Xbox's Phil Spencer wants to continue with Killer Instinct, says the right development team and opportunity have to come along
Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, recently sat down for a chat with the folks over at the Dropped Frames podcast to talk all things Xbox. While there's quite a bit to go through here for general gaming fans, us fighting gamers will be particularly interested in one part of the interview that delves into the future of a certain beloved fighting game franchise.
At one point during the talk, itmeJP stops and notes that a mob had formed in the chat and wanted Spencer to discuss the topic of what's next for KI. Spencer laughed and shared some insight into what exactly is going on with the series following the success of the game's recent revival.
"There are so many good games in our catalog that we'd love to visit," Spencer begins. "The response when we redid KI at the launch of the Xbox One was fantastic."
Spencer goes on to say that not everyone at Xbox saw what the game could become initially, but now after its revival, the series certainly has not been forgotten.
"I will just say, Matt [Booty] and I have discussed many times KI and where we'd like to go with it, and it's in our hearts and in our minds that we want to continue to do something with KI.
"It is about finding the right team and the right opportunity, but it is not due to any kind of lack of desire on our part that we're not doing more with KI, because we love the franchise and the community response," Spencer concluded.
It has been quite some time since we've seen anything released for the Xbox One mainstay fighting title. Content support for the title concluded back in March 2016 with the launch of Season 3, which brought with it new contenders such as Rash from Battletoads, Kim Wu, Tusk, and Halo's Arbiter — though Shin Hisako, a bonus character, was released by way of a patch the following year.
It didn't take long after that for fans to begin clamoring for a fourth season, though unfortunately, such a season never came. This hasn't stopped players around the world and prominent community members from spreading the gospel of Killer Instinct, however.
Longtime mega fans such as Maximilian pioneered the #BringBackKI movement on social media, producing content to help get the game back on the radar of Microsoft and Xbox as well as encouraging fans to do the same.
Max also held the KI Lives tournament on Twitch Rivals back in February that brought in several of the game's most prominent players and faces to compete and celebrate the series as fans want to see it make its return for the new generation.
Last June, Hold Back To Block released an exceptional documentary about Killer Instinct that delved into the development of the 2013 title and the origins of the franchise as a whole. We even saw original developers such as Ken Lobb and James Goddard sit down and share their stories.
Despite Killer Instinct's questionable launch on the Xbox One, at a time where the console left a bad taste in the mouths of consumers due to its large price tag and not so great marketing, the game has remained on the tips of players' tongues in one way or another since support for it concluded. There's clearly a demand for it and even Phil Spencer is interested, so all we can do is hope that the right team and opportunity for a new game comes up soon.
