Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 producer Masayuki Hirano has admitted that bringing over every playable character from Xenoverse 2 is going to be a challenge due to the new engine, which might mean some cuts to the roster.

If there's one thing that Dragon Ball games have made a name for themselves for, it's their ridiculously massive rosters. Considering transformations and variants from different eras are often so distinct that they count as their own slot, a good number of Dragon Ball games have character numbers that go well over a hundred.

While Sparking Zero still takes the cake overall, the Xenoverse games are no strangers to having a ton of playable fighters, with Xenoverse 2 featuring around 138 characters if you count transformations, and just over 250 including all the different variants with unique moves. You might want to keep expectations in check for all of them being featured in Xenoverse 3, however.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3's New Engine Means Bringing Over Every Character Will Be A "Challenge"

Never Say Never, But You Should Probably Expect Some Cuts

Earlier this week, Noisy Pixel published an interview with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3's producer, Masayuki Hirano, which shared some interesting tidbits about the game's setting and the expectations around finally getting a sequel to a game that's been running for nearly a decade. Those expectations include a massive roster, with many fans expecting absolutely everyone to return.

In response to that, Hirano noted that while the first two entries in the series shared the "same core engine", the team rebuilt it for Xenoverse 3, which goes some way to explaining why the third game has taken so long. With that in mind, Hirano notes that bringing back every single character is going to be a "challenge", especially with everything else the sequel is aiming to do.

To be fair, Xenoverse has always been more about your custom character anyway, so a slightly cut-down roster shouldn't be that big a deal, especially if we still get the abilities of whoever's missing.

It's worth noting that Hirano didn't outright say that Xenoverse 3's roster is going to be trimmed down compared to XV2, and just expressed how difficult recreating everything for the new engine will be. It's still worth keeping your expectations in check if you're expecting to see a strict one-to-one ratio of characters, as it's pretty clear that Xenoverse 3 is more interested in bringing a new start for the series.

As for who might not end up making it, I'd wager that most characters are probably going to have a lot less variants than before, as they really went overboard for Xenoverse 2. Beyond that, there's not really anyone who jumps out as an obvious cut, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens in the final game.

Like Follow Followed

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3

Action RPG Action RPG Adventure Fighting Systems Released 2027 ESRB Rating Pending Developer(s) Dimps Publisher(s) Bandai Namco Entertainment Prequel(s) Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Dragon Ball Xenoverse Franchise Dragon Ball , Dragon Ball Z
Where to play Close

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
Genre(s) Action, RPG, Action RPG, Adventure, Fighting Powered by Expand Collapse Next

From Super Saiyan Hairstyles To Soul Switching, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 Is Changing Far More Than You Might Think

I recently had a hands-off preview of Xenoverse 3, and it's already looking like a massive leap forward for the series.

Posts By  George Foster