I've said it before, but I think what we need to do is notice traits about the recently announced fighter, and figure out what traits the next fighter WON'T have. Steve is a third party whose game is the best selling one of all time, as opposed to just selling enough, while Sephiroth is from a game from the 90s that was already given a fighter.
To Be Honest, Besides looking at Hypothetical Moveset Traits for other characters, I find it kind of Hard to do this since Steve and Sephiroth do cover a Very Wide Area
with that said, We There are potential Audiences, Benefits not covered yet
-Visual Novels, Horror, and I guess FPS, but Inkling might cover a little of that crowd. Perhaps not too much though. there's also New audiences even within Genre's already Represented in Smash too.
-Steve might be looked at as a Indie character by Nintendo and Sakurai, because of the Copyright related to Steve. However it's also possible that despite that, they See Steve as more diverged from Indie and more as like a AAA title. I Know alot of People don't see Steve as a Indie Characer
If this is true, they might want a character that feels more in line with the Indie Audiences. Indie Titles have been important for Nintendo since like the Wii U and 3DS Era. Putting in a Indie Character might benefit Nintendo in the Long run, since it will give more reasons for Indie creators to put their games on Switch, because Nintendo opens the door for Indie characters to get into a Game that allows you alot of Exposure and such like that
-There's also Company Relation Benefits that can be attained. Whether it be a Company like Spike Chunsoft, so they could be more Inclined to put Danganropa on Switch and Appeal to the Adevnture, Visual Novel style games, or Perhaps Something like EA, because EA has stuff like Madden and Fifa which sells like Hotcakes,
-It also goes the other way with saying thank you to Companies that have been with you for the longest, like Koei or Monolioth (even though Nintendo owns them)
-and there's like a Mix of these two, like the Relation with Cygames and such, and how they helped make Dragalia Lost, a New (Co-Owned) Nintendo I.P, but they are also kind of distant from Actual Nintendo Consoles
-I guess there's also that Character Pick that has Smash Request appeal like with Ridley, K.Rool, and Banjo. Steve could perhaps be considered very requested character, Especially Ultimate since unlike the Period during Smash 4, Even some of the more Hardcore fans were requesting Him, Sephiroth was also very Requested in Japan.
