SNK CEO Steps Down, Transitions to Advisory Role
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- SNK CEO Kenji Matsubara is stepping down from leadership and transitioning to an advisory role.
- The studio’s recent fighting game, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, was not able to compete with the genre’s heavy-hitters.
- Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves only sold 6,302 copies on PlayStation 5, according to Famitsu.
On May 12, SNK announced that its CEO, Kenji Matsubara, will step down from the role and transition into an advisory role. The studio added that Matsubara, being appointed to an advisory role, will continue to help the studio using his expertise and vision.
“During his tenure as CEO, Mr. Matsubara has been instrumental in driving the company’s growth and innovation. He transformed SNK by expanding its development division and strengthening its sales and marketing functions, building it into a global publisher capable of competing worldwide,” the short note mentioned.
In 2020, the MiSK Foundation, a non-profit organization owned by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, purchased a 33.3% share of SNK. Two years later, The Verge reported that the charity held 96.18% of the studio.
SNK’s recent release is Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. The first game the studio released from the franchise in 26 years. While the initial hype was high, the game failed to compete with the current fighting games dominating the market.
For context, Street Fighter 6 currently has a 24-hour peak of 32,087 players on Steam. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, on the other hand, only has a 24-hour peak of 1,016 players, according to SteamDB.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was released on April 24, 2025, for the PlayStation 4 and 5, PC and Xbox Series X|S. Famitsu, via Vice, reported that the game only sold 6,302 copies on PlayStation 5 within two weeks of its release.
