Soul Calibur: Lost Swords' lack of multiplayer finally explained

Soul Calibur: Lost Swords doesn't have multiplayer mode, and that's quite odd for a series founded on 2D competitive fighting games. Namco Bandai has finally explained the rationale behind this odd move in a new interview.

Missed the Soul Calibur: Lost Swords launch trailer? Hit the link friends.

It's a free-to-play game for PS3 that - naturally - comes with microtransactions. They're geared towards pay-to-win, which is seen as a big no-no in PvP titles so that's, essentially, why Lost Swords has no multiplayer.

Speaking with Siliconera, producer Masaaki Hoshin clarified, "The reason that we went singleplayer…well, originally, we were thinking about having a multiplayer option, but because we’re going with a pay-to-win model, we were worried that by having online multiplayer, for all the new users that would be coming in experiencing the game for the first time, they might be immediately deterred by fighting against opponents who had superior equipment and gear—and we didn’t want to have that kind of negative impact on new players.

"In the singleplayer experience, having a pay-to-win structure won’t impede the player’s experience with the game."

Quite. Would you have preferred a competitive free-to-play Soul Calibur in the vein of Tekken Revolution? Let us know below.