King of Fighters XV Delayed to Early 2023

Despite pumping out a new character trailer what feels like every other day, King of Fighters XV will not hit its targeted 2023 release window, developer SNK has confirmed. The PlayStation 4 brawler didn’t actually have a confirmed date, but having been announced all the way back in 2019, it didn’t necessarily look like a hefty delay was on the cards.

King of Fighters XV will now launch in the first quarter of 2023, according to producer Yasuyuki Oda. In an official statement, Oda writes: “The development timeline we set out to reach in the beginning has been affected by the ever-still rising cases of COVID-19 within Japan. We have made the ultimate decision in the end that the product’s quality must come first, and so with that decision comes an altered release window.”

“We sincerely ask for your kind patience and understanding as our development teams continue to work hard on KOF XV as we draw closer to its release,” the post concludes.

A shame, but totally understandable. Hopefully King of Fighters XV delivers a knockout blow when it does eventually release next year. At least in the meantime, we’ve got the freshly launched Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown and the upcoming Guilty Gear Strive to satisfy our combo-hungry brains.