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Guilty Gear Strive developers on adding ABA, post-Season 3 & mechanic changes

Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari, Strive director Akira Katano, and producer Ken Miyauchi spoke to us about how much further Guilty Gear Strive can go.

TJ Denzer

April 5, 2024 9:30 AM

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Arc World Tour 2023 Finals are in the books, Guilty Gear Strive Season 3 looks set to wrap up in May, and Arc System Works confirmed it is already working on Season 4. Arc World Tour 2024 is on the way, too. One of the harbingers of the golden age of fighting games and the developer behind it simply have no quit in them, making it a great time to be a Guilty Gear and ArcSys fan. How far can it go, though, and what will the future bring? We sat down with Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari, Strive director Akira Katano, and producer Ken Miyauchi in a remote interview during Arc World Tour 2023 to talk about these very matters.

The answer to how far Arc System Works can go with Guilty Gear Strive is simple: As far as fans will support it. In fact, one of the most interesting answers during the interview was that Ken Miyauchi told us they’d love to eventually put every playable Guilty Gear character in Strive if the fans keep supporting the game. Jam, Slayer, Venom, Robo-Ky, Kum Haehyun…? All possible.

So why ABA here? Why now, in Season 3? Well, according to the developers, they like ABA and wanted to put her in for a long time, and it was thanks to the support of the fans that they got to do that, for which the team thanked their supportive player base. ABA hasn’t seen playable action in the series since she was brought into Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R in 2012, so there was a lot of cool stuff to be done with her dual-style combat in Strive’s systems.

This interview took place prior to Arc World Tour 2024 and Season 4’s announcement, so they played a bit coy on some matters, but it sounds like the Guilty Gear Strive team has been thrilled with player support and intend to keep going as long as we keep playing. At the same time, they know the game isn’t in a perfect state. They continue to look for ways to fine-tune the balance and make sure the mechanics are fun, as we look forward to Season 3’s close in May and Season 4 most certainly soon after, stay tuned for more information on the core game, as well as new content.

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TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.