After the 13th installment from 2010 that used 2D raster imagery, this game is rendered entirely in 3D similar to the spin-off Maximum Impact, although gameplay is restricted to a 2D plane.

The development of The King of Fighters XIV began in April 2014, after SNK's CEO Eikichi Kawasaki who reoriented the company toward traditional video games after several years of focus on Pachinko-style slot machines and mobile apps.

Yasuyuki Oda, who previously worked on Capcom's Street Fighter IV and other titles by SNK, directed the game.

A Russian billionaire named Antonov buys the rights to the King of Fighters competitions to host a new tournament in which veterans and newcomers compete.

[7] The King of Fighters XIV was first announced at the Sony Computer Entertainment press conference for the 2015 Tokyo Game Show[13] and was present at the PlayStation Experience 2015.

Rather than using cel-shaded graphic, the staff adhered to Oda and Kuroki's vision for the King of Fighters series to follow the '94's style.

The original game has realistic visuals which clash with character models like Kula Diamond and Athena Asamiya, so they chose the current look.

Oda coined the term "Kyo-ify" based on the series' main character Kyo Kusanagi in regards to the stylishness presented in the cast.

[16] Oda created Antonov by mixing traits SNK founding owner, Chairman Kawasaki, and Mr. T, an executive at the time, and divides it by the cosmological constant.

[24] Main characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami underwent a major redesign to fit the series' new story arc while at the same time the development team tried to keep their appeal intact.

[5] Ogura denied speculation that King of Dinosaurs was a redesign of Tizoc from Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and said they just had similar fighting styles.

In the Neo Geo era of the series, developers could not add Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown because of the KOF engine's limitations.

When the character was revealed in KOF XIV, her popularity surprised the developers who indicated that in spite of the Orochi clan members' deaths in the series' first story arc, they might consider adding them depending on the storyline.

[7] Before being added as DLC characters, SNK also considered Blue Mary and Ryuji Yamazaki from the Fatal Fury series for the base roster, but they wanted the game to feel more like The King of Fighters.

[16] To promote The King of Fighters XIV in Japan, SNK released an arcade game build containing 36 playable characters.

[16][30] SNK released The King of Fighters XIV in Japan and through Atlus USA in North America; Deep Silver published it in Europe.

Pleased with the result, SNK chairman, Zhihui Ge, said he wanted to incorporate more content from Middle-Eastern fans and developers to increase the series' appeal in the region.

[49] In May 2017, SNK confirmed The King of Fighters XIV would be ported to Windows, offering as few requirements as possible for the PC platform to run the game.

SNK released the Windows port was on June 15 of the same year in two versions—one identical to the original PlayStation 4 game and the other including all the DLC provided by the company.

[51][52] On January 6, 2021, SNK announced a new version of the game, Ultimate Edition, which includes the entire original installment alongside all the downloadable content.

[53] The King of Fighters XIV received generally positive reviews in video game media; on Metacritic it holds an average score of 79 out of 100.

[67] Metro liked it for appealing to skilled fighting game fans while still being a good starting point for players unhappy with Street Fighter V.[64] GameRevolution said the gameplay remains true to earlier KOF games, most notably The King of Fighters XIII, and was pleased that it retained the challenge needed to execute special moves.

[55] Despite issues with the graphics, Gaming Age found the characters interesting, noting each has a unique fighting style and theme songs that are played when facing rivals.

[63] Like Gaming Age, PCMRace found the arcade mode fitting for the series due to how rivals interact before their matches and enjoyed the art behind endings unlocked through a main team.

[58][59][67] Hobby Consolas judged the designs in general to be up to the series' high standards, but described Andy Bogard's model as overly stylized and lacking in grace.

GameSpew appreciated that SNK had updated the dated graphics of the PlayStation 4 version, making it more competent in comparison with other fighting-game franchises such as Street Fighter and Tekken.

[65] Despite giving it a positive review, PCMrace said the port could have benefited from a cross-platform play with PlayStation 4 players and that the cast still needed to be more balanced in terms of move sets.

[68] ONE37pm listed XIV it as the 18th best SNK game due to the new crossovers the series featured besides retaining classic characters thanks to its massive roster.

[71][72] By November 2017, SNK announced the period from mid-2016 to mid-2017 was very profitable, attributing it to the release of The King of Fighters XIV and its DLC characters.

[75] Oda instead worked in a spin-off, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, a female character-driven fighting game.