Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image Credit: Skybound Games I’ll admit, I was skeptical of Invincible VS . Not because it looked particularly bad or anything, but because I feel we already have too many fighting games in the esports scene already. However, my mind was completely changed at Evo Vegas 2026 .
First, I had the opportunity to play the game, which I hadn’t had time to do since it came out in April 2026. This included two upcoming characters, The Immortal and Universa. It was surprisingly fun. It felt fluid, fast, bloody, and insanely satisfying.
I was then able to speak with Lead Combat Designer “Bau” Bautista and Game Director Dave Hall . And they had such a refreshing plan for the esports scene that I now not only believe in the game, but want Invincible VS to be the next big fighting game title.
Image Credit: Skybound Games The biggest titles in the FGC often share a massive issue: a disconnection to the community itself. While most gamers don’t expect developers to communicate openly and candidly with them (though devs have become better), it’s extremely important in the fighting game scene particularly.
And you’ve seen the consequences. Tekken 8 almost died, its esports scene decimated , when developers released Season 2. And then refused to really fix it at the time . 2XKO didn’t bother to truly understand the FGC and instead attempted to go mainstream, resulting in mass layoffs and a questionable future in the scene .
But the Invincible VS team is going at the development process quite differently. The same team also worked on Killer Instinct in 2013, and realized that the community is a huge part of the process back then.
Said Bau: “As much as we know about combat, fighting games are such a community… There’s so much involved. Getting perspective, feedback, and working with players and the community as a whole [is so important].
“They’re so knowledgeable. It would be silly not to pay attention and leverage that as much as possible.”
They are taking the same approach for Invincible VS. Hall told me that the community has been very active and there’s an ongoing feedback loop with the players. If gamers notice a bug, the team will announce an incoming hot patch. By being so involved with the community, the dev team knows exactly what’s going on in the game and how and when to adjust things.
This explains why the gameplay is so intoxicating. It was created for the fighting game scene by fighting game enthusiasts. The team is made up of passionate fighting game players who listen to the passionate fighting game players within the community. Their input matters. Their ideas are implemented.
The result? A game that stands out amongst all the newcomers in the FGC. There are so many tag combat games coming out, but Invincible stands out for its brutality ( “We love exploding people,” Hall told me), its fast-paced, high-action gameplay, quick movement, and active tag team system. The open-ended combo system is also a game-changer.
While playing the game, I felt like I could catch on immediately…