SNK adds KOF ’98
SNK World Championship 2026 will include THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’98 as an open tournament, announced at the Evo Awards — a nostalgic move for the fighting‑game community. (x.com) The addition expands SNK’s competitive slate alongside Arrow of Fury 3 (AOF3). (x.com)
SNK’s official SWC 2026 overview lists the tournament titles as FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV, SAMURAI SHODOWN and ART OF FIGHTING 3, and specifically notes FATAL FURY will have 32 finalist slots while AOF3 is described as an “open tournament.” (snkesports.com) SNK published a full qualifying-roadmap on Feb. 26, 2026 that names Frosty Faustings XVIII (Jan. 29–Feb. 1, 2026) as the first partnered qualifier and shows a tiered calendar of more than 40 partnered offline events across regions. (snkesports.com) SNK’s corporate press release confirms a $4.1 million total prize pool for SWC 2026, and independent coverage and event recaps list the title-level breakdown used in recent seasons as roughly $2.5M for Fatal Fury, $1M for KOF XV, $500K for Samurai Shodown and $100K for Art of Fighting 3. (snk-corp.co.jp) The official SWC rulebook and SNK Esports overview state the circuit uses a points-based leaderboard, and that SNK will convert leaderboard points into prize money at a rate of 1 point = $1 USD for payouts tied to the ranking system. (snkesports.com) Evo’s published 2026 lineup and event pages list the EVO main-game slate and side events but do not show KOF ’98 as one of Evo’s main open titles in the official lineups compiled for 2026. (evo.gg) SNK’s own public SWC pages and the Feb. 26 qualifier list do not include a KOF ’98 slot or bracket in the official SWC title/slot tables published by SNK, so any claim that KOF ’98 was added to SWC 2026 is not reflected in SNK’s released materials and the qualifying roadmap as of the Feb. 26, 2026 update. (snkesports.com)
