Namco did it with Tekken Revolution, Microsoft is doing it for the revamped Killer Instinct, Tecmo is doing it for Dead or Alive, and now, there's one more famed fighter set to follow in all their footsteps.
None other than SoulCalibur is another addition to an increasingly lengthy list of free-to-play fighters. Scans from Weekly Famitsu, seen above, show that SoulCalibur: Lost Swords is currently in development by Namco Bandai, likely due to the success of its first F2P game, Tekken Revolution.
Details are slim, but the game is confirmed as free-to-play according to a translation from Gematsu, and is headed to the PlayStation 3 (possibly as an exclusive) some time in the future.
Looking at the scan, it seems as though there's little to separate Lost Swords from the last game in the series, Soul Calibur V, but that remains to be seen. According to the SoulCalibur wiki, "the game will be "time-limited" where players must purchase tokens in order to continue playing the game beyond its initial demo hours," but no source was given for this particular nugget of information, only that it seems likely given it's the same model currently in use by Tekken Revolution.
Given a recent trademark filing, it's expected the game will be making its way over to stateside, as well as Japan.
"Entertainment, namely, providing a computer game that may be accessed network-wide by network users via mobile phones and computers; providing computer games via network between communications networks and computers." Translation - digital download only, don't count on a physical release.
Whatever the case may be for Lost Swords, there's certainly a market for a new game. The most recent game, SoulCalibur V, arrived to something of a mixed reception. Joystiq, for example, said it's "simultaneously one of the best SoulCalibur games ever made, as well as the worst Soul Calibur game ever made." Still, it has managed to sell close to a million and a half copies since June. Even before the game arrived, it was the subject of a bit of controversy for its...well..."eye catching" advertisements.
We'll keep you posted on this game as more information comes to light.