Many of us are still in shock about how the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics was revealed during the latest Nintendo Direct. We know that the collection is slated to be released sometime in 2024, though details about its release schedule beyond that are still shrouded in mystery.
As it turns out, Capcom has been wanting this collection to become a reality just as much as the fans. Capcom Producer Shuhei Matsumoto recently answered some questions about the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics that were presented by TouchArcade.
"How long has the team been working on this package?" asked TouchArcade.
"Development itself took about one to two years, but we have been wanting to realize this project for around four years and have been communicating with Marvel during that time," responded Matsumoto.
One to two years of development time is fairly standard within the gaming industry, even for a collection. However, it's particularly interesting to hear that Capcom has been communicating with Disney for about four years now to get this to happen.
The last game released for the Marvel vs. Capcom series was Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite on September 19, 2017. Unfortunately, the game seemingly underperformed in the eyes of critics and fans.
Initially, Capcom were expecting to sell about two million units of MvCI. However, they were only able to sell 2.2 million units to this day, and many of those copies were likely sold at a discounted price.
Due to this, it was heavily rumored that Disney and Capcom's business relationship had greatly soured. This is part of the reason why the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics' announcement was such a surprise for fans.
Though we'll likely never get confirmation that this actually was the case, the fact that it took four years of communication with Disney to make this a reality does seem to lend it some credence. It sounds like Capcom had an interest in developing this project, but Disney needed some persuasion.
With this, the potential of Marvel vs. Capcom 4 finally coming to fruition is higher than it's ever been before. Regardless of what happened in the past, Capcom and Disney are finally working together once again.
Needless to say, the success of Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics will likely be important for the series' future. We'll just have to see how things play out from here.