No fighting game is more recognizable than the Street Fighter series. The upcoming Street Fighter V will be a PlayStation 4 and PC exclusive, making the recent PlayStation Experience the best venue for hosting the Capcom Cup 2015 — the culmination of the Capcom Pro Tour — an eSports event where pro-gamers go head-to-head in Street Fighter IV for cash prizes.
The PlayStation Experience is also where exciting announcements are made, including the reveal of Street Fighter V itself last year. This year’s keynote revealed Capcom’s plan to release characters for its the upcoming game, but the characters can also be unlocked from in-game.
[a]listdaily talks to Matt Dahlgren, Capcom’s Director of Brand Marketing, from the PlayStation Experience floor to find out more about what’s in store for the famed fighting franchise.
You’re hosting the Capcom Cup 2015 at PlayStation Experience. How does it feel to collaborate with Sony on the event
Absolutely exceptional. We have the benefit of running Capcom Cup that Sony did its keynote on. It looks fantastic. I’m sure there are a lot of PlayStation fans who didn’t know about competitive Street Fighter, who are getting exposed to it here. So, we’re very excited to partner up.
How do you see Street Fighter V’s future as an eSport
I think we’re on the up-and-up, and the next two to three years are going to be very exciting for fighting game fans. This is now the second season of the Capcom Pro Tour. We’ve achieved almost 200 percent growth over the previous season, and all of this was done with a game that’s been out for six or seven years [Ultra Street Fighter IV]. Street Fighter V comes out February 16th, and I think that will bring a whole influx of brand new players into the scene. We have a solid strategy with the Capcom Pro Tour and a great partnership with Sony. I think all of that is going to work together.
How did you come up with the idea of having a season pass featuring characters that can be unlocked for free
We drew inspiration from popular MOBAs out there. We were also looking at how we handled content delivery in the past. Previously, we put everything together for a compilation package. We’d rebalance the game and have a bunch of characters all thrown together. While that served its purpose, it had a lot of downsides. If you took a break from playing for a few years, you’d have to purchase DLC to play alongside the largest player base. You couldn’t pick and choose what content you wanted.
So, we’ve basically thrown that out the window and come up with a new model. It’s more about engagement. Now characters are going to be continually developed and released once they’re finished, which should be every few months, so there’s always new content right around the corner. Additionally, you’ll be able to earn in-game currency just by playing, which will enable you to earn the post-launch character content free of charge.
It’s a lot more player friendly, and I think our fans are going to love it. You can take a break for a few years, you’ll still have all the characters that you own, and you’ll play with all the latest balance adjustments and the largest player pool.
What kind of marketing push can we expect for Street Fighter V
This is going to be the largest marketing push in Street Fighter history, with television, online, and everything we can think of. We’ve got a great product on our hands, and we want to make sure everyone knows it’s coming out. Very excited for this coming February.
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