10 years of Street Fighter 6?!

Let's go. There's been a lot more information on things that have popped up for SF6 and we've gotten a lot more clarification even outside of my interview, which is the lovely thing that everyone's going to have different questions. And yeah, you know, all those things we've been talking about, we're like, is this the end of Street Fighter 6? Is this the end of uh World Tour in total? What is going on? Uh, Street Fighter 6 might be going on for a very long time thanks to IGN and a few other articles. We got to go over it, dude. This stuff is kind of crazy. The initial conversation for Tifa actually began like 3 years ago near the launch of the game. We had a mutual friend who works at Square, who's a big fan of Street Fighter 6. We've been discussing about what we could do to collaborate somehow. And then eventually those conversations led to what about a potential guest character from one of their IPs or series. So that was a long time ago and around that time Final Fantasy 7 remake series was very active and looking at the character background a character like Tifa who's got a heavy martial arts style. We thought it would be perfect for Street Fighter 6. So it kind of organically led to that happening. So as a reminder Chad games don't make themselves and they take a long time and Tifa has been in the books for quite some time even before Tekken 8 was even out as a game. So this has been in the books for quite some time. When designing the character uh for Street Fighter 6, a lot of reference materials provided from FF7 team from the Capcom designers was created to implement into the game. A lot of things were taken into consideration like the exact durations that are required for as an example. When a punch or a kick lands, ultimately that gets reviewed by the team at Square, including Numeraasan, which we did talk about as well, uh from the FF7 team. And then once that's approved, it goes up to the developers at the Capcom side to get implemented into the game. Normal stuff. A big question is that Street Fighter 6 has a long way to go till like the 10 million unit milestone, but Capcom sounds pretty happy with where things currently are with the game. I mean, it has record-breaking numbers. It's got even more players than usual. So, it seems like Street Fighter 7 is not actually going to be happening anytime soon. This has definitely been very weird. The way this this current state of Street Fighter 6, it's been pretty weird. So, what is happening? Uh, does it mean that Street Fighter 7 is around the corner? Are they not going to be supporting it for very long? We genuinely didn't know when it went to the next season. So, they personally want Street Fighter 5 um Street Fighter 6 to be running and operating for as long as possible. When we initially kicked off the project, our internal goal was to hit like a 10-year life cycle, but that's why we're working so hard to improve the quality of the game and make sure that the characters we introduce are attractive and appealing. So, that is dark contrast compared to where we're currently at, my dude. What we were currently thinking right before this, that's a long time. We're at the three-year mark right now, dude. We're going to triple that and add another year. Here's the thing. I feel like this is their desire. They want to be able to do this. It's the goal to have a game that lasts almost a decade. That's the goal. Is it the plan what they are currently scheduled to do? Probably not. But all things considered, the amount of new players, the amount of existing players, the amount of people buying content, the amount of things people just purchase overall as the game continues will ultimately be the deciding factor. That's just the way it goes. They would like that. It feels like it feels like that'd be cool. It also feels like in order to have the game be supported for that long, if they want to have an elongated support period, maybe doing world tour just wasn't the best bet. I think we're going to get some clarification on that in the stuff that they talked about in the near future. Yeah, I can see a lot of other quality of life things happening to the game over time, including I would not be surprised if it also includes like big balance changes and uh mechanical adjustment. And for the question of Street Fighter 7, that's not something we're really making or really thinking about right now. We're seeing a lot of new players coming into the game and want to continue catering to that audience. So Street Fighter 6 and maintaining its longevity is the main focus. That's pretty big. They tease that there's a lot that they want to do for Street Fighter 6, but won't draw on what exactly. There's stuff that I'm thinking, but I don't want to spoil the fun for everybody. So, I'm trying to find the other quotes, but there were some recent other quotes that were talking about the new girl, um, the first character in DLC pack season 4 about her being sort of like the new protagonist. Yeah, Yasmin. Sorry, I always forget her name. That character seems to be catered to the new hero character of the game. Interesting. So, it's like we're like sort of passing the baton of Luke in some way. This season is is kind of unique where it's full of three brand new playable characters to Street Fighter 6 technically and one brand new guest character. So, all technically new characters, Bosch being an unplayable character before. And they said that it was consistently their intention to add new characters to Street Fighter 6. And the only new character that they've added to the game so far post launch has been AI. We made this observation a bit before all this information came out where it's like, okay, yeah, I mean, I think they're allowed to have a couple new ones and it kind of feels that way that it's like, yeah, that makes sense. But at the same point, they know a lot of people are like frothing for the Makoto and the Dudley's and the Sakuras and and all that kind of stuff that there is a feverish demand to bring back a lot of other characters that people want to see in Street Fighter that were not in maybe even Street Fighter 4, Street Fighter 5, anything like that. So, it's like, yeah, that's completely fair, but at the same point reminding that like we haven't actually added many new characters. Like, it's been a whole bunch of returning characters from multiple seasons. Now, a crazy thing was that they also have to pay attention to their audience. and they were specifically discussing that the audience for Street Fighter 6, the people that are actively playing and buying and engaging with this game currently is not the typical 30 to 40year-old, which usually is where the majority of fighting game audiences tend to skew. They tend to go in an UNC direction because it's sort of an UNC genre. They pretty much exclaimed that like they have a big audience of like 15 to about like mid20s like something around there which is an extremely young demographic for a fighting game like extreme especially for a fighting like a big legacy Street Fighter 6 level fighting game. I think that mostly contributes to like what they've done with the efforts of this game. They've really gotten control of a brand new audience for Street Fighter for a brand new generation. They've really done it. So in what region though? I mean I don't think they care. Like here's the reality of the situation. Numbers are numbers. Like the amount of people engaging and playing with it is the most important thing. What's not important is where they're coming from. Like to be completely honest, they're a global company. They're looking for anything. They want people to come from anywhere. From a developer perspective, you cannot ignore the largest contributing demographic or side of your audience. And if that big side of the audience is a whole bunch of like youngans that are playing the game that have a chance to buy new games, like that's exciting, dude. That that's hard to do as a fighting game. Like, holy [ __ ] that's really tough. I mean, do we want to feel like we're being catered to all the time? Yeah, I think we do. Because the majority of Capcom games have been directly catering to a global/Western audience for quite some time. In fact, the majority of Japanese publishers and developers, the biggest audience for the majority of these games is usually the West in Tekken's situation is Europe, right? Like really big, like they they just represent the biggest side. I would argue that was probably the plan to create a global game that everyone can get into. And to be honest, they did that. They're up like what 7 million copies sold in 3 years, which is these guys are going to be breaking 10 million easy. Like this is going to be a 10 million unit sold Capcom fighting. That [ __ ] hasn't happened in forever. I think they have to follow what makes sense, you know? Will I still be griping about things that like of shakeups and things like that? What like I've been saying for practically a couple years now, yeah, I will. But I can't blame them for like following the success that they created in some way. Does it mean that it's a game specifically for Japan only? Dude, I don't think only Japan is playing this [ __ ] Like, I think this game is engaging a lot of people. You mentioned you have a lot of specific ideas regarding the design. Do you have any plans for additional costumes? Yes, there is. I can't go into details, but I'm sure it'll be something that everyone will enjoy. We've actually been discussing new characters appearing in year 4 for about 2 to 3 years now. Given the region's extremely large population, we initially wanted to include India as a potential nationality for new characters. The number of players on site is actually increasing too. So, the amount of like players that people are playing Street Fighter 6 is actually increasing. And one more thing, I really want to include a character from the Philippines. That's because many of the key members you're familiar with such as those involved the fighting game community. Vicious are well known for his commentary actually have roots in the Philippines. Given this background, our aim was to prize and delight everyone in the community. That's when we decided to use Indian and Filipino nationalities for new characters. And then we delve deeper into thinking about what specific martial arts they should use and what kind of characters they should become. Interesting. Also, when we look back at the history of the series, we wanted to feature countries that hadn't yet appeared in Street Fighter. And this would be the first time there's a Filipino Street Fighter character. Celebrating the 40th anniversary in 2027, I felt like we had run out of new ideas when it came to the connection between the country and martial arts. First, regarding Yasmin, whenever I create a character, I always put in the thought of making them a new protagonist. Luke is on the package of the game, but to put it extremely, it wouldn't be strange for anyone to be on the package. I'm developing the game so that any character can be the main character. We've also discussed that if there's one character who will take on the lead role in year four, it is Yasmin. She turned out to be a character with a very protagonist-like qualities. Interesting. Arjun has a large build but his arms do not extend. Wanted to create an Indian fighter. Mentioning he has very large population uh in India. The number of people who actually play Street Fighter is increasing. However, up until now, the only character from India in the series was Dalum. So, we wanted to include a new character. That's how this project came about. That's a good point. It's been a very long time there's been any sort of like brand new representation from India. I didn't even realize that. Dalsum's been the only one for the hell of a long time. It's funny to think of like it's almost from a marketing perspective that they're targeting characters and countries. I mean, they did this with Korea and Jury and it blew up, right? to target regions and locations where they literally can have more global expansion where it's like, okay, so if we just start going to specific locations across the world that don't have a lot of representation, then there's a chance that we could make the game blow up over there and get some new audience. Never thought of it that way technically. That's a very Tekken way of thinking about it. Bosch is finally going to be a playable character is a hot topic, but the development team have any intention from the beginning to make him playable. There were lots of hints in places um including the prequel manga. So I always thought I definitely want to make this happen someday. Yeah, I'm almost not surprised that that ended up being what actually happened. We have announced that our character Yasmin will be released on August 3rd, which is not far away. So that will be a major starting point. Our basic operation policy is to continue as before while also implementing collaborations and other initiatives. In 2027, the Street Fighter series will celebrate its 40th anniversary. I have a feeling that it will be packed with exciting developments. I've heard this is quite unprecedented even at Capcom, but the number of users continues to grow and the number of concurrent users is increasing directly from Masamoto himself. It's truly wonderful to see this kind of phenomenon happening within a title that's been out for 3 years and now it's entering its fourth year. We hope to maintain this upward momentum. This excitement is all thanks to the players who are playing right now. That's right. And although we are just the development team and not directly involved in the operation, the esports scene and the excitement surrounding the official tournaments are truly immense. The fact that there has been achievable records like Genennis at EVO 2026, largely thanks to our players and fans, it wouldn't mean anything if people weren't playing our game. Want to work even harder on the 40th anniversary while truly appreciating the gratitude I feel for this opportunity. We will make the game even more appealing from various angles so that people will want to play it. Yes, that's the kind of enthusiasm we're working with. Year four features a lineup centered around new characters, not returning characters from previous Street Fighter titles. Tell us the reason behind the policy. Just I think this reiterates what I said. M says, uh, first of all, SF6 itself has seen a huge increase in new customers and younger players. Until now, the most voluous age zone was like 35 to 40, but in Street Fighter 6, it's closer to 15 to 25 is now the majority at over 70%. Damn, that's what that feels like to not be directly catered to, says the guy who got Tifa. I feel that Street Fighter 6 is very wellreceived for having many completely new characters. That [ __ ] makes sense. Like this is the dream, right? you you realize this like we've all like ever since the Street Fighter 4 era like Tekken 7 very few games maybe Dragon Ball Fighters, Smash Brothers, like some games have managed to find success and also build a new audience. Like that is the dream to actually build a new foundation to build upon and not only rely on the people that like this [ __ ] from 30, 40 years ago. Literally the whole goal of reinvisioning what the hell Street Fighter is. The whole goal of them making Virtual Fighter what it is going forward into the future. That's it's the whole reason, you know what I mean? I just want to see this stuff like exist. If it feels like they're not catering to us and we're not getting our like super Street Fighter 6, I feel like that's the that's like the big thing. This is why I asked the question I did. There is a demand for a mechanical shakeup in some way, right? That's it. And that's all people really want. people just want like a re-evaluation of the game mechanics. Can you blame them for that? Not necessarily. I think that's a fair request, but as the developer said, you know, there's a 40th anniversary right around the corner and it's all about timing. It's all about doing this stuff within the right timing. The world tour has reached a milestone with the addition of Ingrid. Are there any plans to develop story elements or content that delves deeper into the characters that could replace world tour in the future? Nakayama says, "I'd like to do it, but that's a wish." The development staff also loved World Tour, so we were eager to create it. However, due to various circumstances, it became a little more difficult than we hoped. On the other hand, we think World Tour played a certain role in serving as an entry point to fighting games and acting as a tutorial. They confirm it's done. They confirm that like World Tour mode as we know it is done. I almost don't blame them blame them from a perspective of like ongoing game support because world tour got more ongoing like brand new free editions than a Monster Hunter game, dude. Like if we go back to Iceorn and stuff like that, Monster Hunter Wilds and Monster Hunter Rise, they had just about 3 years of support and then it was done. Like it sounded like this stuff was taking too much time and too much resources. World Tour is indeed done from their perspective. Whether or not they're going to do a new thing, I don't know. Street Fighter 6 is going to live on. It's just going to live on through its characters. We're probably going to see future Capcom fighting games in the near in the near or hopefully not too far future. Like, I do want to see a Capcom fighting game ecosystem. I think that's what I would like. I want to see an ecosystem that supports not just Street Fighter 6 or a Battle Hub that doesn't support Street Fighter 6. I think there's really cool opportunities for Street Fighter to effectively have like almost a uh a a multi-game hub that supports multiple things. Like that would be mad cool, dude. If if there was like a lot of different fighting games at Capcom that you could play actively at the same time. You got to be thinking that like behind them just supporting Street Fighter 6, there's probably other things that they're working on in the background right now. Whether or not that's CBS3, Marvel vs. Capcom 67, uh, you know, anything like that. Whatever the new Darkstalkers, we're just going to do, uh, we're just going to make Project Justice again, you know, any of that kind of stuff. Like, whatever the hell it is, I'm curious if they're trying to create like an ecosystem because effectively adding a ton of single player content forever just might not have the stability they were looking for. I'm just happy to see that Capcom fighting games are back. And once again, if one Capcom fighting game is doing so good, that means that there can be a support system for future games. And that's all I want, dude. I just want Capcom to take risks on fighting game franchises that they really haven't messed with in a long time. That's just I just want to see what their take on something like Darkstalkers would be. Not even saying I want it to be that. Like I they have the money, they have the equity, they have a team that's good at this. They know how to They know how to make a single player like Capcom fighting game that feels worth it and can connect with people. They got the IP and they got the characters, that's for sure. Heat. Heat.