Street Fighter 6 Should Go Free-To-Play

Street Fighter 6 was announced late last night, and I can’t stop watching the short trailer that debuted the title. Ryu’s new model looks very impressive, and wow, is he a wide dude. He’s becoming one thick, square, sweaty muscle. Luke looks a lot different than his appearance in SFV. His hair style is more realistic and his veiny arms would be envy of John Cena. We have almost no information on the game as of now, but that won’t stop us from thinking about the possibilities of what may come with SF6 or what we want the next big chapter in the series to be.

Capcom’s live service gaming experience is not new. Street Fighter V offered both with its four season of Street Fighter V, which featured new characters, costumes and stages. The new bundles sold content for major tournaments, such as Evo or Capcom Pro Tour. These would allow the player to add more cosmetics. For all intents and purposes, Street Fighter has been running like a free-to-play game for years, and I’d like to see the series lean harder into that model, at least for this upcoming entry.

Street Fighter V, in some ways, felt like a beta-test for a free-to play system. Capcom offered two options for players: they could either purchase new characters and cosmetics using real money, or earn Fight Money through various game modes. These Fight Money can then be used to buy the same items. Other costumes were doled out in Extra Battles, where you’d earn “costume pieces” week-to-week to build a cool Capcom collaboration costume. This actually brought me back to SFV several times so I could get Rashid’s awesome Air Man suit or Kage’s Asura’s Wrath gear. Unfortunately, missing a week for a certain piece would leave you with an incomplete cosmetic that couldn’t be earned until the event came around again. It wasn’t a perfect system, with Fight Money being a grind to earn, but it did lay the groundwork for what could be possible if SF6 went free-to-play.

A battle pass system would make SF6 a revolutionary organization. Yes, it is true. A battle pass is not necessary for every game. Implementing one would be a big step forward for the game. The first is player retention. This would give players a reason for returning to the game time and again to reach higher up on their personal ladder. Players seem to drop off of fighting games pretty quick, but incentivizing sticking with it and giving rewards like customizations, unlockable characters, or new music to play while fighting might be a good way to keep people playing the game. A portion of battle pass revenue can be donated to the Capcom Pro Tour fund or to local tournaments. It is similar to Dota 2’s The International.

Street Fighter is an established video game franchise, however the sales figures for Street Fighter’s most recent installment (selling approximately 6,000,000 copies on PS4 and PC) are far below titles such as Mortal Kombat 11 or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. If successful, a free model supported by cosmetic sales and a battle pass can give Capcom a recurring source of income, allowing for more content and characters to be created, and we all know that’s what will really drive the company to support the game in the long term. 

On the other hand, shipping a complete game with an arcade mode on day one, a compelling story mode, training, and functional online with reliable (preferably rollback) netcode would also go a long way to topping SFV’s sales. MK11 is a prime example of fighting games that can be sold as premium full-priced products. Maybe now is the time for Capcom to sidestep the traditional sales model and innovate in a way bigger fighting games have rarely done. No matter what Capcom’s decision, Street Fighter will continue to be a fun fighting game. I believe we’re on the verge of a very exciting time for fighting games, and like its predecessors, SF6 can easily be the centerpiece of the genre for this new generation.

Street Fighter 6: What are you looking for? This question is the subject of a discussion between readers. You can talk about it with the Game Informer community over there!