2023 has already seen the release of Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 is scheduled to debut later this year. While a release date has yet to be confirmed, it is also possible that Tekken 8 could come out in late 2023 as well. With the release of Street Fighter 6 and the scheduled release of Mortal Kombat 1 alone, however, 2023 is shaping up to be a great year for fighting games.
All three fighting game franchises have been around for several decades. The first Street Fighter hit arcades all the way back in 1987 before the first Mortal Kombat game came along in 1992. Both of these series' saw releases on nearly every major video game console and have seen new installments come out every handful of years or so. The first Tekken game would hit arcades a few years later in 1994. If all three were to be released this year, it would bode well for fans of the genre.
Fighting Games That Have Been Confirmed For 2023
The first big release of the year for fighting games was Street Fighter 6. The last game in the series, Street Fighter 5, came out in 2016 with a full seven-year gap between its release and that of its sequel. The wait seems to have been worth it as Street Fighter 6 is one of the best-reviewed games of the year. Because of this, the series' latest competitive entry could have a high bar to pass.
Mortal Kombat 1 was officially revealed in May and is currently set to be released in September of this year. Little is known about the upcoming game beyond the fact that it will be another in-continuity reboot, following a new timeline created by Liu Kang. As of this writing, NetherRealm Studios has yet to release any gameplay footage of the upcoming installment. Despite controversy over the game's use of microtransactions, the newer installments typically review well with critics, and it's very possible that the upcoming game will be as well.
Fighting Games and Content That May Be Coming In 2023
In addition to the planned release date, the Kameo fighters of Mortal Kombat 1 were also apparently leaked soon after the first trailer debuted. These rumored DLC characters included the likes of Homelander from The Boys, Omni-Man from Invincible, and Peacemaker from The Suicide Squad. If true, they will make for fine additions to the game's roster and make 2023 an even better year for fighting games.
2023 may also see the release of the next game in the Tekken franchise. Tekken 8 was originally announced in September 2022 but currently does not have a release date. Still, the game is expected to be released sometime in the last few months of 2023 or in the early months of 2024. If it is released in 2023, however, it would complete the big trifecta of fighting games, making it the perfect year for fighting game fans.
It may be too soon to say what the future has in store for the fighting game genre. Because of the nature of video games, it is possible that Mortal Kombat 1 could see some kind of delay and the release of Tekken 8 may be dependent on said game's release in order to avoid overlap. In addition, Street Fighter 6 has set a high bar that Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 will need to match if they want to compete with Capcom's latest entry. Regardless, as long as the new Mortal Kombat holds its release date and Tekken 8 launches before the end of the year, 2023 will be absolutely stacked with a ton of fighting game content.
Street Fighter 6 is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.