Will Street Fighter Creator’s New Saudi-Backed Boxing Game Pack a Punch? Japanese Fans React

Street Fighter creator Takashi Nishiyama is processing a marque caller boxing crippled successful collaboration with long-running boxing mag The Ring. The quality was revealed connected the authoritative X relationship of Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. Alalshikh acquired American work The Ring backmost successful November 2024.

According to the tweet, the untitled crippled volition diagnostic archetypal characters and harvester "The Ring’s unmatched authorization successful boxing with crippled developer Dimps’ decades-long acquisition successful crafting classical games."

Dimps is Takashi Nishiyama’s company. Its astir caller crippled was Freedom Wars Remastered, a reworking of a PlayStation Vita crippled for modern consoles released successful January 2025. According to the tweet from Alalshikh, improvement of the boxing rubric volition statesman soon.

The Saudi Arabian royal household has go progressively invested successful Japan’s gaming manufacture successful caller years. In April 2024, it was revealed that 100% of Japanese crippled institution SNK’s shares were present owned by the Saudi Crown Prince’s foundation. The Ring Magazine has besides been progressive successful promoting SNK’s upcoming Fatal Fury: City of Wolves, hosting a boxing lucifer collaboration astatine Tottenham Hotspur Stadium successful London connected April 26, 2025. Of course, Nishiyama himself antecedently worked astatine SNK successful the 1990s, creating the Fatal Fury bid and producing galore games successful flagship SNK bid similar Metal Slug and King of Fighters.

Japanese people’s reactions to the announcement of The Ring x Dimps collaboration truthful acold person mostly ranged from amazed reactions of “What?!! I privation to play it!” to curiosity arsenic to what the last crippled volition beryllium like.

@ryo_redcyclone, an X idiosyncratic who often posts Street Fighter-related content, responded to the quality with: “Commenting connected the archetypal Street Fighter, Nishiyama said: ‘I chose to absorption connected thoroughfare warring due to the fact that established sports are restricted by rules.’ This clip helium is making a crippled based connected boxing, a athletics with rules, truthful I’m funny to spot however it volition crook out.”

Much of the interest seems to halfway upon whether boxing’s rules volition restrict Nishiyama’s creativity, considering the roster of quirky characters and brainsick moves that tin beryllium recovered successful his erstwhile warring games.

Although Street Fighter has Mike Tyson lookalike Balrog, his kicks, not to notation his Buffalo Head move, intelligibly interruption nonrecreational boxing rules. It volition beryllium absorbing to spot whether The Ring and Dimps’ caller boxing crippled goes for a realistic oregon rule-breaking approach.

Verity Townsend is simply a Japan-based freelance writer who antecedently served arsenic editor, contributor and translator for the crippled quality tract Automaton West. She has besides written astir Japanese civilization and movies for assorted publications.