Rematch developer “sorry” to disappointed fans wanting more Sifu, but it had “given everything we had” already

Rematch developer Sloclap admits some of the studio’s fans were “disappointed” by the game’s reveal, because they were expecting more Sifu.

Sloclap released its football game Rematch earlier this year, to plenty of praise. However, it wasn’t what many expected the studio to come up with following its previous release, the kung-fu roguelike, Sifu.

“Some Sifu fans were disappointed when the game was revealed and we’re sorry to say that,” Sloclap creative director Pierre Tarno admitted to GamesRadar+, before adding marketing could have perhaps been a bit better on Rematch’s reveal.

“Because the reveal trailer had a cold open, like ‘from the team behind Sifu’, they were like ‘alright, Sifu 2 incoming’,” Tarno continued. “I’m sorry about that misunderstanding because I think we should have probably, early on, let the Sifu community know that we were about to announce a title and that it would not be Sifu 2, and they shouldn’t be expecting it, just so they didn’t have this disappointment.”

The developer added Sifu was never intended to become the studio’s identity, and it was time for something new. “We did a year and a half of post-launch support for Sifu,” he said. “We felt that we’d really provided and kind of given everything we had on Sifu.” But, at least for the time being, “it was better to let [Sifu] rest”. Sifu ultimately got its last content update in September 2023.

Continuing, Tarno said some players often expect “studios to be doing the exact same genre over and over again”, but that is not the way Slocap approaches things.

“We have a huge opportunity to pursue the creative projects that we are passionate about, and not many developers have that chance. It’s really very rare for developers to be able to do that,” Tarno elaborated. “And then I think players and also media realised that although it was not exactly the same, [the games are] both third-person action games. Both grounded, credible, still epic, with bodies and movement, it’s physicality.”

Tarno said “there is a lineage between the titles”, from Sloclap’s Absolver to Sifu to Rematch. “Our experience making the two previous games is what allowed us to make this one,” the developer closed.

Rematch surpassed 1m sales in its first week on the market, with three million “unique” players also joining the pitch thanks to its inclusion on Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service.

Our Tom was one of those three million Rematch players, and had rather a good old time with it. “I feel like I’ve finally found a competitive online game that I enjoy and can’t stop thinking about,” he wrote in Eurogamer’s Rematch feature. “I love it. In fact I love it despite the fact that a large portion of the player base is the absolute worst kind of person: a ball hog.”

For more, our Connor recently spoke to Tarno about the introduction of crossplay, which remains the “top priority” for Rematch and Sloclap.