Evo 2015, while being the center of all eSports this week, has also given way to some interesting information for Street Fighter V, the latest game in the iconic fighting franchise. Images of a presentation given by Producer Yoshinori Ono shed light on many of the new changes that are being brought with this installment. All of these images were taken by Twitter user Joe who attended this presentation.
Information that we already know, such as the launch roster of 12 returning characters and 4 brand new ones, was reiterated, but it seems that all of the characters available post launch will be available through in-game currency called "Fight Money," as well as by purchasing Zenny with real world money. After the four different installations of Street Fighter IV, Capcom doesn't want something like this to split up the player base in the future, and this new model means that Street Fighter V will always be the latest version, rewarding players who consistently play the game with new characters. There is no exact word out yet what you will be required to do in-game to earn Fight Money or how much will be required to purchase these DLC characters.
Moving on from DLC plans, there was also a discussion on the amount of thought and balance that went into balancing all of the characters against one another. Their approach is that they want to have diversity in the look and feel of each of the characters, and that instead of nerfing characters, they want to instead buff the weaker characters. Using Ryu as a standard, they hope to chart all characters around him so that they are able to display where each character should stand in relation to one another.
Most of all, it seems that Capcom is focusing on making Street Fighter V the easiest to just pick up and play for veteran fighters returning from all of the games past or even new fighters joining for the first time. This ease of access is also part of Capcoms plan to continue the community of their fighting game series by not breaking them up between releases and rewarding the die hard fans.
Street Fighter V will be releasing in March of 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PC.
Quick Take
This new model for DLC for Street Fighter is one that shares a lot of similarities with F2P games that is an intriguing way to reward players. This might also serve to quell any frustration of players who are upset that character DLC might be included on the disc or in the download but is locked by a paywall, something that we saw with Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter X Tekken, but is instead available as long as you put in the time. The only concern is just how much do you have to pay in order to get a character? And is that time spent worth it?
