Fatal Fury Gets Trendy with KSI, iShowSpeed and Glassworks’ VFX Firepower

Recently, Glassworks mixed retro gaming nostalgia with real-world star power for their electrifying promo for ‘Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’. The dynamic, high-octane campaign bridged the gap between SNK’s widely-loved fighting franchise and the buzz around the upcoming Eubank Jr. v. Conor Benn boxing match. Featuring YouTube giants KSI and iShowSpeed, the spot has already racked up tens of millions of views on Instagram.

Directed by Mackenzie Sheppard out of ProdCo, and brought vividly to life by Glassworks vfx, the promo is a timeline-defying, medium-morphing celebration of Fatal Fury’s legacy. From glitchy 16-bit sprites to stylised PS5 visuals, the film transitions through gaming eras seamlessly, tracking its protagonists as they’re pulled into and out of the game world. The result is as much a love letter to classic arcade culture as it is a technical flex in modern VFX.

Under extreme time pressure – just seven weeks from shoot to delivery – Glassworks created a global pipeline across three autonomous teams, tackling everything from hand-drawn pixel art to photoreal CG. The studio’s ability to shift between styles, maintain character authenticity, and stay in line with Mackenzie’s vision is a testament to both their craftsmanship and collaborative spirit.

This project is even more special, as it marks the final project for their Amsterdam studio. “It became a true showcase of our studios’ combined talent, spirit, and the collaborative energy that defines the Glassworks mentality: making the impossible happen, no matter the odds,” says executive producer Micky Robinson.

LBB’s Zoe Antonov caught up with Micky to find out more about the meaning and making of the project.

LBB> What was the initial creative brief for this project, and how did it evolve once Glassworks came on board?

Micky> The original brief envisioned a two-minute film as both a love letter to the Fatal Fury franchise and a promotional piece for the Eubank Jr. vs. Benn match. The concept followed characters pulled into the game world, glitching between realities – from live action to 16-bit sprites, PS1-era models, then PS5 characters, and finally back.

By the time we joined, we’d prepped a detailed pitch outlining each part of the film, including early designs for the 16-bit aesthetic, character movement across game eras, and the look of the void space.

Once Mack began shooting, the cast's energy – especially the comedic beats – shaped the film in new ways. Combined with our animation pre-vis, we reimagined the boards to allow for more character-driven moments. The runtime extended, and the PS1 segment was dropped to give the remaining worlds space to breathe. The result was a more dynamic, emotionally engaging journey rooted in character and story.

LBB> This promo blends game IP with real-world personalities – how did you approach the design to stay authentic to both?

Micky> Authenticity was non-negotiable. We collaborated closely with SNK to ensure our designs remained true to the iconic Fatal Fury universe. Their character models served as the foundation for everything, from modeling and rigging to texturing and animation. Every movement, silhouette, and detail had to feel like a seamless extension of the game world.

At the same time, we needed to preserve the recognisability of the real-world talent. We carefully balanced stylisation with likeness so audiences could instantly connect with both the characters and the influencers behind them. The result was a visually cohesive blend that felt like a natural collision of gaming and reality.

LBB> You only had seven weeks for the entire production! How did you manage the pipeline to meet this deadline without backing down on quality?

Micky> Speed and quality had to go hand-in-hand, so we built a parallel pipeline with three autonomous teams focused on different worlds: live-action VFX, PS5 visuals, and 16-bit animation. Each had its own producer and schedule – pre-shoot, pre-edit lock, and pre-delivery.

For the game worlds, we completed design, modeling, and rigging before the shoot; animation followed edit lock; and lighting, rendering, and comp wrapped it up. For live-action, we built CG assets pre-shoot, ran FX up to lock, then finished FX and comp in parallel.

We worked with Mack and the editor post-shoot to refine assets using WIP edits. It was an ‘always on’ workflow – constantly iterating.

Once locked, we had two weeks to finish over 130 VFX shots. To hit that, we prepped heavily – lining up teams for tracking, roto, and comp to hit the ground running. Our global freelance crew covered nights and weekends—every hour counted.

LBB> Which sequence or element posed the biggest technical challenge, and how did the team overcome it?

Micky> The biggest challenge was pace. No single shot was unusually complex, but the sheer volume and variety of FX – often within the same shot – demanded tight coordination. We couldn’t wait for the edit lock.

Instead, we started asset builds early, working off creative briefs and retrofitting to the final footage. This meant:

Creating 45 set extensions based on concept art, tweaked with locations and lighting.

Designing the void environment and Geese’s look on a tight schedule.

Developing hero lightning FX adaptable across shots.

Building and rendering a CG city and stitching a 3D camera into live-action.

Shooting the boxers separately, adding compositing and choreography complexity.

Success meant staying two steps ahead of production, making early creative calls, and keeping everything flexible.

LBB> Can you walk us through the rigging and animation process—especially for the game characters interacting with live-action elements?

Micky> The rigging and animation process followed a fairly traditional pipeline - model, rig, test animate, re-rig, occasionally re-model. Maintaining authenticity was crucial, and animation often revealed small tweaks needed to the boxers’ faces, so we prioritized early testing and adjustments.

We used a unified rigging system across all characters, allowing animators to easily switch between them or jump between shots as approvals came in. This flexibility was key in managing the fast turnaround.

Live-action integration came later in the process, once final takes of the boxers were selected. For transition sequences, we refined animation to match the footage, and compositors then crafted seamless blends to morph between game and reality.

LBB> What tools or software were central to your workflow on this project, and were there any unconventional techniques used?

Micky> The game characters were animated in Maya, then brought into Houdini, our primary 3D pipeline, for all FX and rendering. For the stylized PS5 “City of the Wolves” sequence, we used Redshift’s new toon shader paired with custom character lighting to nail the look. The 16-bit animation, GUI graphics, and title cards were crafted using a mix of Blender, Pixel Art, After Effects, and Illustrator. Everything came together seamlessly in composite using Nuke and Flame.

LBB> How did you collaborate with director Mackenzie Sheppard and ProdCo to ensure the VFX aligned with the overall vision?

Micky> From the outset, our priority was staying closely aligned with Mack’s vision for the film. Early on, both he and our team were eager to create a “mockup” film—a moving storyboard that quickly became an invaluable tool. It allowed us to explore the narrative, map out key action beats, and identify location and VFX requirements before anything was locked in.

That mockup became the backbone of the project. It provided the editorial team with a clear structure and allowed for quick, flexible adjustments as the story evolved. For us, it offered a framework to begin developing VFX ahead of the shoot, which in turn helped shape key editorial and production decisions.

On the animation side, the mockup was an essential jumpstart. It gave us the confidence to begin work on the full CG game shots early, even knowing that some of those shots would shift as the cut evolved. With a heavy volume of animation to deliver in a compressed timeline, having a solid starting point made all the difference.

Collaboration remained seamless throughout, even with multiple teams working across countries and time zones. We leaned on tools like Frame.io and SyncSketch for efficient feedback and iteration, and used Google Slides as a living director/VFX notebook—a central space for sharing visual references, tracking creative ideas, and evolving the look and feel in real time.

LBB> Looking back, is there a particular moment or shot in the film that you're especially proud of as a studio?

Micky> This project was particularly special as it marked the final job we worked on with our brilliant team in Amsterdam. It became a true showcase of our studios’ combined talent, spirit, and the collaborative energy that defines the Glassworks mentality: making the impossible happen, no matter the odds, and having fun while we do it.

With over 40 artists working across five time zones, we pulled together a huge range of skills and workflows to deliver something ambitious and creatively rich under intense pressure.

From the pixel-perfect traditional hand drawn craftsmanship of the 16-bit world to the complex character animation in the “City of the Wolves” sequence, every element demanded a careful balance of technical precision and narrative sensitivity. Hitting the right tone, staying authentic to the original game, and weaving everything into a coherent visual language was a craft in itself.

All of this was supported by photoreal lighting, stylized rendering, and FX that blurred the line between game and reality, executed at a pace that would’ve been unthinkable without total trust and tight collaboration.

It was a real team effort; equal parts skill, speed, and sheer determination, something we’re very proud of and a fitting send-off for a studio that’s been such a core part of our creative DNA.