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Capcom has revealed that Street Fighter V will look to bring its eSports community out of the shadows when it releases next year.
The eSports community is something that has slowly become a global phenomenon. It rakes in around $252 million a year in global revenue and has approximately 113 million hardcore fans worldwide. Therefore, the games of the future have a responsibility to cater to this audience.
In an interview with MCV, Capcom’s EMEA brand manager Brian Ayers discussed just how next year’s reinvented Street Fighter hopes to capture its eSports community.
“The ambitions with Street Fighter V were to make the game approachable and accessible again,” he said. “We really hope that Street Fighter V can bring in a newer, younger audience. Perhaps more of an eSports audience, as well. Street Fighter is actually one of the first eSports titles out there, but it’s relatively underground compared to the likes of Dota 2 and League of Legends.”
In order to bring the Street Fighter series onto the main eSports stage, Ayers believes it’s important to first cut out the series’ re-releases in order to create a level playing field for competitors.
The past decade has seen an entire host of Street Fighter spin-offs, including ‘Ultra’ and ‘Super’ editions of Street Fighter IV. These can often lead to confusion as fans find themselves picking which edition suits their play style best.
“You won’t get Super Street Fighter V or Ultra Street Fighter V. It will just be that core release, which will hopefully make it more accessible so people aren't questioning which version they have to buy.”
Ayers also explained that Street Fighter V’s core release game will “essentially be the only disc you’ll ever need to buy.” The base game will be expanded upon as time goes on, with new characters, features and any updates the community feels are needed.
As well as limiting confusion amongst players as to which instalment they should purchase, this decision will also help to make sure that, as of next year, there’ll be one universal base from which to experience Street Fighter.
Creating a base such as this should allow the Street Fighter community to come together and battle one another across one version of the game. Put simply, it sounds like the perfect way to cater to the ever-increasing number of eSports competitors and spectators.
Street Fighter V is scheduled to release on February 16 next year, for PlayStation 4 and PC.
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So what do you think? It will also be cross-platform which I think is an interesting decision. Playing against PS4 players on my PC sounds cool.