By CEO resigns
- by Sammy Barker
SNK, financed by Saudi Arabia, aimed to position Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves as the leading fighting game globally. Unfortunately, this strategy does not appear to have succeeded.
The firm included the world’s most renowned athlete, Cristiano Ronaldo, in the game’s lineup; sponsored boxing events, and enlisted significant influencers like IShowSpeed to promote it; and even declared a record-setting tournament prize pool.
The outcome? A shift in leadership, with CEO Kenji Matsubara stepping into an advisory capacity.
The company’s announcement is upbeat, recognizing that Matsubara “redefined SNK by enhancing its development sector and bolstering its sales and marketing strategies, evolving it into a global publisher prepared to compete on a worldwide scale.”
However, the sales figures available to us are alarming. The game managed only 6,302 units sold on the PS5 in its home country during Golden Week, and failed to make it onto April’s top PS Store downloads list.
Regardless, despite all of this, City of the Wolves is still an enjoyable game, and it may still hold promise for a profitable future. We can’t shake the feeling that Saudi Arabia’s vast wealth could have been better invested in the actual game rather than its excessive marketing.
[source snk-corp.co.jp]
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy boasts over 15 years of expertise in analyzing the PlayStation universe, from PS3 through PS5 and all that lies in between. He’s knowledgeable about PS Studios and industry issues, in addition to sports games and simulators. He also relishes RPGs when time permits and is a bit of a gacha enthusiast.