SNK is finally ready to show usKOF 15, with the announcement of a gameplay trailer reveal coming on June 19, 2025.The King Of Fighters XV, announced for a long while now, will finally see the light of the day. A short teaser trailer was published for the occasion. Including an interview withKOF 15Producer Yasuyuki Oda, and Creative Director and currentKOFchara designer Eisuke Ogura. It reveals the newKOF 15character designs for Shun’ei, Kyo, and Benimaru. The reveal on January 7 will also include new details on the third season pass forSamurai Spirits.
In the interview, Oda and Ogura explained Shun’ei looks cooler, and is definitely the protagonist ofKOF XV. Moreover, they confirmedKOF XVis a sequel toKOF XIVstorywise. Shun’ei has some new moves as well.
Meanwhile, Kyo is back with his classic black jacket + bandanna look.KOFstarted in 1994, and bandanas were THE protagonist thing in the nineties, from Cress inTales of Phantasiato Chrono inChrono Trigger.However, the latest Kyo chara designs, for years now, had him without the bandana to make it look more modern. But longtime fans all prefer it this way.
Lastly, Benimaru is back to sleeveless outfit, with an oriental, Chinese look to it.
The King of Fightersseries is a 3 Vs 3 fighter. Players can freely pick the characters they want to form a trio, however in the lore, there are official teams based on the games' story. On the character select screen, the characters are also located according to their official team.
Eisuke Ogura mentioned these team compositions inKOF 15will differ greatly compared to the usual.
The King Of Fighters XVwasfirst announcedin December 2018, for a 2020 release, with nothing else but the announcement. The game was furthermore teased atEVO 2019 in August, with only a logo. This is the very first time we’re actually seeing something. No platforms were announced yet. The game suffered development delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is mainly why SNK waited so long to give us this firstKOF 15characters reveal.
Following the gameplay trailer on January 7, additional info will release regularly throughout the year.
In related news, we recently learned that MiSK, the non-profit foundation of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman,bought 33% of SNK’s shares, becoming the largest shareholders.Moreover, it’s ultimately planning to own 51% of the shares. Personally speaking I highly doubt there will be any changes to SNK’s games reflecting this new ownership,be it censorship or anything else. However, I’m very worried by the fact that many of my favorite game IPs ever,KOF, Metal Slug, Fatal Furyetc, are being bought over by someone like MBS.
