Street Fighter 6 devs reveal that series’ core player base has become a lot younger 

Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 has shifted the target audience of the Steet Fighter series to a much younger demographic, with players in their 20s making up most of the game’s player base. This was exactly what the developers were aiming for too, as revealed by Takayuki Nakayama, director of Street Fighter 5 and 6, in a recent interview with WalkerPlus. 

The 2023 entry to the Street Fighter series took many new turns, introducing a brand-new Drive System at the core of its matches, as well as a highly simplified Modern Controls scheme and an audio accessibility system that allows interaction with the game without visual feedback. Street Fighter 6’s development team aimed to incorporate various solutions that would allow the game to reach a wider audience, and it seems that player base “rejuvenation” was also one of their objectives. 

Commenting for WalkerPlus, Street Fighter 6’s director Takayuki Nakayama reveals information about the series’ player base: “Male players aged 35 to 45 had been the main demographic of Street Fighter games up until recently, but within 7 months of the release of Street Fighter 6, this shifted to players in their 20s.” Furthermore, Nakayama notes that the percentage of female Street Fighter players is also increasing with the latest title. 

When asked whether the developers expected this change, Nakayama says, “Of course, this is the kind of rejuvenation we were aiming for, although it was not an easy task to achieve.” He explains that for Street Fighter 6, his goal was to improve accessibility to make the game easier to pick up and enjoy, even for beginners. This was also the main reason for the introduction of the World Tour mode, which helps players learn how to play the fighting game. Nakayama mentions that, after Street Fighter 6 launched, he felt that these steps were a catalyst for attracting a new player base. 

Street Fighter 6 is available for the PC (Steam), PS4/PS5 and Xbox Series X❘S.