The SoulCalibur VI reveal during The Game Awards 2017 was, to say the least, a surprise. We haven’t seen a new numbered entry in the series since 2012, and it was thought by many that the epic saga that told the story of two swords was on permanent hiatus. Now, while Bandai Namco’s recent bevy of gameplay trailers have certainly re-ignited interest in the franchise, SoulCalibur VI may still end up being the last SoulCalibur game ever to be released, depending on its success.

During Gamescom 2018, DualShockers had a chance to speak with Producer Motohiro Okubo, who explained that the reason that SoulCalibur VI took so long to become a reality was because the publisher had very low expectations for the franchise. “The first thing is that the IP itself of the SoulCalibur franchise had low expectations from the company,” Okubo said. “It was actually facing a crisis of maybe disappearing. It took time for me to convince the company.”

When asked if the latest game could be the last SoulCalibur ever, Okubo confirmed that that was the case, should it not perform well enough to warrant a sequel.  “We don’t want to blackmail the users by saying that it could be the last one, but as it is, yes.” On the plus side, knowing that there were so little expectations for the game has allowed Okubo and the team a significant amount of freedom in developing SoulCalibur Vi, enough so that the developers felt that they could do what they wanted, since there was very little to lose.

Since the SoulCalibur brand is facing a crisis, we have nothing to lose, so we just decided to do what we want to do.”

Hopefully this line of thinking will help spur the game to be a commercial success. Otherwise, the ‘stage of history’ may be bereft of Voldo and his spiky pelvic thrusting death. SoulCalibur launches for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 19, 2018.

So, thoughts on the woes surrounding the SoulCalibur series? Who is your favorite character? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!