While Sega offered a variety of details pertaining to its upcoming release Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown yesterday, one aspect of the game went mysteriously unspoken: the all-important netcode. The silence has been deafening, as Ultimate Showdown is a title that has been literally designed specifically for competition, thus a stable online experience is a must.
In an email to Kotaku, Sega has stated that Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown will use delay-based netcode technology adapted from 2012 release Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, essentially using decade-plus-old technology to run the remake in an online capacity. The news has caused Virtua Spit-Takes from fans, who were hoping for more precise tech — such as the much-vaunted "rollback" — to make an appearance. Honestly, I wasn't expecting rollback netcode at all, but I was at least expecting freshly built technology.
