Capcom: Street Fighter V ‘needed more polish’ before launch

By Danny Cowan Published May 14, 2016

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Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto announced that the company will allow more development time for future video game releases following the troubled launch of Street Fighter V earlier this year.

Capcom detailed its shift in strategy in a financial results briefing this week, according to an MCV report. The company will now focus on “strengthening our brands” in the coming year.

Tsujimoto specifically cited Street Fighter V while detailing potential areas of improvement for the coming financial quarter. Capcom’s CEO acknowledged the game’s much-criticized lack of content at launch, and called out server issues as being particularly damaging to the final product.

“Some aspects of Street Fighter V needed more polish, such as the lack of content and server issues at launch,” Tsujimoto admitted. “Accordingly, we feel it’s better to give a little more time to development than before, and have made slight adjustments to our portfolio.”

Tsujimoto continued: “Profits may take one or two years longer to stack up than initially expected, however we will be firmly strengthening our brands. That being said, even looking at Capcom’s growth exclusively, we expect at the very least growth in excess of 10% to continue.”

Capcom previously announced that Street Fighter V sold 1.2 million copies across the PlayStation 4 and PC platforms to date, falling short of initial company projections that pegged launch sales in excess of 2 million.

Street Fighter V launched with a notable dearth of expected features like a single-player arcade mode. The game also lacked significant tutorial and training features prior to the release of a patch that added a collection of in-game challenges in March.

Street Fighter V also comes up short in terms of its roster, offering only 16 playable fighters at launch compared to Ultra Street Fighter IV‘s 44-character lineup. Patches released in the wake of the game’s debut added returning favorites Alex and Guile to Street Fighter V‘s roster, and more characters will enter the arena following future updates.

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Street Fighter 6 is the single-player fighting experience I’ve always wanted

A player stands in Metro City's Times Square equivalent in Street Fighter 6 World Tour.

As someone who doesn’t often game competitively, I’m always on the hunt for fighting games with great single-player content. Whether it’s a meaty story mode a la Soulcalibur VI or addictive arcade content like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I’m always happy when I can master a character’s move set in a low-stakes setting. That’s why I could never really get into Street Fighter 5, a game that was almost solely focused on multiplayer at launch. Later modes would rectify that, but it was largely built for the competitive scene -- and I sure as heck wasn’t skilled enough to learn the game via trial by fire.

So I’m much more excited by the prospect of Street Fighter 6. Seemingly learning from its predecessor’s missteps, developer Capcom has put a lot more into the upcoming sequel’s single-player content. In addition to its classic arcade mode, World Tour is a full-on RPG that lets players beat the snot out of random people around Metro City. Players recently got a small taste of the mode via a new demo, but the full scope of it wasn’t entirely clear.

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Street Fighter 6: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more

Chun-Li and Ryu fight in Street Fighter 6.

Street Fighter is officially returning with Street Fighter 6. Ryu, Chun-Li, and new and old friends will take center stage, along with a whole new look for the classic fighting game’s graphics. It’s good timing, too, as the Street Fighter franchise just turned 35 last year, and is ready for a big comeback (Street Fighter 5 launched more than six years ago in 2016).

Interested in learning more? Wondering if Street Fighter 6 will be coming to your gaming platform of choice? Capcom’s going to be dropping more info from now up until launch. In the meantime, here’s everything we know and what you can expect.
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Gaming

A free Street Fighter 6 demo is available now on PS5 and PS4

street fighter 6 demo sf6 battle damage 1 png jpgcopy

There is a little over a month to go until the launch of Capcom's highly anticipated fighting game Street Fighter 6, and we just received new information from a dedicated Street Fighter 6 Showcase hosted by Lil Wayne. The biggest announcement came at the end of the show, when Capcom revealed that the game is getting a demo today on PlayStation 4 and PS5.
Street Fighter 6 Showcase | 4.20.2023 | US English
During the presentation, producer Shuhei Matsumoto explained that this demo will allow players to create a character they can carry over to the full release. as well as experience the start of the World Tour and play some matches in Fighting Grounds. While the demo is a PlayStation exclusive right now, as it only came out on PS4 and PS5 today, it will arrive on PC and Xbox Series X on April 26.
While the demo was certainly the most notable thing to come from this Street Fighter 6 Showcase, several other things were revealed. At the start of the showcase, we got a new trailer highlighting the World Tour and Battle Hub modes. For Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode, we saw a new locale called Nayshall; for Battle Hub, we learned that players can fight in the center of the hub with their created characters.

Then, game director Takayuki Nakayama talked more about World Tour mode, revealing that players start in Metro City, where they are coached by Luke. Players gain experience, level up, and learn skills to get more powerful. While there are a lot of fights to be had throughout World Tour's locations, players will also have to build friendships with Masters like Chun-Li to gain access to their specific moves. Players can fully customize their own characters moveset, but will also meet other characters not necessarily part of the main roster that were built from those same skills.
After a brief overview reminded us of what Battle Hub has to offer, Fighting Ground then took center stage. During this segment, Capcom revealed that fighters' outfits will get more beat up and worn down over time, sounds indicating certain move types and distance can be turned on to make the game more accessible, and there will be an offline-only AI-assisted gameplay style called Dynamic. We then saw Arcade Mode in action, where players can earn illustrations for each fighter and compete with others for the highest online ranking score.
Street Fighter 6 also features detailed fundamentals and player-specific tutorials, Team Battles, Extreme Battles with unique stage gimmicks, Ranked Matches, Casual Matches, and the ability to make custom rooms when playing online. Finally, Capcom teased what players can expect from Street Fighter 6 after its launch. Year 1 of support will include four new characters: Rashid (summer 2023), A.K.I. (autumn 2023), Ed (winter 2024), and Akuma (spring 2023).
If you weren't already convinced to pick up this game, then this presentation probably had something that could win you over. Street Fighter 6 launches for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X on June 2.