[quote name='dallow']I'll end the thread now.
Online mode would suck, but it would appease the few. I'd never use it though.
Sega (and Namco) have pride in their fighters, they won't allow a big part of the experience to suck.
So, sorry. No online.[/QUOTE]
you see, there are less hardcore fighting fans than casual ones. so, no online is what appeases the few.
Business decisions aren't so subjective either...if the company decides the game needs to go online, the dev teams need to respond to that, as they are lower in the chain of command. Though devs talk big in interviews, they really don't have as much creative control as they might lead you to believe.
The Japanese are not that in to online gaming to begin with and Sega and Namco get more money from the arcades, so fine tuning it for offline play pays off in Japan. If they ever put 2 and 2 together, they'd see that an online mode would attract American players in a similar fashion, as it would boost sales for the game.
and that's....how it is.