Arc System Works Reclaim Guilty Gear Rights - News

by Nicholas Taylor , posted on 25 May 2011 / 3,690 Views

Some gamers may have been confused when the Guilty Gear series suddenly disappeared from the map a few years ago, but there was a clear reason why. Arc System Works, the developers behind the series, didn't have the rights to it. The rights laid with Sammy Corporation, who when they merged with Sega, still kept the rights. This put Arc System Works in a pickle, and lead to them developing BlazBlue instead, since they couldn't develop Guilty Gear.

With some cryptic comments coming up from time to time, courtesy of series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari, where he mentions that they haven't forgotten about Guilty Gear and saying that there will be a new game in the series "eventually", fans have kept hope alive.

Now, that hope may pay off, as Arc System Works have just filed a trademark for Guilty Gear, which wouldn't be possible if Sega Sammy Holdings still held the rights to the series. Speculation would suggest that Arc System Works have purchased the rights directly from Sega Sammy Holdings. Now that they have regained the rights for this series, it looks very likely that Guilty Gear may see the light of day once more.

7 Comments

XanderZane (on 25 May 2011)

This is great news. I wonder if we'll ever see a BlazBlu -vs- Guilty Gear crossover? That would be tight. I love both series and I'm glad they got the rights back.

thetonestarr (on 25 May 2011)

Guilty Gear hasn't fallen off the map, though. There have been two titles released within the past few years - and the last one was in '09. That's not THAT long ago.

NoirSon (on 25 May 2011)

It will probably be a good while before we see a legit GG game. Updating the sprite graphics of a game with that many characters and effects isn't easy.

The King of Fighter series is a sad testament to that.