SNK Corporation and developer ARIKA have announced a partnership that will see efforts in the future to bring some of SNK's library of intellectual properties back. SNK, whose bread and butter has been their fighting games (King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown), has made statements in the past about returning to more full-time console software development several years ago. They are now sourcing that duty to the Japanese producing/publishing team, ARIKA, the studio known for the Fighting Layer series and their crossover collaborations with Capcom with the Street Fighter EX series of games on the PlayStation.

The press release doesn't go into any specific detail, and is very concise. It comes courtesy of ARIKA president Akira Nishitani (one of the key game designers behind Street Fighter II).

"SNK owns more than 200 SNK-branded game content, including NEOGEO, and is currently promoting
Revamp to reclaim and revive the past IP. As part of this effort, we have decided to collaborate with SNK. The
collaboration is planned for IPs other than fighting game. For more information, please stay tuned."

While King of Fighters XV has been a critical success for SNK, there were considerably notable names among the intellectual properties under their umbrella that many have waited to see a revival. It's likely that the same staff working on KOF XV is developing the Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves sequel, it has been a long time since any news has been broken regarding Metal Slug Tactics. Missing its planned release window of 2023, there could be a chance ARIKA has overseen the possible rebuild of the tactical RPG. 

In recent years, ARIKA has collaborated with Nintendo and Bandai Namco on the Pac-Man 99, Tetris 99, the since-decommissioned Mario 35, and the Endless Ocean series on the Nintendo Wii. They also aided in game development on Tekken 8. This won't be their first partnership with SNK. Fatal Fury and King of Fighters protagonist Terry Bogard made a guest appearance in their 2018 fighting game, Fighting EX Layer, and ARIKA's mascot (of sorts) Skull-o-Mania was a guest character in the party fighter SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.

With long beloved titles like Athena, the run-n-gun series Metal Slug, and Ikari Warriors, outsourcing development is essential to speed a long with reacquainting old fans and a new generation of video game enthusiasts with the deeper catalog SNK offers.