Pragmata, Capcom’s long-long-delayed sci-fi action game, blew us away at this year’s Summer Game Fest. A clever mix of quick-turn puzzles and shooter action, the PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X game is poised to be one of the big releases of 2026 (if Capcom can actually get it wrap it up on time after all these years).
Unfortunately, during a Spotlight showcase on Thursday, Capcom did little to confirm or deny the theories. If Pragmata’s young robo-protagonist Diana is secretly connected to Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and all the nonsense first introduced in the NES Mega Man from 1987, the studio is staying mum. But we did see plenty of new footage featuring Diana using her blue metal puffy coat (that, in fairness, looks a lot like Mega Man’s arm!) to hack robots for her surrogate dad with a gun, the playable astronaut Hugh.
Theories that Pragmata was Capcom’s AAA attempt at a Mega Man revival took off in forums and conspiracy-tinged YouTube videos shortly after SGF. The evidence at the time was… tenuous. Diana’s design was the big tell, as well as the Mega Man connection to the moon and sentient robot viruses. The early mission of Pragmata finds Diana and Hugh outrunning rogue bots in a lunar base — maybe a Sigma connection? Others wonder if Pragmata’s obligatory evil sci-fi conglomerate that ruined everything, the Delphi Corporation, was a tip off.
Most of the “evidence” for Pragmata as a secret Mega Man game has been met with eye rolls, but you know what, I understand why fans of the side-scroller are holding out hope. Sine 2018, with the release of Mega Man 11, Capcom has offered little clarity on the future of the franchise. There have been mobile games and a fleeting animated turn in Amazon’s Secret Level anthology series, but nothing in the way of an honest-to-goodness new Mega Man game. The Twitch chat on Capcom’s Spotlight stream echoed the desire: Every other comment was “SHOW US MEGA MAN.”
Pragmata arrives in 2026. Is it a secret Mega Man game? Probably not. But as of the Thursday stream, there is also no new officially announced Mega Man currently in development at Capcom. So don’t blame the dreamers.
