Arc System Works Wants To Actively Pursue New IP Collaborations

Between Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Blazblue, Arc System Works has established itself as one of the best developers of fighting games on the market, but the studio is looking for another big mainstream hit with a recognizable IP.

At EVO 2022, Arc System Works CEO Minoru Kidooka explained how the studio is looking to pursue new opportunities by contacting IP rights holders, instead of passively waiting for an opportunity to fall into its hands.

"We need to expand fighting game communities through IP," Kidooka said to IGN. "In the future, if we have such an opportunity, we are actively pushing to collaborate with new IP owners."

Arc is no stranger to collaborations, as it developed the award-winning Dragon Ball FighterZ, a 3DS One Piece game, 2012's Persona 4 Arena, and 2020's Granblue Fantasy Versus. Kidooka added that the studio's original Guilty Gear and BlazBlue games won't be forgotten about as the developer aims to work on an IP planned and developed in the US, with BlazBlue in particular having the potential to expand beyond the fighting game genre.

Arc's latest release was DNF Duel in June, a new fighting game franchise that mixes robust combat with an excellent online system. "Arc System Works continues to set a high standard for fighting games with DNF Duel, creating an experience that's both simple enough for new players and robust enough for fighting veterans," Jason Fanelli wrote in GameSpot's DNF Duel review.

Beyond that game, Arc also announced that rollback netcode will be added to Dragon Ball FighterZ in a future update alongside Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions with enhanced visuals.