Ever since the first 'Official Character Announcement' (from December 3, 2020 - not the 'Official Trailer' from January 7), we were shown, speciffically:
- 19 characters that came directly from KOF XIV - 1 being DLC;
- 4 characters returning from even older titles.
So, by now, the returning rate of characters seems to be:
- 82.6 % from KOFXIV
- 17.4 % from a previous KOF
And when compared to KOF XIV's launch roster size (48 fighters, 2 bosses), that would be:
- 36% (38% with DLC) from KOFXIV
- 8% from a previous KOF
In a time frame of 6 months, SNK have shown us a total of... 23 characters. Which is 46% of KOFXIV's launch roster size;
So... I would like to guess they're saving the brand new characters for when the planned roster is at least 50% confirmed.