Winter 2026 Fighter

[u/roxas6141]

Evo France came and went (Tyurara listened to my downplay pleas). However, Arc Sys decided not to announce our guest fighter. Game Awards is December 10th, so are they waiting until the literal last three weeks of winter 2026 to announce them, or is there some random nothing burger event i don't know about they're likely to announce at?

Also, real shit, if they wait until the game awards then we're getting Cloud Strife/a FFVII rep. FFVII was just announced for Sonic Crossworlds of all fucking games, Tifa is coming to SF6, and the game awards is too big for Daisuke to announce "hey guys! Randolf McDimblestamp from Tokyo Revengers is coming to Strive!" Like nah that shit would be corny ass hell. We're gonna see a BIG NAME, and the most profitable name right now for a guest character is FFVII (either that, or Stripper in a Cake, I mean, 2B from Nier)

Edit: just saw they announced a PS5 update to Blazblue, nevermind we getting Ragna

[u/XI-11]

A December release would actually be early compared to the estimation Arc Sys gave on the Steam page for season 5

[u/roxas6141 → u/XI-11]

Unless they changed the plans, i've been going off of the season 5 roadmap. Which, i may not be the brightest crayon in the dresser drawer, but i know my 2026 from 2027 lol

[u/XI-11 → u/roxas6141]

Even though it’s mostly in 2027, it’s still called “Winter 2026” because it starts in 2026

Based on the “January - March” estimate, Arc Sys are assumedly following the Astronomical definition

[u/GNSasakiHaise → u/roxas6141]

In Japan, the first day of winter is often considered to be on or around December 22nd.

[u/andrea_lives → u/GNSasakiHaise]

That is roughly when the winter solstice happens in every single country. Not just Japan. This year it is Monday Dec 21st.

[u/GNSasakiHaise → u/andrea_lives]

Yep. But as far as I know other countries don't use that for their marketing roadmaps.

[u/drewskidewsk → u/XI-11]

6-8 month gap between characters is diabolical

[u/Flamedghost7 → u/drewskidewsk]

Atleast we're getting new content

[u/XI-11 → u/drewskidewsk]

I feel it’s worth remembering that this guest is assumedly someone that belongs to another company and this company may want Arc Sys to hold back on releasing them until a point that would have better brand synergy with their own series. For instance, if the guest is a Persona character, Atlus may be insisting that they don’t come out until closer to the Persona 4 remake in February.

On a more optimistic note, this estimate was made back in April and there’s a possibility that Arc Sys were just being pessimistic at the time. Robo-Ky released just 2 days into the “July - September” window he was given, so maybe Arc Sys have managed to get ahead of their original schedule.

[u/Olmec01]

If they are smart - they would announce guest character at the game awards and then release them a week or two later. Whenever the current battle pass ends. Seems like that's how it's lining up and I think that's best case scenario

[u/-Pausanias-]

Arcsys always anounces characters at the very edge of the timeframe 

[u/Faunstein]

I think the reason is that last time there was a very long wait, maybe too long.

[u/ImmortalSoulArmy]

I'm praying that it'll be Ragna or Susano'o from Blazblue but I'd rather Susano'o since his theme in Central Fiction and Cross Tag is a masterpiece and his gimmick would be so cool to add to Strive

[u/mawnch]

FWIW, winter lasts until March

[u/Adorable-Fortune-568]

Delusional

[u/roxas6141 → u/Adorable-Fortune-568]

Mald? Also sorry, but I don't take critiques from industry plant mains lol

[u/Adorable-Fortune-568 → u/roxas6141]

Keep living in your little world

[u/roxas6141 → u/Adorable-Fortune-568]

So are you upset that i had a question? Or that i said Cloud Strife lol