Arc System Works' Ishiwatari: Path Cleared For New Guilty Gear

While rumors abounded on the internet that legal problems were stopping a new Guilty Gear game from being developed, in a new Gamasutra interview, Arc System Works' Guilty Gear director Daisuke Ishiwatari tells us that nothing's stopping him now. In 2009, rumors surfaced that legal issues with publisher Sega Sammy were interfering with plans for the continuation of the popular Guilty Gear fighting game series. Once a stalwart of the fighting game scene, it was seemingly dropped by developer Arc System Works in favor of a new franchise, BlazBlue, which launched in 2008. While it carried over many of GG's signature elements, it was a totally new IP. Gamasutra spoke to GG director Ishiwatari about the issue at the time, in a lengthy feature interview. Citing rumors on the net, Gamasutra asked him what was up with the franchise. "I might not be able to provide answers there," said Ishiwatari. All the same, were the rumors on the net true? "Yeah, I can't really talk about it much... except to say that they're basically true," said a laughing Ishiwatari. That was as close a confirmation as we were able to get. But speaking to Ishiwatari at this year's Tokyo Game Show, we were able to find out that nothing is stopping Arc System Works now. "Well, rumors are rumors," he said, once again. "I'd be lying if I said there were no problems at all, but much of that has been cleared away since. There's no impediment to making it now." He knows that fans want a new game: "A lot of people are definitely asking what's up with the series, that's true; a lot of gamers want to see it. I can't say when it may come out or anything like that, but I definitely want to answer the voices of the fans someday." Currently, Arc System Works is developing BlazBlue Extend for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita; these will be released in the U.S. sometime in 2012. The studio is also collaborating with Atlus for a fighting game based on the Persona series, Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena, which appeared at Tokyo Game Show. The full interview with Ishiwatari will appear on Gamasutra in the future.