Capcom comment on “failure” of Street Fighter 5 and what they learned from it 

To commemorate the 8-year-anniversary of Street Fighter 5’s launch, Capcom made a statement via the official Japanese Street Fighter account on X.  The company gives a frank retrospective on the game’s bumpy release, expressing both their regret for past mistakes and gratitude towards players for sticking around. 

Capcom released Street Fighter 5 back in February 2016. Despite being heavily anticipated, the game was met with rather mixed reviews, as its polished gameplay and graphics were not enough to compensate for frequent technical issues and what many deemed a lack of content. Street Fighter 5 failed to meet its initial sales targets, and the title’s producer Yoshinori Ono even admitted that it was not a finished product at launch. 

However, the developers responded to users’ needs by gradually improving the quality of Steet Fighter 5 through subsequent fixes and new content updates, successfully dealing with most of the issues that caused the initial disappointment. Now, 8 years later, Capcom gives a refreshingly honest take on the whole ordeal, expressing regret for the initial problematic state of the game. 

The company considers Street Fighter 5’s rocky release an important learning experience, mentioning how it shaped Street Fighter 6’s success. Upon its release in 2023, Street Fighter 6 became a record-breaking title for both the series and Capcom.