Capcom discussed Street Fighter 5 in quite some detail at the Evo 2015 fighting game championship this weekend, including how the game will approach the thorny issue of DLC.
This time around, rather than the multiple versions released for SF4, the game will operate as a platform, with everything from new characters to skins, levels and general balance updates released as part of the service. That means no more Ultra versions months down the line – the version you buy on day one will be the version you play for the duration.
“That’s right; Street Fighter V will be the first iteration in the franchise where it is possible for dedicated players to earn all gameplay related content (such as characters) for free, simply by playing the game,” Capcom promises.
Should you prefer to shortcut all that play-time, you can choose to pay real money for the new stuff as well. Essentially, it sounds like a familiar F2P setup. Which is never something to get too excited by, but probably beats having to splash out thirty quid on a new edition of the game whenever Capcom decides to release new characters.
“Looking back on the Street Fighter IV series, we had always released bundles of content all at once, like with Super Street Fighter IV and Ultra Street Fighter IV,” Capcom explains in a blog on the Playstation site. “While these one-time updates did revive interest in the series every few years, it was difficult to keep players engaged for long periods of time unless they were competitive. This also punished players who took a break from playing the game, because if they wanted to start again in a few years, they would be forced to purchase an upgrade to join the existing player pool who had already moved on to a new version.”
“By releasing new characters on a regular basis, it will ensure that there is always new content to look forward to in the short term, and it prevents the competitive environment from ever becoming stale. Players also have more freedom in their decisions, as they only need to purchase or earn the content that appeals to them. This will also create more long-term engagement, because the more you play the game, the more you are rewarded and can earn new content.”
Sounds good to me. Sixteen fighters will be playable in the initial launch, four of which will be all-new combatants, so if you’re not the DLC type you should have plenty to be getting on with. You can check out the full panel from Evo 2015 above. Street Fighter 5 is set for release on PC and consoles next year.
