EuroGamer spoke with Capcom's Seth Killian at Captivate last week about the Street Fighter 4 series, and Seth told them that Arcade Edition is planned to be the last entry in the IV series.
The Street Fighter IV series ends with this June's launch of the Arcade Edition, Capcom has confirmed.
The company will not update Super Street Fighter IV further or add characters to the roster.
"The plan is this is the end of Street Fighter IV," Capcom fighting game guru Seth Killian told Eurogamer at Captivate last week.
"Arcade Edition will be the end of Street Fighter IV. What comes next? We'll see. But we aren't planning any more Street Fighter IVs."
The arcade version of Street Fighter 4 launched in July of 2008 and since that time the game has seen new releases and upgrades on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, iPhone and 3DS.
The SF4 series has received very favorable reviews and done well sales wise, but it appears come summer 2011, Capcom will officially be done with the 4 iteration.
Ono said that SUPER would be the last update when SUPER was announced for the first time and today we have arcade edition here.
I think that we are going to get at least one more edition but that is just my personal opinion.
SF2 have world warrior, champion edition, turbo, super and hyper versions.
SF4 have normal, super and arcade so we can have more :P
Why does there have to be a definitive version of SF4? why cant it be continually updated like KoF, VF, or Madden even?
I guess i can understand if capcom no longer sees it as being profitable to continue w/ 4, or its simply a matter of them allocating their talent to SFxT, but it'd be cool to see them work toward getting the game more balanced and have a complete roster of all characters from 1-3 and alpha.
Sounds about right. 3 versions of the same game (outside of SSFII, which got only 2) has been their M.O for a while it seems.
Let's see
Street Fighter II: World Warrior, Championship Edition and Hyper Fighting/Turbo
while Street Fighter Alpha had 1, 2 and 3.
Street Fighter III had New Generation, 2nd Impact and Third Strike.
and now Street Fighter IV, SSFIV. and SSIV: AE.
then we'll get SF x T and SSF x T and SF x T : AE
We just got MvC3 to complete their trilogy
Now waiting for CvS 3 to complete the trilogy!
Well, they patched Super at some point after its release to address balance didn't they? My memory may be fuzzy. I'd imagine if necessary, they'd do it again with AE. Just no more new versions, probably.
It's just me, but I wouldn't be too upset over no additions to the roster in the future. It'd be nice to see more, but it's already a large selection as is. And for PC users, it's over half a roster of new playable characters! Considering all the great news today, this is a drop in the bucket.
@ triplefierce.
Agreed. Plans can change. I know they have limited resources and that the game essentially has to end to make way for other franchises. But it's near sighted to say, "this is IV, no more." Just make it "Street Fighter 2012" (bad example). And keep the game balance and updates constant. We don't need 10 more characters but one more? A balance patch? Why does our game have to die, but a million jocks get their Madden and Call of Duty?
Well I am happy you can buy the trilogy on disc and AE isn't ONLY DLC. I am cool with it.
@#1 Yang is not even as good as Yun. And they just replace former top tiers from SSF4. Nobody whined about them.
Not to mention the silly belief 'Everyone will paly them and win'. Yes, Vanilla Sagat was the constant tourney winner.
Most people who whine about the changes have not even played the freaking game, I tend to notice.
Gaps between tiers are actually smaller compared to SSF4.
But people only look high and forget the crap characters that got fixed.
@ Shogun.
You just cut the II series in half to serve your point. II had seven games counting Anniversary. Alpha was a side-series and III has had version A and B.
The rule of three's is an illusion when it comes to SF
-mrdrofficer
No updates or characters at all makes no sense to me. Why would they close the doors?
At the very least, closing the doors for any further updates is extremely stupid.
Me hope that "add no more characters further" means AFTER AE is released. Which means the rumors about 2 new characters is still possible.
(and didn't the guy that confirmed early that AE would be released in June, also said they had 2 more characters to bring?)
What Catalyst said, plus Capcom has said this before. I personally believe some of the "forgotten" characters Ono mentioned that are making it into Street Fighter × Tekken (probably Alex, Hugo, Karin, and Rolento if I had to guess) are going to be released as DLC for Super Street Fighter IV a little while later so they can hype their new game first before giving us what we want. I'm satisfied with everyone about the AE DLC but it just doesn't seem like a good idea for a game's support to "end" in this day and age, where an update is a 5 minute download instead of an entirely new cartridge/disc.
@LordJim: You're technically right, in that there are only four tiers:
1. Yun, Fei Long
2. Yang, Makoto, Akuma, Ken (possibly Zangief)
3. Abel, Adon, Balrog, Blanka, Cammy, Chun-Li, Cody, Viper, Dan, DeeJay, Dhalsim, El Fuerte, E. Honda, Gouken, Guile, Guy, Hakan, Ibuki, Juri, M. Bison, Rose, Rufus, Sagat, Sakura, T. Hawk, Vega
4. Gen, Ryu, Seth
notice how they say "The company will not update Super Street Fighter IV further or add characters to the roster." when we'll be playing Acrade Edition, hmmm suspicious
I think they are going to save characters like alex for sfxt. You can't have them all here. I just want juri to make that game and ill be happy.
They aren't making any more interations, im sure that the support will last for a while until the planned dlc/support has been rolled out. The twins will be properly balanced when they come to console because I think it was Ono who said that the balance for the new characters is in their favour in the actual arcades themselves
lol. that's what they said about SSF4, about a year ago.
if this is the last in the series, go out with a bang. hugo? alex? that clown ninja that almost made regular ssf4? cmon ono whats good my dude? CHAMPIONSHIP MODE??????? WTF!!!!!!!
I think super will go down in history as the best version. They really skimped on not giving us new characters despite all the people asking for them (twins and clones don't count in my opinion--it took them 8 months to make those characters?), and then they _intentionally_ unbalance a game that was widely considered to be balanced. I'd like to know who's pickled brain they picked when they turned a wrecking ball on some of the cast--they do realise that added power on your main is added value, and that buying a version of the game that weakens a consumers' favourite character dramatically and then forces them to contend with an army of elite-tier drones who didn't exist before, isn't going to sell copies? I want to struggle against my opponent, not my opponent's character. (Yes, I know tiers aren't everything, but they're still _something_--how many people would pick Yun if he were as strong as say, Guy? As versus how many we're going to see online after the DLC becomes available).
Still, they're not stupid and must have estimated what their target market is. All I know is that I'm not counted among it.
OMG!!!!! i almost forgot. wheres the news on 3rd strike?
They need to make ONE more pass on SF4 that just rebalances all the characters. There was no way going from SF to SSF4 to SSF4AE would have ever been balanced when each iteration they added new characters.
Capcom should do one more iteration and add NOTHING new and just do a rebalance - then it will be perfect.
I hope this is truly the final version. I wanna be able to focus on the game and there's no focus when the game keeps changing. 39 characters is a big load and it's too bad if your absolute favourite isn't in here but if you can't pick at least one char out of 39 then you're just being picky. I''m sure this game's gonna have a huge run.
@ caruga
Great point.
@ Evil
Read higher. I don't think it was at the event.
@ Anon
Well, that's the complain. Why not continue to support through patches and yearly updates? Why be so final about it? If fans are supporting more SFIV why not? Doesn't that mean it does well? I mean 1 million for 3DS and it's already a year-old there. It's still the top game. It's not a dying franchise so WTF?
I know people like to count all the iterations of Street Fighter 2 when they make comparisons to what Killian is saying, but if you really think about it the game only had three major editions:
Street Fighter 2
Street Fighter 2: CE
Super Street Fighter 2
Not saying the little turbo, hyper, uber, major, ginormous, et al. editions didn't add some important things, but as far as major releases those are your three.
@caruga I agree. Its crazy they didnt add any new characters. You would think that eventually down the line they knew this game was going to consoles. If that was the case, they shouldnt have released the twins and the clones until this announcement. The masses would have played this game without those characters due to the fact that its a return to the arcade scene.
@#34: Yun and Yang are only the tip of the iceberg. The 'balance changes' CAPCOM made were just so Yun and Yang would have an even easier time on their way to the top. Charge characters, like the holy 3rd Strike, are WORTHLESS, and so many more characters simply can't compete.
AE was dead right out of the gate, and that's why I can't say I'll be buying it.
@melflomil exactly. No elena. I would have loved to have played with Q from 3rd strike. I didnt play with him in 3rd but he sooooo fits my style of play now. I was ready to drop rog for him or hugo.
@THE_GODDAMN_MASTER you will get it. if you compete then you are going to get. i feel the same as you but i wanna compete. yun and yang armies are going to be a pain in the ass.
It seems Capcom has been true to its roots despite subtle modifications to their culture...hence, before this year ends we'll have a 3rd iteration of SFIV which is very reminiscent of the company's past behavior - with every SF there must be at least three iterations of that game before a true sequel is announce.
Some people don't get that they have to save other characters for sf x tekken. Why would any company just keep throwing characters in one game when they can profit off another. Besides if certain characters is all that makes you play the game then just wait on sf x tekken because i'm sure it'll have some of the missing linkz like ono said.
If this is the last version then I'm happy. Capcom have plenty of other games that they can work on like Darkstalkers and SFxT.
Does anyone know the order of the story line for the Street Fighter series? i might be wrong be correct me please..
Alpha series
Street Fighter
Street Fighter II
Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter III
I know I'm leaving out the HD,Turbo, Super, Arcade editions.
but story wise.
I see no use in buying the arcade edition. All I see are clone characters that are a bit similar to their counterparts. Yun= Yang. Ryu= Evil Ryu and Akuma = Oni
It should of been characters from Street Fighter 3 third strike, I was hoping for Elena at least, she would of made the game much better and worth to buy, including other SF3 characters for the 4 new characters. Arcade Edition should be $20.00 no more than that.
@THE_GODDAMN_MASTER
you automatically fall into the poor player section for saying charge characters are worthless in AE, i really don't know what game your talkin about
THANK YOU GOD THERE NOT MAKING ANY MORE OF THESE BULLS**T GAMES
It's sad that they even have to say something like this. Remember when vanilla SF4 came out and they laughed off the idea of doing a "Champion Edition" version? Yet here we are a couple years later and they still managed to milk 3 different versions out and charge us for all three on TOP of paying for alternate costumes.
Is it any wonder why they don't want to bother localizing Ace Attorney Investigations 2? They can't even come close to milking as much money out of that game as they can by constantly re-releasing Street Fighter games and charging for on-disc costumes.
Also, Arcade Edition is a no-buy for me unless they fix the balance changes that they made in it and add in Alex.
@53: Yeah, he's wrong though. As I said, I want to fight the player, not the character. As someone else put it once, people dream of beating Daigo, not of beating Yun/Fei Long/Sagat in vanilla. Ono should rely on logic and research, not on his feelings.
I'm fine with this. And I hope we don't see SF5 until a couple of years in the future. Capcom has plenty of fighting proyects, and we don't need a oversaturation of the market like the one back on the 90s.
I dream about SF5 is that we get a post-SF3 story on that one, with a more wise and powerful Ryu, a crazier Akuma, lots of new and old characters with their respective updates (I would kill to have an older Cammy on this era), new engine and gameplay mechanics (neither perry or focus attack, but something new and fresh).
It's too bad SF4 won't be getting two big updates like the others. This AE dlc does not interest me one bit. I couldn't care less for these twins and clones and Ono's statement on the balance makes me want it even less. I really wanted to give them a bunch of money for Karin, Urien, Oro, great balance, etc... If this is it for SF4 then SSF4 was already the end for me.
I wish Capcom would stop making so many fighting games. They should focus on SF and maybe one other fighting game at a time.
LMAO! screw you Capcom. I love how they purposefully unbalanced the game and then left it like it was a one-night stand. HAHAHA!
How can you end SF4 series without putting Elena in it? But great, we get more shotos, and the twins, which EVERYBODY requested. /sarcasm.
Honestly I have no real interest in AE. I will only upgrade to keep up with tournaments. Trading in nerfs for most our mains to get 4 characters I don't care about? No thanks.
Even if they did want to make a few characters overpowered, (not that they should) it should have been people like Akuma, Bison, or Sagat, not some stupid little kids.
Yeah, sorry, I'm really salty about this. I agree with 68. they are really leaving this great game in a bad way. I can only hope that this is another case were they say it's the end but it really isn't.
43> I know it's bullcrap, no Alex, this game so incomplete without him
I can't believe this is the last upgrade to SF4 and no Alex
I'm sorry, but are you guys taking this seriously? They use stuff like this as a marketing ploy all the time....Capcom is constantly lying about things. Even if it's the truth, you should take it with a grain of salt. Just sit back and wait, that's all you can do (but do request things you want or petition ;) ).
Almost every single comment above seems to be made in ignorance of the fact that AE for consoles explicitly features balance changes from the arcade AE.
You don't know how good Yun or Yang or anyone will be in it, because you haven't played it yet. So stop talking about how bad it is. This is getting ridiculous.
@74
I am not confident this is a marketing ploy, because dashing people's hopes is usually not a good thing except to de-hype a game. They wouldn't want to dehype AE before people have even bought it. This is not good news for fans of the SF4 series, although I hope Seth is BSing.
Crossover time i guess...
iam kinda saddened Sf4 was a part of my life during this past few years. i was expecting they will continue adding Dlc characters. alex hugo or even ex characters(Impossible but still hoping...) anyway...
They better balance this out AE in arcades are freaking unbalance.
and iam waiting for the pc release of super
iam sure the connection is a lot better than PSN...
I think I'm owed like $1000 from people who were screaming at me that "IT'S ALEX NOT CHUN-LI YOU MUST BE STOOPID"
Who's the moron now? I knew ever since AE was released in arcades and there were only two unlock characters that that was the end of SFIV. And have been saying it since.
No more new characters. It's done. They have SFxT to work on. It isn't a 'marketing ploy', there aren't any unannounced characters for launch, it's DONE. They don't want any more of your money for SFIV, they want to finish SFxT so you can buy that.
If they balanced this AE version on console(aka nerf twins, etc.) then I will be happy even though it is the end of a great run.
SF4 Series is by far my favorite. They brought back the magic of what made SF2 so awesome and loved.
I just hope they dont mess up SFxTekken and SF5 if that ever happens.
But all in all, I am pleased by Ono-san and his crew on putting out such a redeeming game to its predecessors. Long live SF4!
wow tons of people saying they aren't buying AE because of the changes. It's cool though I guess since those are specifically the kind of people I want to not play against. Props to Capcom for filtering out the crybabies with the final installment.
Also wish Alex was in...Maybe he'll get announced within the final months between now and release who knows.
So the AE DLC release date is June 7 right, thats a Tuesday & when the US PSN store gets updated. Does that mean the EU wont see the DLC until June 8, since thats the day EU store is updated? I know its just a day, but damn I'll be p*ssed if that the plan. Us EU gamers already suffer enough with having to wait 3 days after the US release for a game
"Arcade Edition will be the end of Street Fighter IV. What comes next? We'll see. But we aren't planning any more Street Fighter IVs."
They currently have no plans so this doesn't eliminate any future releases/projects. I have a good feeling the IV series won't end at AE.
81> I agree I still believe this is Alex being burned by Dhalsim
Sweet, glad to know Capcom took community input to heart and gave us Evil Ryu and Oni and not every other character that was asked for. Smart move.
@91
Did you not see all of those popularity polls which showed that the entire community wanted Oni and Evil Ryo over unpopular characters like R.Mika, Rolento, Karin and Elena?
Those polls were all over the Internet, I don't know how anyone could have missed them!
@92
I can kinda see that happening. Mainly because Ono said that they'd include characters from outside of SSFIV in SFxT. And since SFxT will be using the same engine as SSFIV, I don't think it would be to much effort to alter a SFxT moveset and import the character models to SSFIV.
I hope so anyway.
This is a genuinely lacklustre end to the street fighter 4 series. Capcom could have ended this with a bang, instead we've got a whimper.Only four new characters two of whom are pointless additions and a complete disregard for the wealth of characters that could have been called upon.
Can someone answer this question. So they nerfed rose's second ultra. Let's say I do not upgrade and I am playing with someone who has upgraded. Will she nerfed when playing against him or will the u2 still come out as they did in SSF4. Just wondering how the cross-gaming affects the balance of characters.
From an interview with Ono that I read, it seems the balancing team had no choice but to adhere to the orders on high. They made the changes they made because it was requested by their superiors, not because in their judgement they thought it a good idea. They executed their orders to the letter, perfectly, and to that extent it's credit to them.
Ono says a perfectly balanced game is like a perfectly round sphere, and it gets a little flat and boring; that making hills and valleys in the sphere, like a golfball, gives the game spice and variety. Sorry, but I think that's a mistake. It's the _players_ who bring variety to the game, and it's the players that bring the hills and valleys to that perfectly round sphere--it's the players that make it a golfball, not the developers.
In an ideal world, there would be nothing to influence my pick of character except whether I like the character. I don't want their strength to have anything to do with it. Strengths and weaknesses, yes, but not strength. In the end you're either for or against a balanced game, and I can see no advantages to the latter but that's the direction they've gone in.
@Those who say we don't know that Yun is broken: Look at match videos, look at the charts, look at the opinions of those who are the best in the world, look at the frame data and move properties. And lastly, have some common sense.
@99
It won't work like that.
If you play with someone opting for AE and you're playing SSFIV, you'll end up playing the game as if you're in AE *OR* SSFIV. Not a mix between the two.
You'll either play Rose as if she's the AE version against other AE balanced characters, or SSFIV Rose against other SSFIV balanced characters (excluding the AE additions)
99.999% of you aren't tournament caliber players, so what difference do character nerfs make? Will it make game night with your friends less fun? Will you lose that meaningless BP tally online?
Who cares? Learn to adapt, play new characters, etc, etc. It's not the end of the world.
this game will never be complete without violent ken.
and don't forget the afro
http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-...
I can't be the only one here that doesn't easily give into Capcoms words here.
If they think an update benefits them for whatever reason they *will* release a ssf4 AE Turbo Deluxe or whatever.
Just like how they said no PC version because of Piracy (lol) but look what they deliver some time later.
Seriously, you guys have been here long enough to make educational guesses how capcom says stuff about their future plans.
I think that there's a lot racial and national bias in terms of bashing the high tier characters.
Yun iss SSF4:AE is not much different than Guile in SSF4. I play at a local arcade and many people there say that Guile had more of an unbalanced advantage over other characters than Yun does in SSF4:AE. The same story with Cammy. Her TKCS were un-deniably broken in SSF4 which made it almost impossible fr certain characters to win against her.
The funny thing here is that the hate going against Yun in SSF4:AE is at least 20x the hate that was going against Guile and Cammy in SSF4. Matter of fact, a lot of the same people who defended the advantages that Guile and Cammy had in SSF4, saying things like "Oh Guile is not unbalanced, he's just fine" "Cammy's TKCS should not be taken away, it's really fair and balanced" back in SSF4 are the same ones who are complaining REALLY REALLY badly about Yun.
This really makes me wonder if there are hidden racism and nationalism behind the fact that Yun and Sagat gets at least 100x more Hate than Guile or Cammy did, even when Guile/Cammy was just as unbalanced or even more so than Yun/Sagat.
I wonder if Yun was a American skater, rather than a Hong-Kong Chinese skater, then would he be getting less Hate. And I also wonder if Guile was a Chinese Soldier than would have gotten more hate in SSF4.
This may be a silly question, but for anyone who saw the Captivate SSF4:AE DLC trailer, didnt it mention something about being able to choose your type of character? as in either Vanilla, Super or AE versions of the characters?
Yea, i just went back and took a look at the trailer and it says;
"Versus battles against REGULAR SSF4 players also supported, Get out there and duke it out with the version you like best"
anyone? or is this just my speculation?
@Dethscythe
imo it just means you will be able to play online against people without the DLC. They won't be able to pick the new characters but all the changes will be there (via a free update ?).
They said exactly the same thing about super, "the SF4 series ends with super" we all know how true that turned out to be! if makeing more games under the "4" series of SF will continue sell and generate revenue for capcom of course they will make more.
@ 118 Fireinthehole you raise a semi legitimate point about racism in video games. From my perspective the best of a bad bunch of streotypical Black Characters we've ever had were Sean and Elena. But they couldn't help but attach Basket Ball streotypes to Sean. While Elena did study an Afro/African martial art and even came from an African village, but her eyes were blue and her features were European.
It's a hard call to make in terms of the reception a character may receive based on their cultural connotations. Most people will pick the characters best suited to their playing needs; whether it be ease of use or character design. But certain Cultural connotations are almost unavoidable because of their historical representation in mass media. The American soilder is the hero of the world, the, the American Skater boy is the anti authritarian rebel. Could these universal cultural markers grant a character a more favorable reception, it's a possibilty and it's worth considering.
Peace
well end or no ends this will be my last copy of buyin this awesome game before i get my game on with mk and street fighter x tekken so heres for the best street fighter game ever made this gen and lookin forward to those other fightin games
@fireinthehole: It's funny, because even with the 'un-deniably broken' TKCS, she was still mid/low-tier.
Also, broken characters != racism. Keep it classy!
THANK THE LORD THIS IS THE END OF THE STREET FIGHTER IV SERIES. Now all the casuals are gonna leave this game and go back to FPS games, Madden and Mortal Kombat just like we all knew they would.
OK now Capcom, here is your chance to make a Street Fighter game for the fans who stuck with you all of these years unlike the majority of the SFIV fanbase who left after SFII.
no more characters? im saddened, but my hype level is off the scale