Bandai has inadvertently announced Dragon Ball FighterZ, a new fighting game, being developed by Arc System Works. The developers are responsible for other fighting titles such as Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. The source of the leak was a japanese press release dated June 12th, the Monday of E3, which was more than likely the date they were hoping to announce the game on. Little about the game is currently known, aside from two pieces of information. The game is made in 2.5D, meaning there is an axis upon which characters can fight, beyond just a scroll, and more camera angles to view from. Furthermore,the game play will feature three on three battles, rather than just 1 v 1. This is purportedly to allow players to feel out which characters complement each other and which do not, providing more nuance and complexity to the play style.
The game is going to be released on Xbox One, PS4, and PC and is supposed to arrive on shelves in "early 2018". The release did not discuss the roster of heroes who would be playable but it did have a few accompanying images showing several characters that will likely end up in game. First is, of course, Goku, who is seen fighting Freiza. A separate image shows Vegeta, Majin Buu, and Cell. Because the game is going to be 3 v 3, it is likely that the majority of the main characters will be playable. The game will employ all the trademarks one would expect of a Dragon Ball Z fighting game, with "ultra high speed battles" and "flashy special moves", according to the press release.
More details will certainly be released this coming Monday at E3, given the purported date of the press release. However, fans of the Nintendo Switch needn't worry about getting their own game for the console, as Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is scheduled for release on the console later this year. We do not know if Bandai Namco intended to release the information early, but it looked like human error. We do not know if anyone was reprimanded on the PR side of the company for this.
The release was leaked via Gematsu, and can be seen in its entirety here.