Street Fighter V Launches to Disaster with Capcom Promising to Fix it.....Again.

Published: February 17, 2016 8:55 PM /

By:


Street Fighter V Charlie

After following the Street Fighter V release for the last several days, it's clear that Capcom has not only a mess on their hands, but one of the biggest launch issues scene since Batman: Arkham Knight on the PC. While this game is playable, the combination of the piece-meal content that Capcom has decided to do with this release (most likely due to the game needing to be out for a significant time before EVO), and the state of the multiplayer servers have not only left a bad taste in consumers mouths, but has asked them to be patient while they add in features that one would consider to be basic to the fighting game experience. This comes off the controversy of censorship of such things as Rainbow Mika's buttslap, and even got Yoshinori Ono to give a public apology on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Yoshi_OnoChin/status/699544277383118848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Now Capcom has responded in a launch status update post on the steam community forums, including some of the main focuses that they will be looking at in the upcoming days. But one thing they make clear is that "login and intermittent connectivity issues should be less frequent as the service stabilizes". A quick check of Street Fighter V on twitter may not exactly support that statement in question, as high-profile gamers such as APLFisher have indicated that the servers may not be getting any better. As of the writing of this article, the SFVServers twitter account has indicated that another fix was put in and the issues should be resolved as of 30 minutes ago, but given the statement earlier in the day regarding it, the gaming public are a little hesitant to believe it at this point. Despite having multiple betas in which there were massive connectivity problems, it seems that Capcom wasn't able to put in the support and server presence needed to be able to handle the launch day of this historic franchise. Oh, and of course, there's matchmaking issues on top of the server problems. Because of course there is. 

https://twitter.com/Aplfisher/status/700085638494875649

 

https://twitter.com/RobaatoX/status/700086783850074112

But the server problems cause some problems even for players fighting the CPU. In story mode, you can make "fight money" in order to buy the upcoming DLC characters. If not connected, it seems that you are not awarded the fight money in question. Then there's the questionable decision making regarding the design, in particular with the online component. The game when not connected disables some costumes and features that don't need to be tied to an online system, but it's when the connection goes out where the big problems occur. If in a middle of a survival run and the connection goes out, the game does the unthinkable: it cancels the current run. Needless to say, it's left some players not only angry, but wanting to refund the game. The game currently has a mixed rating on Steam, with over 1000 negative reviews, leaving it at a 40% positive rating or so.

https://twitter.com/KecheobCat/status/700085412547555329/photo/1

And it also doesn't cast a great light on the fact that basic game modes like Arcade mode and a straight up VS. CPU mode aren't there. And a story mode that's coming in a couple of months which will take 1 hour or so to complete based on developer interviews . For a 60 dollar release in 2016, the game is being criticized for a lack of content. While the game seems to be great technically at first, players have seen some strange behavior regarding hitboxes, and in some cases players having full meter going into an online match. Problems seem to be popping up left and right, and every time you look on twitter, someone else is posting a new issue. And the single player gameplay seems to be a tiny bit different, as they are using double buffering on the PC version, meaning that if you drop below 60FPS in the single player, then you'll go to 30, which will result in some weird animations. 

But in particular with the PC version, players are wondering why critical items such as Native DirectInput Support wasn't present on launch. While there are programs that allow for those types of inputs like X360CE (Capcom's recommended fix), considering that the game launched on the Playstation 4 and many PS3/PS4 compatible arcade sticks are D-Input, it's a glaring omission on launch. In addition, those rage-quitting the game don't seem to be punished, as no victory OR loss is recorded if the game hasn't recorded the game's result with the SFV servers. That's a glaring omission for a ranked ladder mode, as only honorable players will be willing to take a loss and will have others rise to the top in several scenarios.

It's also a little bit troublesome to actually invite a friend to play on Steam as well, as the game doesn't use the Steam interface layer at all to invite friends. Mouse driven menus would have been good to see as well. Oh, and rebindable keyboard controls (despite the fact that you can rebind the controller). Like every reasonable PC port out there has. But instead, we have another PC port that leaves a lot to be desired. At least PC modders have added Mika's buttslap back into the game. Because if you can rely on anyone, it's the modding community. 

And don't be fooled in believing this is a first for either. Capcom has not been kind to games releasing on the PC platform, with the exception of Resident Evil Remastered and Resident Evil 0 Remastered. Games like Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition were abandoned despite the fact that numerous problems, including game breaking ones, existed. Thankfully the modding community came to its support. Games like Resident Evil Revelations 2 had huge issues on launch, including a local co-op feature mysteriously leave the store page on the release of the game.


Quick Take

I've been saying for the past several years that Capcom has been showing signs of not understanding what their user base wants, and this is the cherry on the crap sundae. I'd hate to be a hardcore fighting fan that waited to see this game release, only to find that THIS was the state of the game. I'm tired of companies making apologies for things like this. Make your game work and have reasonable content on launch. Hundreds of indie developers do it with a thousandth of the budget that Street Fighter V has, a corporation should be able to do it. Oh wait, it's Capcom. Nevermind, I'm just silly. It's getting worse and worse to be a consumer in the game industry at times, and Capcom should be doing things to help their consumers get good products....not this.

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Shaun Joy TechRaptor
| Former Video Lead

YouTuber Dragnix who plays way too many games, and has a degree in Software Engineering. A Focus on disclosure on Youtubers, and gaming coverage in general… More about Shaun

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Street Fighter V
Game Page Street Fighter V
Developer
Capcom, Dimps
Publisher
Capcom
Platforms
PC, PlayStation 4, Arcade
Release Date
February 6, 2016 (Calendar)
Genre
Fighting