japan anyway. A couple hundred thousand in each western territory would be a strong performance in the face of such strong competition.




4. Battle Fantasia
X360
Aksys/Arc System Works
Fall 2008
Little Battle Fantasia will probably take the same space in the market that was previously occupied by Guilty Gear—a good game for Japanese arcade aficionados looking for an experience in the 90s arcade style. Nobody would say that Battle Fantasia is quite as good as Guilty Gear, of course. But it will beat the rest of the eastern-developed fighting games to market, where it should spend some time as one of the few high-definition 2D fighting games available. This is still a niche-appeal only affair, and as an Xbox 360 exclusive in the west 100,000 would be generous.