You probably know that Street Fighter 6 will launch this year on June 2, but it’s actually much later in the year than fans of the long-running series are used to.
Prior to Street Fighter 6, major franchise titles tended to launch early in their years, usually around February. The producer of the game, Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, is well aware of this, and in an interview with the portal Game Guide (opens in a new tab).
“It’s very rare for games to come to fruition where they were able to deliver everything the team was aiming for,” says Tsuchiya. “You always had to compromise or reject ideas because of budget, schedule or resource issues.
But this time, regarding the fundamental things that Nakayama-san [Street Fighter 6’s director] wanted to achieve with his dream project, it seems we didn’t really have to make any omissions or compromises with this title.”
In his commentary, Tsuchiya may be referring to the controversial 2016 release of Street Fighter 5. The PS4 Warrior received a lukewarm reception at first, due to the small roster of characters and lack of modes and content outside of the online packs.
Street Fighter 5 eventually grew into a content-rich bundle, with its final roster being 45 characters long. The vast majority of DLC is now available for purchase in the Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition discounted update.
Avoiding the same mistakes
It seems that Capcom wants to avoid rushing with the premiere for the second time. Street Fighter 6, compared to its predecessor, seems to be packed with content at launch. While we wait for the final batch of trailers for the characters set to appear in the core roster, it looks like there will be more fighters available on day one than in Street Fighter 5.
Street Fighter 6 also gets a full-fledged single-player campaign with World Tour mode where players can create their own character and seemingly learn moves from iconic Street Fighter characters who act as mentors. Moreover, all of the modes from Street Fighter 5 are also returning, so it looks like there’s going to be plenty to do on day one, whether you’re playing online or offline.
Street Fighter 6 has had a long and difficult development not made easier by the Covid-19 pandemic. But it’s refreshing to hear that Capcom is committed to launching a high-quality, feature-rich game on day one, seemingly without any glaring omissions.
You’d like to think that those extra few months in the oven will benefit the game in the long run. Fortunately, we’ve already seen a lot of positive feedback from the two closed beta tests that have taken place so far.
Also, if you’re picking up Street Fighter 6 when it launches, you can check out our guide to the best fighting sticks if you’re looking for an authentic arcade game rather than a more traditional pad.