Capcom revealed their plans for Street Fighter 5 on a panel at this year’s EVO. Highlights include their partnership with Sony, the end of annualized releases, and new promises of simplified battle systems.
Capcom upsells their partnership with Sony very strongly, as a strategic partnership and not a timed exclusive. Sony helps build Capcom’s vision of the game, and are invested heavily in many elements, including the Capcom Pro Tour, and cross PS4 – Steam play via Kagemusha netplay code. Capcom also claims that Ultra Street Fighter 4 on PlayStation 4 has been developed and published by Sony themselves, and is now fixed to the degree that it is the definitive version of the game.
As indicated earlier, Capcom has chosen to deliberately end annual releases, recognizing that this strategy proved to eventually push casual gamers away for competitive gamers, and discouraged players who dropped the game from going back in.
And so, as a partial throwback toStreet Fighter’s arcade heyday, all game content, including new characters, will be unlockable in gameplay. However, Capcom did not add in simple unlocks, but actually a microtransaction model, incorporating pure in-game cash (Fight Money) and in-game cash that can be bought with real money (Zenni). Really, this is a concept they’ve used in other games, and is consistent with Capcom’s stated direction as a company. Still, for the most dedicated players, this guarantees they will only have to buy one disc for the game’s lifetime.
Finally, Capcom once again promises to have made the game easier for everyone, and also more interesting. With this in mind, they eschewed Street Fighter 4’s Focus Attack system, with the new Variable system and V-Trigger. These systems are unique for each character, and based on his or her personality.
Characters were reimagined as well, so that returning characters felt fresh, and similar characters were differentiated. Of course, Capcom also promised simpler inputs, but this time, with input buffers and straightforward notation, they just might mean it.
Here’s a quick overview of each revealed character’s design:
· Ryu – the standard, who teaches any player using him the game’s fundamentals.
· Chun Li – low damage moves but versatile moveset.
· M. Bison – powerful specials that apply pressure.
· Birdie – poke and grappler character, easy to pick up but with deep moveset.
· Nash – highly offensive but difficult to use.
· Cammy – aggressive, with overwhelming and quick attacks and movement. Footsie oriented.
· Ken – rushdown character, now differentiated from Ryu.
Street Fighter 5’s beta will have three phases, but in the final release this Spring 2016, it will launch with 16 characters, with new characters and other content added to the base game in succeeding months.
You can see slides of the talk below.
