Toei Animation Says That It Has "No Knowledge" of Preventing Dragon Ball FighterZ from Tournaments

DualShockers

Toei Animation Claims It Has "No Knowledge" of Preventing Dragon Ball FighterZ from Tournaments

By Ryan Meitzler

Published Dec 27, 2018

Fan criticism has built over the past several months that Toei Animation may have had a part in preventing Dragon Ball FighterZ from the competitive scene.

As the arguable breakout hit in the fighting game community in 2018 (and for games as a whole this year),Â Dragon Ball FighterZ dominated the conversation at events such as EVO 2018 this year. However, while the game has built up popularity among fighting game enthusiasts, Toei Animation -- the IP-holder toÂ Dragon Ball -- has commented in the building criticisms on why the game hasn't appeared in more fighting game tournaments and events.On the official Toei Animation Twitter account, the company replied that it had "no knowledge about preventing DBFZ tournaments" in response to a fan comment about the apparent "blocking" ofÂ Dragon Ball FighterZ from competitive events:

WhileÂ Dragon Ball FighterZ appeared at EVO this past summer, notably the game was left out of EVO Japan's roster for the tournament coming up in February, alongside the recent newcomerÂ Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

This led to speculation that Dragon Ball FighterZ's lack of appearances at recent fighting game tournaments may be the result of barring from the right holders of theÂ Dragon Ball franchise, which is split between a few different entities such as Bandai Namco, Toei Animation, and Shueisha.

Most fingers with the fighting game community were pointed at Toei Animation, the current license holder forÂ Dragon Ball. This wasn't a complete shot in the dark -- Toei has in the past gotten Japan's Embassy to request that the Mexican Government

Embassy of Japan in Mexico sent a note to a Mexican governor regarding the public airing of Dragon Ball Super's last two eps, asking to suspend it if its illegal because of Toei's author rights.

Where were you when Dragon Ball became the subject of a diplomatic note? pic.twitter.com/Gmn6QcYQR4

— Kaleb (@KalebPrime) March 19, 2018

">block an illegal broadcast ofÂ Dragon Ball SuperÂ from being publicly broadcast in Mexico.

While there is always the possibility that Toei Animation's comment could mostly just be a blanket statement coming from the company's PR-facing side, hopefully we'll see some of the situation regardingÂ Dragon Ball FighterZ's presence in fighting game events change, given its increasing popularity in the FGC scene.

With both Aksys and Toei theoretically out of the question, why isÂ Dragon Ball FighterZÂ being pulled? That is unclear. The best guesses would be related to the game's developer Arc System Works or publisher Bandai Namco. We have reached out to representatives of both companies for comment on the situation.

Dragon Ball FighterZÂ is still listed as an event atÂ ComboÂ Breaker, but weâ€™ll have to see if that tournament follows the same fate. In the meantime,Â Dragon Ball FighterZÂ is currently available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and you can check outÂ the DualShockers review. If you arenâ€™t too concerned about the competitive scene, you canÂ grab the game on AmazonÂ now.