Were It Went Wrong

[DivinexPhantom]

First off, it was a new Bleach game — and there hasn’t been one in years. Expectations were massive. The devs had to build everything from scratch: new character models, unique movesets and animations, sound design, voice acting, plus dealing with licensing issues. On top of that, they tackled a huge scope by covering the entire story up to the final Aizen fight — an ambitious goal for a first entry.

Given all that, it’s pretty clear where the time and budget went. Most of the effort went into the story mode — and honestly, it shows. Just look at the achievements: nearly all of them are tied to story progress or using Soul Crystals, a feature barely anyone even uses. That suggests the devs didn’t playtest that system much and assumed everyone would engage with it, hence the achievement focus.

Then there’s the online mode — no ranked, tiny two-player lobbies, no spectator options, and no achievements besides “Crazy Cracked” for landing a 20-hit combo. It feels like the online portion was rushed out with the bare minimum just to get it into the game. Either that, or the devs genuinely believed players only wanted casual matches with a friend or random opponent every now and then using Soul Crystals.

And that might actually be the case — because when the devs finally responded to feedback, they said they were considering ranked mode. Not developing it. Not planning it. Just thinking about whether or not they want to. That kind of response tells you a lot about where their priorities were during development.
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(What Should’ve Been Done)

I’ve played dozens of arena fighters over the years, and in every single one, the campaign is a one-and-done deal. Once it’s finished, it’s barely ever touched again. Even in games where I’ve racked up 600+ hours, the campaign usually takes less than 20 of those hours — that’s it. The rest is spent in ranked modes, lobbies with friends, or online tournaments.

So if the goal was long-term success, the devs should’ve done the opposite: prioritize building a deep and meaningful fighting system first, with tons of online content, multiple modes, proper netcode, and strong competitive infrastructure. Then, use whatever time and resources were left to create a short but polished campaign.

Fighting games aren’t about campaigns — they’re about fighting, skill expression, and community. Sure, some people would’ve complained about a short story mode, but the core players would’ve stuck around. The game would’ve had a strong foundation that could’ve lasted for years and led to sequels where they could build upon and expand that foundation.

Now we’re down to barely 600 peak players just a month after release. I genuinely hope future patches and ranked mode are enough to turn the game’s life cycle around. If not, I guess I’ll just have to wait for Demon Slayer 2.

[HazeX2]

Nah, they should have a lot of offline stuff as the priority. Fans of these anime series are stuck with fighting games and not everyone plays online, especially if a really tedious meta develops

[@Shinigani No KageTTV]

what went wrong is me being a dumb ass and buying this game i,m finishing the story then uninstalling i'm done with bandai they used bleaches ip to push the game but if this was any other show the game would've been dead or never even got passed 1000 players.

[Xcharles]

Originally posted by @Shinigani No KageTTV:

what went wrong is me being a dumb ass and buying this game i,m finishing the story then uninstalling i'm done with bandai they used bleaches ip to push the game but if this was any other show the game would've been dead or never even got passed 1000 players.

stop lying seriously

[Xcharles]

Originally posted by DivinexPhantom:

First off, it was a new Bleach game — and there hasn’t been one in years. Expectations were massive. The devs had to build everything from scratch: new character models, unique movesets and animations, sound design, voice acting, plus dealing with licensing issues. On top of that, they tackled a huge scope by covering the entire story up to the final Aizen fight — an ambitious goal for a first entry.

Given all that, it’s pretty clear where the time and budget went. Most of the effort went into the story mode — and honestly, it shows. Just look at the achievements: nearly all of them are tied to story progress or using Soul Crystals, a feature barely anyone even uses. That suggests the devs didn’t playtest that system much and assumed everyone would engage with it, hence the achievement focus.

Then there’s the online mode — no ranked, tiny two-player lobbies, no spectator options, and no achievements besides “Crazy Cracked” for landing a 20-hit combo. It feels like the online portion was rushed out with the bare minimum just to get it into the game. Either that, or the devs genuinely believed players only wanted casual matches with a friend or random opponent every now and then using Soul Crystals.

And that might actually be the case — because when the devs finally responded to feedback, they said they were considering ranked mode. Not developing it. Not planning it. Just thinking about whether or not they want to. That kind of response tells you a lot about where their priorities were during development.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(What Should’ve Been Done)

I’ve played dozens of arena fighters over the years, and in every single one, the campaign is a one-and-done deal. Once it’s finished, it’s barely ever touched again. Even in games where I’ve racked up 600+ hours, the campaign usually takes less than 20 of those hours — that’s it. The rest is spent in ranked modes, lobbies with friends, or online tournaments.

So if the goal was long-term success, the devs should’ve done the opposite: prioritize building a deep and meaningful fighting system first, with tons of online content, multiple modes, proper netcode, and strong competitive infrastructure. Then, use whatever time and resources were left to create a short but polished campaign.

Fighting games aren’t about campaigns — they’re about fighting, skill expression, and community. Sure, some people would’ve complained about a short story mode, but the core players would’ve stuck around. The game would’ve had a strong foundation that could’ve lasted for years and led to sequels where they could build upon and expand that foundation.

Now we’re down to barely 600 peak players just a month after release. I genuinely hope future patches and ranked mode are enough to turn the game’s life cycle around. If not, I guess I’ll just have to wait for Demon Slayer 2.

Originally posted by DivinexPhantom:

First off, it was a new Bleach game — and there hasn’t been one in years. Expectations were massive. The devs had to build everything from scratch: new character models, unique movesets and animations, sound design, voice acting, plus dealing with licensing issues. On top of that, they tackled a huge scope by covering the entire story up to the final Aizen fight — an ambitious goal for a first entry.

Given all that, it’s pretty clear where the time and budget went. Most of the effort went into the story mode — and honestly, it shows. Just look at the achievements: nearly all of them are tied to story progress or using Soul Crystals, a feature barely anyone even uses. That suggests the devs didn’t playtest that system much and assumed everyone would engage with it, hence the achievement focus.

Then there’s the online mode — no ranked, tiny two-player lobbies, no spectator options, and no achievements besides “Crazy Cracked” for landing a 20-hit combo. It feels like the online portion was rushed out with the bare minimum just to get it into the game. Either that, or the devs genuinely believed players only wanted casual matches with a friend or random opponent every now and then using Soul Crystals.

And that might actually be the case — because when the devs finally responded to feedback, they said they were considering ranked mode. Not developing it. Not planning it. Just thinking about whether or not they want to. That kind of response tells you a lot about where their priorities were during development.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(What Should’ve Been Done)

I’ve played dozens of arena fighters over the years, and in every single one, the campaign is a one-and-done deal. Once it’s finished, it’s barely ever touched again. Even in games where I’ve racked up 600+ hours, the campaign usually takes less than 20 of those hours — that’s it. The rest is spent in ranked modes, lobbies with friends, or online tournaments.

So if the goal was long-term success, the devs should’ve done the opposite: prioritize building a deep and meaningful fighting system first, with tons of online content, multiple modes, proper netcode, and strong competitive infrastructure. Then, use whatever time and resources were left to create a short but polished campaign.

Fighting games aren’t about campaigns — they’re about fighting, skill expression, and community. Sure, some people would’ve complained about a short story mode, but the core players would’ve stuck around. The game would’ve had a strong foundation that could’ve lasted for years and led to sequels where they could build upon and expand that foundation.

Now we’re down to barely 600 peak players just a month after release. I genuinely hope future patches and ranked mode are enough to turn the game’s life cycle around. If not, I guess I’ll just have to wait for Demon Slayer 2.

what went wrong is the game being badly optimized at launch besides that everything you said is a lie and if you think hinokami will be any better then im sorry to say you are ignorant

[HazeX2]

Originally posted by Xcharles:

what went wrong is the game being badly optimized at launch

I like the game. They fixed some bugs and crashes, but it's still badly optimized.

[Xcharles]

Originally posted by HazeX2:

Originally posted by Xcharles:

what went wrong is the game being badly optimized at launch

I like the game. They fixed some bugs and crashes, but it's still badly optimized.

not in a unplyable state anymore

[HazeX2]

Originally posted by Xcharles:

Originally posted by HazeX2:

I like the game. They fixed some bugs and crashes, but it's still badly optimized.

not in a unplyable state anymore

I didn't say it was unplayable. I said it was badly optimized, which is true, even after updates.

[Xcharles]

Originally posted by HazeX2:

Originally posted by Xcharles:

not in a unplyable state anymore

I didn't say it was unplayable. I said it was badly optimized, which is true, even after updates.

disagree but ok

[HazeX2]

Originally posted by Xcharles:

Originally posted by HazeX2:

I didn't say it was unplayable. I said it was badly optimized, which is true, even after updates.

disagree but ok

I would understand if we were talking about whether the game is good/fun, but this is not something to disagree on. It's an undeniable fact. Even people with good PCs are struggling to run this game at full speed.

You've gotta understand how bad this is for someone like me, playing on Steam Deck. You could even play Sparking Zero at 60 FPS if you tinkered with the engine.ini, this game doesn't have anything like that so far.

[Susi_Meow]

Though I do agree with you to a point, I do not think your take is not entirely fair.

The combat system is very unique and actually has a surprising amount of depth to it for what it is. characters have entirely unique pushback on block (which is weird), guard gauges, awakening meters, jab start ups, mechanical gimmicks, yada yada... They have clearly been designed with a good amount of thought in mind for example their access to frame traps, chad and grantz has no access to step or breaker mix from their normals, but are also the characters who have precise timing windows all the moves to create frame traps in their strings ... I do not think that was accidental.

They clearly put effort into the system and I do not think they were just lazy with it and focused on story mode, whether or not they were successful in making a good combat system is a different debate all together but I do think they clearly put the time and effort they had into it.

"KILL A KILL -IF" which Arc Sys published and contributed too which was an arena fighter that focused most of its energy on the things you listed with very limited single player experience, was basically dead on arrival, and has sold half of what Bleach sold in its first five days... and that was coming off the back of the success of DBFz.
Sparking Zero has sold more then SF6 and I think its fair to say SF has better competitive leaning infrastructure. There is a lot of power in the Intellectual property and unlike DBz, Bleach has never been a home run when it comes to selling games hence why its been so long.

So I just think its complicated and there are a lot of factors that extend father then just what the devs should have done.
An "arena fighter" will always find itself in a strange spot when it comes to its target audience, in essence they are fighting games but most of their audience are not fighting game players and most fighting game players will not touch them regardless of how good the combat system is.
So they have to appeal to the people who just want to play the anime, if they don't they will sadly almost certainly fail.
This comment section demonstrates the divide in the player base of these games pretty well and how Anime fans and fighting game players are both impossible to please. Even if you only have to deal with one demographic because they are both very temperamental groups of people who have very niche tastes even just within their hobby of choice.

Its a tough one and I personally think they did a good job all things considered, not in the games optimizing for PC, choosing to not implement ranked and the lack of rollback netcode that is a complete mess, but the game itself is pretty fun.
I have not watched Bleach, I have not spent 1 second in story mode, I do not generally like arena fighters but I try them all out and this is a lot better then most arena fighters and the only other bleach game that could compete with this is "Bleach dark souls" on the Nintendo DS. But I guess that is all just down to personal taste.

Not saying one should not criticize or they couldnt have done better just saying I'm sure they probably wanted everything you listed also but it did not work out that way for whatever reason.

[KnucklesX2]

I don't even think this game sold well, it fell off all the charts after a week. Maybe 400K max

[Xcharles]

Originally posted by KnucklesX2:

I don't even think this game sold well, it fell off all the charts after a week. Maybe 400K max

if you dont think thats not selling well again you are an ignorant

[Xcharles]

Originally posted by Susi_Meow:

Though I do agree with you to a point, I do not think your take is not entirely fair.

The combat system is very unique and actually has a surprising amount of depth to it for what it is. characters have entirely unique pushback on block (which is weird), guard gauges, awakening meters, jab start ups, mechanical gimmicks, yada yada... They have clearly been designed with a good amount of thought in mind for example their access to frame traps, chad and grantz has no access to step or breaker mix from their normals, but are also the characters who have precise timing windows all the moves to create frame traps in their strings ... I do not think that was accidental.

They clearly put effort into the system and I do not think they were just lazy with it and focused on story mode, whether or not they were successful in making a good combat system is a different debate all together but I do think they clearly put the time and effort they had into it.

"KILL A KILL -IF" which Arc Sys published and contributed too which was an arena fighter that focused most of its energy on the things you listed with very limited single player experience, was basically dead on arrival, and has sold half of what Bleach sold in its first five days... and that was coming off the back of the success of DBFz.
Sparking Zero has sold more then SF6 and I think its fair to say SF has better competitive leaning infrastructure. There is a lot of power in the Intellectual property and unlike DBz, Bleach has never been a home run when it comes to selling games hence why its been so long.

So I just think its complicated and there are a lot of factors that extend father then just what the devs should have done.
An "arena fighter" will always find itself in a strange spot when it comes to its target audience, in essence they are fighting games but most of their audience are not fighting game players and most fighting game players will not touch them regardless of how good the combat system is.
So they have to appeal to the people who just want to play the anime, if they don't they will sadly almost certainly fail.
This comment section demonstrates the divide in the player base of these games pretty well and how Anime fans and fighting game players are both impossible to please. Even if you only have to deal with one demographic because they are both very temperamental groups of people who have very niche tastes even just within their hobby of choice.

Its a tough one and I personally think they did a good job all things considered, not in the games optimizing for PC, choosing to not implement ranked and the lack of rollback netcode that is a complete mess, but the game itself is pretty fun.
I have not watched Bleach, I have not spent 1 second in story mode, I do not generally like arena fighters but I try them all out and this is a lot better then most arena fighters and the only other bleach game that could compete with this is "Bleach dark souls" on the Nintendo DS. But I guess that is all just down to personal taste.

Not saying one should not criticize or they couldnt have done better just saying I'm sure they probably wanted everything you listed also but it did not work out that way for whatever reason.

well said

[Xcharles]

Originally posted by HazeX2:

Originally posted by Xcharles:

disagree but ok

I would understand if we were talking about whether the game is good/fun, but this is not something to disagree on. It's an undeniable fact. Even people with good PCs are struggling to run this game at full speed.

You've gotta understand how bad this is for someone like me, playing on Steam Deck. You could even play Sparking Zero at 60 FPS if you tinkered with the engine.ini, this game doesn't have anything like that so far.

well its minority now

[DivinexPhantom]

Originally posted by Susi_Meow:

Though I do agree with you to a point, I do not think your take is not entirely fair.

The combat system is very unique and actually has a surprising amount of depth to it for what it is. characters have entirely unique pushback on block (which is weird), guard gauges, awakening meters, jab start ups, mechanical gimmicks, yada yada... They have clearly been designed with a good amount of thought in mind for example their access to frame traps, chad and grantz has no access to step or breaker mix from their normals, but are also the characters who have precise timing windows all the moves to create frame traps in their strings ... I do not think that was accidental.

That’s a fair point. I’ve been labbing the characters too, and I agree there’s a solid system underneath — and I’ll admit the game is fun to play in free battles. There’s clearly thought put into some of the mechanics.

But at the same time, you can’t deny the actual combos themselves are pretty barebones. Some characters, like Kenpachi, feel almost unplayable with only one or two real combo routes. Even compared to something like Naruto Storm — which people always call a simple, brain-dead button masher — that game at least had a basic three-string combo system. This doesn’t even have that, which really limits variety and makes some characters feel half-finished.

Originally posted by Susi_Meow:

They clearly put effort into the system and I do not think they were just lazy with it and focused on story mode, whether or not they were successful in making a good combat system is a different debate all together but I do think they clearly put the time and effort they had into it.

"KILL A KILL -IF" which Arc Sys published and contributed too which was an arena fighter that focused most of its energy on the things you listed with very limited single player experience, was basically dead on arrival, and has sold half of what Bleach sold in its first five days... and that was coming off the back of the success of DBFz. Sparking Zero has sold more then SF6 and I think its fair to say SF has better competitive leaning infrastructure. There is a lot of power in the Intellectual property and unlike DBz, Bleach has never been a home run when it comes to selling games hence why its been so long.

I think that’s largely due to Kill la Kill itself. I’m not sure how popular the series really is — I know I never liked it personally, and it’s also pretty old now. That likely had a big impact on the game’s performance.

As for Sparking Zero, the game’s already basically dead at this point, while Street Fighter 6 is still thriving with major esports events and regular updates. Though Sparking Zero also had a rough launch — like Bleach — that might just come down to the difference between the fighting game community and the arena fighter community, rather than IP power alone.

Originally posted by Susi_Meow:

So I just think its complicated and there are a lot of factors that extend father then just what the devs should have done.
An "arena fighter" will always find itself in a strange spot when it comes to its target audience, in essence they are fighting games but most of their audience are not fighting game players and most fighting game players will not touch them regardless of how good the combat system is.
So they have to appeal to the people who just want to play the anime, if they don't they will sadly almost certainly fail.
This comment section demonstrates the divide in the player base of these games pretty well and how Anime fans and fighting game players are both impossible to please. Even if you only have to deal with one demographic because they are both very temperamental groups of people who have very niche tastes even just within their hobby of choice.

Can’t say much here — you’re right, they’re in a tough spot. That’s exactly why I wanted them to innovate and try new things with Bleach to help break out of that middle ground. A lot of people in the FGC actually gave it a shot — some even streamed it because of how unique the concept was, blending an arena fighter with more traditional fighting game elements. And a bunch of community-run tournaments started popping up in Discords — I even participated in one and watched several others, including one with over 500 participants.

But unfortunately, those same communities were met with too many missing features, bugs, and shallow combo options. Most players ended up moving on. That said, the Discords are still active, so there’s definitely still interest. With future patches and key additions like spectator mode and ranked, there’s still a real chance it could turn around.

Originally posted by Susi_Meow:

Its a tough one and I personally think they did a good job all things considered, not in the games optimizing for PC, choosing to not implement ranked and the lack of rollback netcode that is a complete mess, but the game itself is pretty fun.
I have not watched Bleach, I have not spent 1 second in story mode, I do not generally like arena fighters but I try them all out and this is a lot better then most arena fighters and the only other bleach game that could compete with this is "Bleach dark souls" on the Nintendo DS. But I guess that is all just down to personal taste.

Not saying one should not criticize or they couldnt have done better just saying I'm sure they probably wanted everything you listed also but it did not work out that way for whatever reason.

Yeah, maybe I was a bit harsh — it just sucks because Bleach was one of the first anime I watched as a kid, and I really wanted it to succeed. Instead, we’re left with something that feels like a bit of a mess.

While I agree they did a good job in some areas, I think they still missed the mark in a big way overall. That said, it’s still early — and I really do hope they can turn it around with future patches and content updates.