Popular fighting game content creator, Maximilian Dood, recently shared his insights suggesting that the development of Street Fighter 5 was salvaged by in-game costume sales. Despite initial challenges and negative feedback, Capcom managed to turn the game around, allegedly owing to the profits made from costumes.
Dood detailed his claim during the Triple K.O. podcast. He referenced a conversation with a Capcom representative who allegedly stated that sales from premium real-money costumes were pivotal for the game’s continued development. According to Dood, this revenue stream was robust enough to finance the necessary adjustments to the game during a period when it was struggling significantly.
Street Fighter 5 had faced a challenging launch period. Lauded for its graphics and gameplay mechanics, it still fell short of fan expectations due to a lack of single-player content and character options, coupled with unsatisfactory online performance. In fact, it had received negative reviews from over half the players on the Steam platform, mainly highlighting similar concerns, along with the lack of controller support.
Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono apologized for the server issues, and Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto later admitted to the game’s lack of content and polish. Ono eventually confessed in February 2017 that Street Fighter V had not been a complete product upon release, a fact that served as a learning experience for the team.
Fast forward to the present, the Street Fighter franchise appears to be thriving. The release of Street Fighter 6 has garnered much acclaim, and the overall series recently crossed a milestone of 50 million copies sold. Furthermore, Street Fighter 6 has already been experienced by over a million gamers.
Comments