Guilty Gear producer Ken Miyauchi spilled the tea about the supposedly canceled Guilty Gear Strive sequel, and his reaction wasn’t something we expected.
In July 2025, reports surfaced claiming that the next Guilty Gear game — supposedly a follow-up to Strive — had been canceled in the middle of its development cycle.
Nothing else about the rumored title had been made public by Arc System Works, and no official statement was given about the game… until now.
We sat down with Ken Miyauchi, Strive’s producer, for a conversation at Evo 2025, where we brought up these rumors and asked if there was any merit to them.
Strive producer was “sad” that canceled Strive game rumor wasn’t real
Well, according to Ken there wasn’t… but he was “sad” that a new Guilty Gear project was never actually in the works.
“It’s kind of funny, but I didn’t know about it. It was just a rumor. It’s interesting to see that kind of rumor coming out of nowhere.
“My take is that Guilty Gear Strive, a serious IP, has grown so big, and that’s why people started making up rumors that come out of nowhere.
“What I know is that it’s not in my hands. I don’t think I have ever seen that [game], and we are not that big of a company, you know? So, if I do not know about it, then it probably didn’t exist in the first place.
“I’m kind of sad because I’m Guilty Gear Strive’s producer. So you know, if there is any chance that Guilty Gear games are going to be made, I’m very, very happy to be involved.”
Guilty Gear producer sheds light on the future of Strive
During our conversation, Ken also spoke on what’s next for Strive. In our previous interview at Anime Expo, he teased something “big” coming for the game, in spite of some fans’ concerns that the game’s lifespan was potentially reaching its end.
With Version 2.0 announced, alongside Lucy and two more forthcoming characters, it’s clear that there’s much more in store for Strive… but how long it lasts depends on the success of this next season.
“ It depends on how we perform,” he admitted. “If we fail during this next update, then we might not have a chance. But we are trying to make the game at the best quality. I’m hoping people will like it, and if we’re able to get enough support, we might be able to continue longer and longer.”
However, that doesn’t automatically mean that the team’s focus will shift to a new Guilty Gear game if Version 2.0 flops. Instead, Ken told us that it’s up to series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari whether or not they start on the franchise’s next installment.
“I think when we start our new game, that’s gonna be when Daisuke Ishiwatari is ready for it,” he said.
Overall, Miyauchi is excited for the new updates to Strive and is hopeful that fans are happy with what they have to offer — especially since their response to it determines whether or not Strive continues to survive.
In fact, he feels that the fighting game scene has never been better, and with ArcSys working on so many different fighting game IPs, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
“ I used to live in Massachusetts, and that’s where I started picking fighting games, playing with the, the committees around there. Nowadays, I think fighting games have grown to be so much better. There’s Discord channels where you can find players to fight, there’s rollback netcode — you don’t have to stress so much playing online these days.”
“The community is growing bigger, and Evo is expanding, too. There’s a lot more new fighting games coming out. I wish I could’ve lived in this era as a player. But then, at the same time, I enjoy the developer perspective to shape where fighting games’ future goes.
“It’s just like everyone is saying, ‘They’re eating great,’ you know? They have a lot more fun games to play, and I believe there will be more fighting games coming up, and I’m hoping to see other fighting game developers making new games, too. I’m excited.”
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