City of the Wolves is developing to push past obstacles, new content, and new players

Deadly Rage: City of Wolves burst onto the fight scene in April 2025 just in time to build momentum before then Here’s Vegas that summer. It took up one spot on the Main Stage, and the Top 8 was insanely fun to watch because of the veteran players who gave it their all and the fast-paced action you couldn’t watch.

But the esports scene hasn’t lived up to that same hype. There were only 433 entries in Evo Japan 2026, and 444 in Evo Vegas this past weekend. To compare, 2XKO took third place for the Main Stage with 1,080 entrants.

Despite the decline in the Fatal Fury gaming scene, the devs behind the game are not worried. In fact, there may be a resurgence in the near future. Esports Insider spoke to The Producer Change Tamaki and the Director Hayato Konya ahead of Evo Vegas 2026, to gain more insight into the team’s plans for the City of the Wolves’ esports scene.

Konya and Tamaki are well aware that the release of Fatal Fury was well timed. It was right before Evo Vegas, so competitive players decided to switch in hopes of dominating the scene early and winning that $48,000 prize pool.

But that’s not the only reason the City of Wolves was quick to catch FGC’s attention. This launch is 26 years in the making. That’s how long it’s been since the last installment, making the launch a historic moment as well. Tamaki said: “People who grew up with the game at a young age found a new iteration.”

Konya also noted that it introduced many new mechanics to the fighting scene. The REV Gauge, a meter that determines your access to high-damage combos and special moves, is a prominent gameplay feature. But technical gameplay also includes feints, breaks, and tricks. There are many brain games and game options. Even Selective Potential Gear (SPG) takes a little more strategy, as it can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of your health bar.

“It’s very unique to the traditional FGC,” Konya said.

Despite the game’s history and competitiveness, Fatal Fury: City of Wolves didn’t maintain that same buzz beyond Evo Vegas 2025. This might be due to the overabundance of FGC. There are many titles vying for prominence in the majors, and even more on the way. Fatal Fury could have been a bit lost, especially without any meaningful updates.

In 2XKO, the Evo champion Josiah “Hikari” Miller told Esports Insider after his win that he believes the game could be big in the scene even though Riot has his doubts. He said: “I think it will grow because of Riot. It has a lot of free content. All the characters are free, so you can try them. There are different fuses and combos. They are always adding new characters to their roadmap.”

Fatal Fury: City of Wolves couldn’t say the same for a while. And the devs admit that one of them is their fault. For a long time, the game did not receive many content updates, which led to the departure of players. Tamaki explained that it wasn’t the team’s intention to do so, but it took about a year to develop the development pipeline.

“But now we have a schedule of updating one character a month. It’s a big, fast pace. Along with those characters, you release the stage, the music, the new gameplay, the balance of the characters… We have a new update with new content, and we see people coming back,” Tamaki said.

And it’s not just any letter. The latest character was Kenshiro, the main character of Fist of the North Star. Although he is a popular character with “universal fame” who is “fit for the whole world,” the team chose him because he presented a small challenge.

“As developers,” Tamaki said, “We always strive not to just give players the low-hanging fruit. We want to challenge ourselves as well. In fact, it’s a difficult character to add. You can’t just plug him in and make him work. There are a lot of changes that need to be made, but we’re excited about the challenge. We’re putting a lot of effort into this character, which will show itself.”

Kenshiro’s release also coincided with the new Fist of the North Star anime, which would introduce new players.

And that’s the thing. It’s a misconception that Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is for professional, advanced players only. The devs can’t hope to make a game only for these old-school players, regardless of what the esports scene might look like.

“Those kinds of ideas, we know well,” Tamaki said. “Fighting games will have that aspect: there will be sweatshops who want to be taken seriously.

“However, we have features to help casual players. We have Smart Style, which simplifies input and makes it easier. We also have story modes that are less difficult and less focused on fighting each other.”

Why is it so important for fighting games to have this focus on new players? You never really hear about League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike 2 simplifying controls or promoting traditional game modes. However Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and more are always looking for ways to attract newbies. Why is that?

Tamaki noted that fighting games are not as simple as seeing a reticle on an enemy’s head and pressing a button. It’s not intuitive. You need a lot of muscle memory, quick reactions, quick planning… These are things that practice develops as skills. This often leaves new players feeling like they are drowning if there are no lifelines.

And Fatal Fury doesn’t want to leave them to drown. Contrary to what many believe in FGC, games don’t have to be complicated or technical. You don’t have to be a seasoned gamer to enjoy the essence of fighting games.

“Look rock, paper, scissors,” Konya said. “The game is not interesting because of its difficulty. If there were more blows, it would not be very interesting. It is interesting because you learn the reaction of your opponent, what they might send you next.

“The fun part of fighting games isn’t the complex input. It’s reading the mind and going back and forth with your opponent, seeing how they react. If we can measure that and simplify it, the gameplay becomes more powerful.”

The Fatal Fury: City of Wolves team has a deep understanding of the core of fighting games and what it takes to attract new players. And they have started releasing a lot of new content to keep current players hooked.

They are also worried about the constant flood of fighting game titles arriving at events. In fact, it might be a good thing.

“Because this is a small niche genre,” said Tamaki, “having more exposure and more opportunities to come in… That allows players to get more excited about fighting games. Someone who might not be interested.

“Having these different fighting games for different types of players around the world… Once they’ve played one of them, they might enjoy it and play another one. We hope players will go on that journey. They shouldn’t just stick to one game, but explore the others.”

That’s exactly how Fatal Fury: City of Wolves made its way onto Evo’s Main Stage. Most of the players who decided to compete were from other fighting sports titles, veterans with many medals under their belt. Tamaki said that they are probably fans of the IP and saw how the new installment came out and wanted to give it a try.

“Those kinds of voices started to pop up when the game first came out,” he said.

Since then, the development team has been really listening to what the players want. One of the most important aspects of their development process is “player voices.” Tamaki noted that this is “important for growth.” For this reason, they have been listening to what players want: new characters, buffs, or nerves… “We look at that when we develop the game.”

These big topics in FGC will not always say with the same confidence. As competitive gamers look for games to grind, they might want to try Fatal Fury, noting its high content timeline, passionate devs, and fun, engaging gameplay. At least, that’s what the devs are hoping for.

Rock, paper, scissors, bring it!