What Dragon Ball FighterZ 2 needs to do — Outside of the gameplay

Just “work,” that’s all we ask

The next biggest issue facing a sequel is the lobby system. This is a problem that Arc System Works in particular that has been a constant struggle. This applies to Guilty Gear Xrd, Blazblue, Persona 4 Arena, Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle, and Granblue Fantasy Versus. All of these Arc System Works games featured increasingly terrible online lobbies.

This all culminated in Guilty Gear Strive, where the lobby was so universally ridiculed that the entire game was delayed to fix it.

Fighting games have always had problems with accessibility. Some of the most successful and popular games today like Fall Guys, Fortnite, and League of Legends all have very simple and easy-to-navigate menus. Most even load up from the get-go with a giant button that just says “play.” Fighting games require this level of simplicity, and a Dragon Ball FighterZ sequel absolutely needs to capitalize on it. The first game’s system asks players to navigate their characters around a small hub filled with additional menus just to get into a match. It’s both time consuming and cumbersome.

As much as people deride Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, it is worth recognizing that the designers pretty much nailed the lobby system and raised the bar for modern fighting games. Other titles like Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid also have great lobby system designs. Lobby systems are not a wheel that needs to be constantly reinvented; it is a solved issue. Dragon Ball FighterZ 2 needs to have an easy to navigate and easy to use menu system where players can quickly find matches or watch others. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. The less time there is between logging into a game and playing a match the better.