With the recent trend of games as a service becoming the go-to model, with recurring digital updates server-side as opposed to iterative updated releases, I've been concerned over their preservation in future years and generations.
The past several console generations of fighting games have increasingly relied on digital updates and downloadable content, some of which are no longer available. A few examples of this include Mortal Kombat (2011), as Freddy Krueger was sold as DLC and now is no longer available on platforms like Steam due to his inclusion, or Soul Calibur IV due to the Star Wars license for Darth Vader, Yoda and Starkiller. Characters that are no longer available mean the games exist in incomplete forms today, or in the case of games like MK 2011, completely delisted, and will likely become harder to reproduce.
In addition, seeing games like Street Fighter V or Tekken 7, which have multiple seasons of DLC (and in the case of Tekken 7, multiple licensed characters from sources such as The Walking Dead or Final Fantasy XV) both rely on having long-term licenses to distribute and sell these characters in addition the cost of keeping it all online. There will likely come a day where Tekken 7's DLC is delisted much like Soul Calibur IV was, or Street Fighter V's servers are shut down, and because these games store so much more on online storefronts, the act of preserving the games that exist at this current time becomes a greater concern.
This is not slowing down in recent years. Multiversus and Rumbleverse this year alone had end-of-service announcements, with Multiversus under the promise that the servers will come back online in about a year. The 3DS and Wii U digital storefronts also shut down just yesterday, which means games stuck on either platform are now lost unless rereleased or preserved elsewhere. These instances are related, and both highlight how much of this medium can be lost to time.
In spite of this, as old fighting games are more accessible to play online between retro-fit rollback patches or updates, or independent programs which allow rollback over old game emulators, its never been easier to play classics or lesser-known games that were underappreciated in their time. I've discovered so many incredible games with friends because of this, games I've never heard of or particular infamous iterations in long-running series I've never had a chance to try out. Which is why its so frustrating seeing how disposable a lot of fighting games are treated by publishers, older games or iterations are ignored in favor for prioritizing the new release to the point of ending distribution. While many older fighting games on particular platforms were archived and distributed, file sizes will only become more difficult a problem as the years pass by, in addition to many newer fighting games relying more heavily on what is stored on servers, something that also can't be replicated as easily.
That said, its hard to be optimistic about newer fighting games relying on server-side distribution. What the future holds for 7th, 8th and 9th Generations of console games is a mystery due to the emphasis on DLC, if not distributing the games server-side already, and I hope publishers take the steps needed to make sure they're preserved for future generations. Looking at the situation at hand, its clear publishers don't find much an incentive to continue this themselves, so a future where today's big fighting games could be lost tomorrow, as they have already done and will continue to do so.
