Announced at the Capcom Panel during EVO 2015 and first reported by Playstation’s Official Blog is news that will excite veterans and newcomers of the Street Fighter series alike.
Since Street Fighter II players have had to buy “super” or “ultra” editions of the game they already own to stay with the playerbase, play new content, and remain competitive. However Capcom has broken with this policy announcing that, “the initial release disc is the only disc you will ever need.”
This is a big deal but it is not the only information Capcom gave us. They announced that Street Fighter V will launch with a 16 character roster of which 4 fighters will be new to the franchise.
It has also been announced that all balancing updates will be available for free; which is a standard that should never be dropped.
The biggest news out of these announcements was player’s having the ability to earn DLC fighters and all other DLC content through gameplay. Players will be able to pick who/what and if they want to buy from DLC or if they want to earn that content for free by playing the game.
Not all the information, such as price points for content in real world and game currency has been announced but they have told us about a system that is strangely reminiscent of free-to-play models.
The system for buying content is built on two types of currency: “Fight Money” and “Zenny.”
Fight Money will be the currency that players will earn through gameplay and once they acquire enough Fight Money they can use it to purchase content including fighters free of charge.
Zenny is a “premium currency” players can purchase will real world money to immediately unlock DLC content.
This is a great change from Capcom and has an old school gaming feel of unlocking content by playing the game. However, the almost free-to-play or “freemium,” set up of the currency system raises some serious questions.
If this system works as advertised it will be a boon on players and earn Capcom some well deserved goodwill. The concern is if the DLC content, and especially the fighters, will be priced ridiculously high under the Fight Money currency. If Capcom takes this route and makes it so unlocking fighters will require grinding for an unseemly amount of hours, making purchasing the DLC the only viable way to play them then this could backfire in a very bad way.
We will have to wait for more information before drawing further conclusions though.
Has this announcement convinced you to pick up SFV? Let us know in the comments!