The days of Super/Ultra/Hyper editions may be over. During the Street Fighter V panel at EVO 2015, Capcom detailed its plan to release a single disc with 16 fighters supported by regular digital updates — many of which can be earned simply by playing the game.
According to the fine folks at Event Hubs who were present for the panel and the Q&A session that followed, Capcom is looking at Street Fighter as an ever-evolving service.
Players will purchase a single disc/digital download containing the 16 launch fighters (four of which are brand new characters) and from then on all balance-related updates will be free, and any downloadable content involving gameplay — new characters, new modes and such — can be acquired via one of two types of in-game currency.
Players will be able to earn Fight Money by playing the game, battling opponents — winning, I suppose. Fight Money can be used to purchase gameplay-related additional content. They will also be able to spend real money to purchase Zenny, which can be used for new characters as well as non gameplay-related content — I’m thinking this is where Capcom’s penchant for expensive costumes comes in.
It’s an interesting approach. On one hand, micro-transactions. On the other, being able to earn new characters through gameplay was one of my favourite aspects of earlier fighting games, and it’s nice to see that return, after a fashion. Capcom is still working out details on how fast players can earn and how much Zenny will cost, so we’ll have a better feel once we’re closer to release early next year.
The biggest (and best) news here is that we’ll no longer have to purchase regular disc-based updates to play in the biggest online pool — everybody will have the same content with the same rule sets and balance adjustments.
“Essentially, what we did over time with Street Fighter 4 is made our player pool smaller and smaller by eliminating people who didn’t purchase the upgrades. That old method forced players to purchase all of the new content, even if only a few characters were really appealing to them.
“Looking forward, our new strategy is more consumer friendly. This also creates additional long-term engagement with the game, because the more you play it, the more you’re rewarded. We’re always adding to the player base this time around — we’re never shrinking it by requiring a paid update. Players can leave at any time and come back at any time, and play on the latest balance adjustments with the largest player base,” stated Dahlgren.
Of course this also spells bad news for Xbox One fighting fans — those hoping that while Street Fighter V would pass them up but Super Street Fighter V would not… well, there isn’t going to be a Super Street Fighter V now. At least they will always have the new Killer Instinct, whose digital content approach Capcom seems to be taking several cues from.
Hit up Event Hubs for more details on the way Capcom is changing up their game with Street Fighter V.
Comments
13 responses to “Street Fighter V Will Be A Constantly-Evolving Fighting Platform”
Is that a fact? With the new model have cap com specifically stated that SFV will never come to XBOne?
I hope not… Majorly dick move from Capcom if that’s the case. A game as iconic and widespread as SF should never be bound by a platform.
They’ve said they want a single player base, which they’ve got through cross platform play between PS4 and PC. Perhaps they’ll hold out until Microsoft allows them to do cross platform multiplayer on the XBone too?
Old news man. Only PC and PS4.
It almost like people have missed (forgotten about, refused to believe, dont want to listen) to the fact that Sony (the manufacturer of the Playstation brand of consoles) are co-funding this game
I mean… why cant we have Dead Rising 3 on PS4 – what dick move by Capcom!! Oh thats right, funded by Microsoft
The same thing happened in regards to Bayonetta 2 on Wii U, people just don’t seem to get the difference between a company paying for exclusivity and a company actually funding the game.
I fall into the ‘refuse to believe’ category myself…
You guys can have dead rising… By all means take it! It’s not that much of an exclusive anyway. But this… This still hurts. My SFIV TE stick was just waiting to be dusted off…
Well you can refuse to believe all you want – the truth is that its a reality. Sony co-funding (or fully funded) and its now a PS4 console exclusive alongside a PC version. That’s reality
Forever updating like Windows 10 and OSX, hehe
“The days of Super/Ultra/Hyper editions may be over. During the Street Fighter V panel at EVO 2015, Capcom detailed its plan to release a single disc with 16 fighters supported by regular digital updates — many of which can be earned simply by playing the game. ”
Is speaks volumes to me when Capcom tries to drum up that such a feature of having multiple characters at launch and most unlockable by playing as an “evolution” and a “feature” of the “new approach” to the game…
When this was something we already goddamned had before Capcom pulled the whole buy a character DLC crap?!?!
You’ve never been able to purchase characters in any street fighter game. It was either buy the upgrade and get (usually) 4 more, or don’t, and stick with the vanilla game, which all the quality players have left, cos they’re playing the upgrade.
Most people dislike capcom for the expensive costumes. That’s their contribution to DLC, having to spend cash to get other clothes for your favourite pugilist.
Releasing new versions is how they traditionally did things though. If you were playing SF2 and wanted extra characters, you needed SF2 Champion Edition and later Super SF2. This was long before DLC, and is pretty much the same as what happened with SF4.
In b4 “Muh Fight MONNNEEEEYYY!!!
But seriously, can’t wait for it.