'Dragon Ball FighterZ' characters news: Closed beta, new fighter announced

A screenshot from the upcoming game "Dragon Ball FighterZ."YouTube/Bandai Namco Entertainment

Good news for "Dragon Ball FighterZ" fans. Ahead of the upcoming 2.5D fighting game's release, developer Arc System Works announced that a closed beta will take place in the coming months.

The announcement was made during the 2017 Evolution Championship Series (EVO) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. It is said that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One users can begin registering for the game's closed beta on Wednesday, July 26.

While the developer has not revealed an exact date for when the closed beta will start, several reports have suggested that it will launch sometime this year. More details regarding the event will be announced soon.

Aside from the closed beta announcement, Arc System Works has also dropped a brand-new trailer introducing Future Trunks. He is the game's seventh playable character, joining previously announced fighters Son Goku, Majin Buu, Teen Gohan, Cell, Vegeta, Frieza, Piccolo and Krillin.

To understand the game better, director Junya Motomura shared substantial details about "Dragon Ball FighterZ." In particular, he explained how weaker warriors in the franchise's lore will be able to combat the stronger fighters in the 2.5D fighting game.

"We didn't design it for certain characters to be support, exactly," the director told Red Bull. "It's just that their assist moves have more situations that they can be useful than others. If you have a team filled with these characters, then you'd be able to use their strong assists to take down the stronger characters."

In "Dragon Ball FighterZ," each player will have to select three characters to form one team. One character is controlled and can be switched with one of the two other characters at any time. In order to win the game, all three of the opponent's characters must be defeated.

"Dragon Ball FighterZ" is set to be released in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows.