# V2 Partner-IP Rights Strategy Status: planning baseline, adopted 2026-06-12. Fills the licensing-feasibility gap identified by `V1_V7_PLAN_SET_AUDIT_2026-06-12.md` §6.2 ("no licensing-feasibility analysis for the commercially unprecedented premise"). Scope: the launch-roster requirement of ≥ 60 fighters including ≥ 12 partner-IP fighters licensed individually (`V2/V2_features.md:1021-1022`; `V2/ue/Source/V2Combat/Private/V2LaunchRosterData.cpp:563-564`). The canonical roster catalog (`V2LaunchRosterData.cpp:609-626`) names 18 partner-IP fighters across four rightsholders: | Rightsholder | Characters in catalog | License tags | | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | | Capcom | Ryu, Ken Masters, Chun-Li, Cammy | `License.PartnerIP.Capcom.*` | | SNK (EGDC) | Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami | `License.PartnerIP.SNK.*` | | Warner Bros. / NetherRealm | Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Liu Kang, Kitana | `License.PartnerIP.WB.*` | | Bandai Namco | Jin Kazama, Kazuya Mishima, King, Nina Williams, Mitsurugi | `License.PartnerIP.BandaiNamco.*` | Owner-roles used below: **BD** = Head of Business Development (deal lead), **GC** = General Counsel, **EP** = Executive Producer (approval pipeline), **BMD** = Brand & Marketing Director, **RDL** = Roster Design Lead. --- ## 1. The structural problem with V2's ask Every successful character-licensing precedent in fighting games is a **guest shot**: one or two characters, framed as a marketing event, in a game that does not substitute for the lender's own product. V2's ask is categorically different on three axes: 1. **Volume.** 4-5 characters per franchise — effectively each franchise's iconic core cast, not a guest. 2. **Substitution.** V2 explicitly ships an MK-feel ruleset, an SF-feel ruleset, a Tekken-feel ruleset, a KOF-adjacent striking system, and an SC-feel weapon ruleset (`V2/V2_features.md:433` "seven first-class rulesets"). A player who owns V2-with-Scorpion-in-an-MK-ruleset has less reason to buy Mortal Kombat. No rightsholder has ever licensed its core cast into a direct genre substitute. 3. **Simultaneity.** Capcom, SNK, WB, and Bandai Namco are competitors; appearing together outside Smash requires each to accept co-billing with rivals in a product none of them controls. Conclusion up front: **the all-deals-executed scenario is the upside case, not the plan of record.** The plan of record is the all-original fallback roster (§5) with partner-IP slots converted to post-launch DLC as deals close. ## 2. Per-rightsholder analysis ### 2.1 SNK (owned ~96% by EGDC / Savvy Games Group) **Posture: most permissive licensor in the genre.** Outbound precedents: Terry Bogard playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2019); Terry (2024) and Mai (2025) playable in **Street Fighter 6** — i.e., SNK has already licensed its leads into a directly competing 1v1 fighting game made by Capcom; Mai Shiranui playable in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round and DOA6 (Koei Tecmo); long SNK-vs-Capcom co-licensing history in both directions; frequent mobile collab licensing. SNK treats outbound appearances as marketing for KOF/Fatal Fury and its new ownership is actively investing in franchise visibility. - **Probability (planning assumption adopted 2026-06-12, derived from the precedent density above):** full 4-character slate **35-50%**; at least Terry + Mai **55-65%**. - **Deal shape expectation:** per-character MG against revenue share; strong approval rights on move fidelity (Power Geyser, Musou no Mai etc. must read correctly) and on Mai's costume treatment per regional ratings. - **Watch item:** EGDC parentage means deal approval may route through Savvy Games Group; build 8-12 weeks of extra legal latency into the timeline. ### 2.2 Capcom **Posture: prolific, precedent-rich, protective of move fidelity.** Outbound precedents: Ryu and Ken playable in Smash Ultimate; **Ryu and Chun-Li playable as DLC in Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (2021)** — the single most relevant precedent, because nWay is a third-party studio and the game is a tag fighter, proving Capcom will put SF leads into someone else's fighting game; Ryu, Chun-Li, Cammy and Guile cosmetic skins in Fortnite (2021); Street Fighter x Tekken (2012) licensing exchange with Namco; broad merchandising and collab program. Capcom also takes inbound guests (SNK characters into SF6), demonstrating institutional comfort with crossover paper in both directions. - **Probability (planning assumption adopted 2026-06-12):** full 4-character slate **20-30%**; a 2-character package (Ryu + Chun-Li, mirroring Battle for the Grid) **35-45%**. Discount vs SNK because SF6 is mid-lifecycle and V2's SF-feel ruleset (unsmoothed motion inputs, Drive-like meters, `V2/V2_features.md:444`) is a closer substitute than any prior licensee. - **Deal shape expectation:** Capcom historically demands granular approvals (model, animation timing of signature moves, VO casting — Ryu's seiyuu continuity matters) and marketing-asset approval on every use. ### 2.3 Bandai Namco **Posture: selective; lends to Nintendo, hoards elsewhere; SC cast almost never leaves home.** Outbound precedents: Kazuya playable in Smash Ultimate (2021); Heihachi playable in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (2012); Street Fighter x Tekken licensed the Tekken cast to Capcom in 2012 — but the reciprocal Tekken x Street Fighter was frozen indefinitely, a signed deal between two willing publishers that still never shipped, which is the cautionary precedent for multi-year crossover execution risk. Soulcalibur is an **inbound-guest** franchise (Link, Spawn, Yoda/Vader, Ezio, Geralt, 2B); Mitsurugi has effectively never been licensed out. Tekken 8 is live and annually monetized; V2's Tekken-feel ruleset with juggles and stage breaks (`V2/V2_features.md:454`) is a direct substitute. - **Probability (planning assumption adopted 2026-06-12):** full 5-character slate **10-20%**; a 1-2 character Tekken package **20-30%**; Mitsurugi specifically **< 10%**. - **Leverage option:** offer a reciprocal — a V2 original fighter licensed into Tekken 8 as a guest — plus esports co-promotion. Bandai Namco's Tekken leadership has historically valued reciprocity and personal-relationship deals; route the approach through the Tekken brand custodians, not only corporate licensing. ### 2.4 Warner Bros. / NetherRealm **Posture: imports guests, exports almost nothing.** NRS games are built on inbound guest licensing (Kratos, Freddy Krueger, Predator, Terminator, Joker, Spawn, RoboCop, Rambo, Homelander, Omni-Man...), but MK's own cast has **never been playable in a fighting game WB did not publish**. The only notable outbound use is the Sub-Zero cosmetic skin in Fortnite (2021) — a non-competing genre, cosmetic-only. Scorpion/Sub-Zero appearances otherwise stay inside WB products (Injustice, MultiVersus). MK is one of WB Games' few dependable franchises; post-2023 WB restructuring has made games licensing more conservative, not less. V2's MK-feel ruleset **with fatalities** (`V2/V2_TODOS.md` §16) is the most direct substitution threat in the whole ask. - **Probability (planning assumption adopted 2026-06-12):** any playable MK character at V2 launch **< 5%**; post-launch DLC once V2 has a demonstrated market and WB sees incremental revenue rather than substitution, **10-15%**. - **Realistic path:** a corporate-level WB Games deal (likely bundled with film/TV cross-promotion) negotiated **after** V2 ships and proves an audience. Plan zero WB characters in the launch window. ### 2.5 Joint probability and what it means Treating the four negotiations as approximately independent (they are not fully — an executed SNK deal raises the others, see §3), the probability that **all four full slates** close in time for launch is on the order of 0.45 × 0.25 × 0.15 × 0.05 ≈ **0.1%**, and even the "any three" scenarios sit below 5%. The probability of **at least one meaningful package** (SNK 2+ or Capcom 2+) by launch is usefully high (~55-70%). Planning assumption adopted 2026-06-12, derived by multiplying the per-rightsholder midpoints above. **Therefore the catalog's `MinimumPartnerIPFighterCount = 12` (`V2LaunchRosterData.cpp:564`) is not a plannable launch commitment.** It must be reclassified as an aspiration tied to the fallback in §5, and the catalog validation must accept the all-original configuration (tracked as a follow-on TODO for the roster validator; this document does not change code). ## 3. Sequencing strategy Pursue deals in **descending probability order** so each close becomes social proof and a market-rate anchor for the next: 1. **SNK first** (start immediately; target term sheet within 2 quarters). Most willing, sets the precedent that V2 is a legitimate licensee, and establishes the royalty/MG anchor on the friendliest terms. Terry + Mai is the minimum viable package. 2. **Capcom second** (open informally in parallel, push to paper only after SNK signs). Capcom licensing SNK characters into SF6 means Capcom already validated the "rival cast in my fighter" logic — replay their own precedent back to them. Target Ryu + Chun-Li as the package floor. 3. **Bandai Namco third** (after at least one of the above signs). Lead with the reciprocity offer (§2.3). Accept a Tekken-only package; treat Mitsurugi/SC as a Year-2 conversation. 4. **WB last and opportunistic.** Do not gate anything on WB. Re-open at launch + 6 months with sales data. All approaches are owned by **BD** with **GC** on paper and **EP** on the approval-pipeline commitments. No outreach references the other negotiations by name until at least one deal is executed (confidentiality terms will be asymmetric; assume each rightsholder demands MFN-style price protection — **GC** to cap MFN clauses to same-franchise-size packages). ## 4. Cost structure expectations All figures are planning assumptions adopted 2026-06-12, derived from analogous entertainment/character licensing structures (brand-licensing royalty norms of 8-15% of wholesale, scaled up for playable-character scope which carries likeness + moveset + VO + music rights) and from the observable structure of guest-character DLC pricing in the genre. No figure below is a quoted market price; each deal will set its own. | Component | Expected range | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | Per-character minimum guarantee (MG) | $250k - $1.5M | Recoupable against royalties; marquee names (Ryu, Scorpion) at the top of the band, secondary cast lower. | | Royalty on directly attributable revenue (DLC character sales, character-specific cosmetics) | 15-30% of net receipts | Attribution is clean only if partner-IP fighters are sold as DLC line items — a strong reason the fallback (§5) is also the cleaner commercial structure. | | Base-roster inclusion (no separate SKU) | Flat fee 1.5-3× the MG band | Avoid: revenue attribution against a $69.99 bundle invites audit disputes. Prefer DLC structure. | | Approval overhead | 1 FTE producer + 2-4 week approval latency per milestone per rightsholder | Model, moveset, VO casting, marketing materials, ratings submissions all require sign-off. Budget 4 approval milestones per character. | | Term | 3-5 years, renewal options, sunset/removal clause | Removal is technically supported: per-fighter asset chunking already specced (`V2/V2_features.md:2545-2546`) means a lapsed character can be delisted without repacking the game. | | Audit rights | Annual, rightsholder-paid unless variance > 5% | Standard. | Budget envelope if the SNK + Capcom packages (6 characters) close: 6 × $750k average MG = **$4.5M** in guarantees plus ~**$600k/yr** in approval and producer overhead — material but small against the production envelope in `content-production-model.md` §6. Licensing cost is **not** the constraint; willingness is. ## 5. Fallback plan of record: all-original launch roster The catalog already contains **42 original fighters** (`V2LaunchRosterData.cpp:567-608`). The fallback adds **18 originals** to reach the 60-fighter bar (`V2/V2_features.md:1021`) with zero partner IP. ### 5.1 Archetype-slot preservation The 18 partner-IP entries occupy archetype slots cycling through all 12 archetypes (Striker, Grappler, Zoner, Rushdown, Powerhouse, Technical, WeaponMaster, SubmissionSpecialist, Aerial, CounterFighter, StanceSwitcher, Hybrid — per `V2LaunchRosterData.cpp:609-626`). Each replacement original is authored **into the identical archetype slot** so `RequiredArchetypes` coverage and the per-archetype balance matrix are unchanged. Resulting distribution: 60 fighters = exactly **5 per archetype** (42 originals already give 3-4 per archetype; the 18 backfills top each archetype to 5). ### 5.2 Style-pool preservation The style-locked move pools (`V2/V2_features.md:1040-1042`: Wrestling ≥ 80, Martial Arts ≥ 80, Kickboxing ≥ 60, Streetfighting ≥ 60, Submissions ≥ 50, Weapon styles ≥ 40 each) are populated by original move data and do not depend on any licensed character. Each backfill fighter draws from the same style pool the displaced partner-IP fighter would have exercised, so pool coverage and CAW/CAM move availability (`V2/V2_features.md:1040`) are unaffected. Slot-by-slot replacement plan (fighter names to be authored by **RDL**; design briefs below are the planning commitment): | Displaced slot | Archetype slot (per catalog) | Backfill design brief (style pool) | | --- | --- | --- | | Capcom.Ryu | WeaponMaster | Wandering swordsage; iaido weapon style (Weapon pool) | | Capcom.Ken | SubmissionSpecialist | Flashy catch-wrestling celebrity (Submissions pool) | | Capcom.ChunLi | Aerial | Acrobatic kicking specialist, aerial loops (Kickboxing pool) | | Capcom.Cammy | CounterFighter | Special-forces counter-striker (Martial Arts pool) | | SNK.Terry | StanceSwitcher | Street-brawler with momentum stances (Streetfighting pool) | | SNK.Mai | Hybrid | Fan-dancer kunoichi, fire props (Weapon + Martial Arts pools) | | SNK.Kyo | Striker | Pyro-fist heir, short-range pressure (Martial Arts pool) | | SNK.Iori | Grappler | Rival clan claw-grappler (Streetfighting pool) | | WB.Scorpion | Zoner | Chain-and-sickle revenant, mid-screen snare (Weapon pool) | | WB.SubZero | Rushdown | Cryomancer-analog with slide pressure (Martial Arts pool) | | WB.Raiden | Powerhouse | Storm-priest, heavy palm strikes (Martial Arts pool) | | WB.LiuKang | Technical | Tournament monk, precise cancels (Kickboxing pool) | | WB.Kitana | WeaponMaster | Twin war-fan royal (Weapon pool) | | BandaiNamco.Jin | SubmissionSpecialist | Cursed-bloodline judoka (Submissions pool) | | BandaiNamco.Kazuya | Aerial | Launch-and-juggle patriarch analog (Martial Arts pool) | | BandaiNamco.King | CounterFighter | Masked luchador counter-grappler (Wrestling pool) | | BandaiNamco.Nina | StanceSwitcher | Assassin with stance chains (Submissions + Kickboxing pools) | | BandaiNamco.Mitsurugi | Hybrid | Ronin duelist (Weapon pool) | ### 5.3 Legal-distinctiveness review Every backfill brief above is an **archetype/style replacement, not a clone**. Mandatory review (**GC** + **RDL**, recorded per fighter in `V2/balance/fighters//signature-checklist.md` per `V2/V2_features.md:1064-1066`): no protected trade dress (silhouettes, signature costumes, color-and-mask combinations), no protectable move names, no audio soundalikes of protected catchphrases, no likeness of real persons. Inspiration at the archetype level (a fireball zoner, a chain zoner) is genre vocabulary; expression-level copying is forbidden and is checked before concept art leaves the building. ### 5.4 Partner-IP as post-launch DLC When a deal closes post-launch, the licensed character ships as a paid DLC chunk (clean royalty attribution per §4), occupying a **61st+ roster slot** — the backfill original is never removed. Catalog `MinimumPartnerIPFighterCount` applies only to the aspirational configuration and must not gate the fallback build. ### 5.5 Production-cost note The 18 backfill originals cost ~18 person-months each (`content-production-model.md` §5) = **324 person-months (~27 person-years)** — roughly the same as ingesting 18 licensed characters, since licensed characters still need full V2-pipeline art/anim/VO plus approval overhead. The fallback is cost-neutral; it removes deal risk, not work. ## 6. The gate (binding) **No partner-IP character ships in any marketing material, store asset, trailer, playtest build, or release build unless an executed license is recorded in `V2/legal/`.** Mechanics: 1. Executed licenses are recorded at `V2/legal/licenses/-.md` (counterparty, term, territory, MG/royalty summary, approval contacts, sunset date), owned by **GC**, reviewed quarterly alongside the existing registries (`V2/legal/platform-cert-bans.json`, `V2/legal/rating-boards.json`). 2. A build-time validation gate cross-references every roster entry whose origin is `PartnerIP` (license tags `License.PartnerIP.*` in `V2LaunchRosterData.cpp:609-626`) against the records in `V2/legal/licenses/`. Any `PartnerIP` entry without a matching executed record **fails the cook** for shipping configurations and fails the doc validator for marketing-asset manifests. Owner: **EP** (gate wiring), **GC** (record truth). 3. Marketing sign-off checklist (**BMD**) includes the same cross-reference; no key art, trailer, or store listing clears review with an unlicensed partner-IP character visible. 4. Until at least one record exists in `V2/legal/licenses/`, all public materials use the fallback roster of §5 exclusively. This gate is fail-closed by design: absent paper, the character does not exist.