Every fighting game has to deal with character roster leaks and rumors. Most of these are made by people who crave for attention, some of these have a few lucky guesses, and very few of them turn out to be 100% accurate. Marvel vs Capcom 3 has been a victim to such rumors, but with all the Internet users claiming to reveal information on fighting game forums or Twitter constantly being proven fake, it brings up an important question: Why do fans care so much about MVC3's roster that they pay attention to rumors?In the case of MVC3, there's the idea of players seeing their favorite fictional characters beat the crap out of each other with a child-like sense of awe and wonder as a result of their emotional attachments to them.
What gamer who grew up in the 90's wouldn't want to see Mega Man and Spider-Man fight alongside each other? How many young Marvel fans like the idea of having a good fighting game with their favorite superheroes despite not knowing about anyone on Capcom's side? And let's not forget about all the Darkstalkers fans who just want to see the horror-based fighting game get some attention.The fighters in MVC3 can also be seen as representatives, or rather, a sample, of what both companies have to offer. All the "big" characters from both sides, such as Wolverine, Ryu, and Spider-Man, are guaranteed to get in in order to grab the attention of casual gaming and comic fans, but at the same time the companies also want to reward their hardcore fans by including lesser-known characters such as Arthur, Viewtiful Joe, and Dormammu. Getting into a big crossover like this one is like saying the characters or the games they represent have "made it," or that Marvel and Capom thinks the characters are worthy of being recognized by the public.
There's also the decade of waiting for MVC3 since Marvel vs Capcom 2 came out, and a lot has changed. Characters and games from the 90's have risen from popularity and descended into obscurity. For example, there have been four X-Men movies and Devil May Cry games released in the past decade. The original Mega Man series returned from the dead in 8-bit pixelated form thanks to the power of digital downloads while the Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero series began and ended on the Game Boy Advance. Deadpool rose from being artist Rob Liefeld's attempt at doing a story with a character similar to DC's Deathstroke in the Marvel universe to a goofy mercenary with multiple comic book titles getting published each month.
The characters who have made it to the final version of the game give fans a sense of satisfaction from knowing their favorite characters are still important enough to be included.Marvel and Capcom have also undergone changes as companies. Marvel's expanded to multiple forms of media with their digital comics service and movie studio in addition to print comics. They're going to want characters from upcoming movies or comics that sell well to be in. Capcom's also attempting to reach a global audience and feature characters that are popular outside of Japan.
MVC3 may be a dream come true to many fans, but to Marvel and Capcom, it's an advertising opportunity. If they choose characters that fans approve of, it could be a sign of some common ground between what they like and what would sell well.From a developer's point of view the sky whale hack donuts roster has to be a reasonable size and unlike Santa's "Nice List" from the Will Ferrel comedy "Elf", there's not enough room for everyone. MVC3 has to find the right amount of gameplay variety without disappointing the player's expectations. The original Marvel vs Capcom featured 14 fighters. While a fighting game with a small amount of characters can allow for more well-balanced gameplay, there's no way Capcom can get away with having a company crossover with such few characters today since gaming consoles have advanced so much since the late 90's.
MVC2 had an overwhelming 56 characters as the result of using character sprites and movesets from previous Capcom fighting games like Street Fighter Alpha and Marvel Super Heroes and inserting them into one game. While it provided variety, it's unrealistic to expect everyone to use them all, making the time going into programming the less-frequently used characters go to waste.With a limited number of slots available in the game's roster, there will have to be cuts made and it's impossible to please everyone by including their favorite character.
Are there fans who want an opportunity to take over the MVC3 online leaderboards with the likes of Viewtiful Joe, Wolverine, and M. Bison? Of course! Are there thousands of Street Fighter fans who would rather see someone other than M. Bison represent their favorite fighting series in the crossover, such as Akuma, Guile, Zangief, or any of the dozens of other characters? Of course! Will there be players who will whine and refuse to buy the game if their favorite characters aren't in? Of course, and anyone playing the game once it's released will be better off without them!With all the changes Marvel and Capcom have gone through, character requests from fans, and secrecy on Capcom's end, there has been a growing shadow of mystery for the final MVC3 character reveals.
The only way to know anything certain on the game is to wait for Capcom to announce it. There will be people trying to take advantage of fan expectations in order to create a sense of fear and uncertainty for their own entertainment until the game is released. Whether these are people claim to have a faked roster least or claim to reveal details on MVC3 over Twitter, they do not deserve any attention.In conclusion, here is a quote made by Seth Killian, Capcom's Community Manager, on their official forums regarding rumors and roster list leaks. Obviously I'm not going to comment on any lists.
That said, I suggest you actually do your research and read for yourself what I say rather than take it second- (or third, or fourth) hand. Because someone implies something in a post on a website where they're trying to generate controversy doesn't mean I said something. Read the quotes, check your facts, and then we'll talk. It's also just uncool. I work really, really hard to help bring you guys great games with the stuff you've asked for, as well as to bring you as much good info about those games as early as I can. Sometimes I even land in hot water internally to do it.
To then have people turn around and grin about my "lies" when they haven't even bothered to read what I said is a real demotivator. It's not fun to be called a liar. It's even less fun when you aren't lying. Lastly, I don't work in PR. Talking about our games in an interview doesn't make you PR. Doing stuff in public doesn't make you PR. Looking at work schedule, it includes zero PR. It does include bringing playable MVC3 to a tournament this weekend, bringing in Daigo to play against Unity members around the world online this Friday, a load of development meetings (Niitsuma-san and team are in this week, plus producers on some unannounced projects) and even trying to find time to answer questions in here.If I had a dollar for everytime someone accused me of "lying" about something I never actually said, I could retire. Will someone please start a jar for this?xoxo. Seth For those who wish to inform themselves on MVC3, here are some useful sources.
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