Summary is at the bottom for those who just want the gist.

Many people have said in the past that fighting games as a genre are dead. No longer mainstream. In the span of two and a half years, we have gotten a lot a lot and will get a lot of big titles. However, there has been a lot of twist and turns. This thread focuses maily on the games rather than the community, as the communities are a major subject

Killer Instinct

This game has ventured into a more free to start formula for fighting games. Instead of just buying all the content full on, you get to a couple of characters at the start and are given oppertunities to buy individual characters or all the content. This way, they can steadily support this game through a generation adding more and more content via seasons. Because of this, they are easily able to reconstruct the game fpr their playerbase and even possibly add better quality and details to the game. As well as introduce special guest characters

However, I am not sure how many people actually got a lot of the content or what the cocurrent userbase is. This game has been more off my radar than it has been on. 

I think that this is an interesting and honestly good practice if their focus is just to work on this for the generation. However, I think that it may have worked against their favor in terms of popularizing the franchise. Honestly, only time will tell by the end of development if this tactic payed off (launching a full version on disc or something of that nature)

Super Smash Brothers for Wii U/3DS

This is easily the most content heavy game of the bunch as well as the most unique. The fighting mechanics are near non-existant in any other franchise. It both founded and dominated its fighting style. The only direct competition to Smash Bros is well... Smash Bros... very unfortunately... though I guess that's another story. Between to versions of the game, you have so many fighters, stages and characters at launch that I was very suprised to find they did DLC. They aimed at characters that fans desperately clamored to return and newer characters fans wanted or they would have a big impact. Between both versions of the game, you have a huge existing userbase and sales. And the DLC, especially the Smash Ballot extended the potential life and regenerated hype for the game

Street Fighter V

Capcom is taking a very interesting and controversial step with Street Fighter 5. Also known by friend as Street Fighter: 5 more months till you can grind or pay more for the full game, is very divisive natuarally

For its gameply and promise of content it has been heavily praised and defended.

For its... gameplay and lack of current content it has been heavily criticized. As well as its launch connection issues (which have been patched)

The promise of what's to come and issues of reality of what's there bring in to question is this is what is in store for THE staple fighting franchise and even perhaps future fighting games. On one had, content doled out may regarner interest of gamers and encourage longevity for the game, as Capcom promised it would be the only version. On the other hand, gamers may have felt scorned by the lack of content at the start and optional payment or playment one  to many times, and this being a staple fighting franchise may be one broken too many and my eventually cost the franchise. On to more, very positive points, what Street Figther V is doing very well in engaging and garnering players is allowing crossplay between PC and PS4 players. It even goes so far as to let you know which of the two you played.  Capcom's choices have make it clear they are betting on their real hardcore fans who seek competitive streaks over the modern hardcore gamer.

Now before I start I wanna get something out of the way. In spite of my sig and pic I posted would have you to beleive, I'm not on any SFV hate train. **It was just convienint for what I was doing on the side** Granted I still have a LOT to criticize though surrounding factors are what I find more troubling and perhaps thread worthy and I will reserve my opinions for now due to this. 

Pokken Tournament

Mortal Kombat

The Street Fighter 5 controversy will blow over in a month or two when all the content that should have been at launch drops. After that all future dlc is free if you play it enough and use fight money. The core gameplay is hands down the best current gen has to offer, and is easily at keast on par with classic fighters. When the bad launch decisions blow over, SFV will get nothing but praise based on what I have been playing.

And FYI, the server issues were fixed by day 2. I bought it a day after launch and NEVER had a problem with disconnects, finding a match, or connection to servers. The only problem I have run into is the occasional "failed to record fight data" which is annoying as all hell, but rare.

So no, I don't think this is the fall of fighters.  Evolution for good or bad sure, but at least with SFV I feel confident that it will be as strong as ever.

EDIT BASED ON YOUR EDIT:

No I do not feel fighter are going downhill.  Sure formulas have changed, some for better or worse, but they still offer a solid experience.  There is some experimentation on content formulas across the board with all of them, but that is any game these days.  In the end if you like fighters you will play them, if not this topic doesn't matter.

I'm aware about the server, will add note that when I reformat everthing. redid the poll to add "at least one or to fighters will survive"

Some will def do better than others, but remember there are some smaller players that can get more recognition during slow times.  Example, I played my first Guilty Gear game last year and loved it.  Should one franchise fall, another can rise in its place.

I wouldn't consider three of the games on that list fighting games.

That being said, I don't think fighting games are dead, but they aren't thriving at all. The fact that SFV rolled out the way that it did should be extremely scary for any fan of the genre. It's scary because Killer Instinct did something so important for the genre, and SFV literally fucked all of that up.

KI did everything so right, but it will never have the brand power that SF has, and they completely missed the point of launching KI with so little content. Accessibility and platform expansion. The reason KI could launch with so littler content is because it was absolutely never a $60 premium release. It was always intended to be a platform, and it is free-to-play to this day.

I actually believe that these kinds of multiplayer games should be platforms, but games like SFV, Splatoon, and Battlefront fuck it up by going about it the wrong way. Killer Instinct it the golden example of how it should be done. I'd love to see the next Mario Kart be a platform like this, but not launching at $60 fucking dollars with 8 characters and 2 cups with the promise of "free" content later. It's not free. You're paying to wait.

Sterling hit the nail on the coffin. It's early AAAccess. And it's scary, because it's working. This is just the beginning.

No, I def don't think fighters are on the decline. Heck, I don't think any genre will die out. Some will fluctuate between mainstream or niche, or stay in one of the 2. Fighters will always be around, especially the likes of Street Fighter present. I would say leading, but the way SFV is being handled, I don't think it would be a good game to lead by example. Smash Bros or KI would be good leading example. You either release a full game at launch, or KI's method of buying the parts you want. What SFV did just seems like a terrible idea and practice and seemingly growing trend that needs to stop...

You also forgot King of Fighters XV, which'll be out this year.

No, they're not on the decline, if anything, tournaments are gaining in popularity (and funding). SFV is a dumbass move by Capcom, but it's one of the foundation stones in the fighting game pantheon. Some folks may be turned off by it's launch, and I certainly am not rushing out to get it, but given 6+ months and it'll be up and running and probably worth the ~$40 price tag, at that point. And if not, I'll wait longer, or I'll just wait until SFVI (someone will fund it). KoF will tide me over, for sure. And maybe, just maybe, those dumb fucks will give me another Capcom vs SNK which is what I've been (not so) patiently been waiting for, for years.

The One and the Wii (and the NX) have their fighting game franchises as well, SSBB looked like people at the tourney's were enjoying it, likewise with KI and MKX...so yeah, no reason to think they're in a decline even if SFV stumbled.

I remember when MS bought Killer Instinct and company from Nintendo and watched as the Fighting genre faded away. DoA 3 and Soul Caliber II were the best in class at the time imo. I thought it was game over. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were not very good or interesting to me even though they were the two that made me love fighters. Of coarse there was a time when fighting games had taken over and new ones were popping up seemingly monthly.


The market is not over saturated, in fact it's just perfect. Street Fighter V will succeed I predict and Mortal Kombat X has really shined through. Killer Instinct has always been the underrated precious gem of the Fighters. DoA is ignorable to me now. Soul Caliber will come again this gen though it hasn't improved since II in my eyes. Smash is a phenomenon and I have no Idea why. Pokken will do Very good. All in all, I say the Fighting genre will grow from this point until too many are on the scene which will not be soon.

Have you seen reactions of people reacting to character trailers? Smash Bros just seems to really capture both core and casual gamers. A lot of people care about the franchise, which is pretty good in its own right. Cloud in Smash was trending when he came out of nowhere in the November direct, same with Bayonetta and Ryu when they got announced. 

I think fighting games are still good. Pokken, Guilty Gear, etc. seem to bring new blood while KI appears to have completed its comeback. Hopefully, KoF will do well and I hope SFV will improve its quantity in content sooner rather than later. I also hope Soul Calibur returns to form.

KI did it right? You have to buy every character