If you’re among the many Xbox enthusiasts with a taste for fighters that were bummed out about the announcement that Street Fighter V would be a console exclusive on PlayStation 4, Capcom has some even worse news for you. Despite fan hopes about a potential Super Street Fighter V on Xbox One, or something of the sort, Capcom bluntly confirmed today, while speaking in an interview with Gamespot, that absolutely no version of Street Fighter V will come to Xbox One, ever, including any potential (and probably inevitable) special editions of the game to come.
The rep that delivered the news stated pretty definitively that the deal that Capcom made with Sony over Street Fighter V, which will only launch for PC aside from its marquee PlayStation 4 version, is, “Real”, and that it has the ironclad clause that the game absolutely can’t come to Xbox One, in any form. It’s assumed that the game is also forbidden from launching on Nintendo platforms, no doubt including the company’s in-development ‘new concept’ platform, code-named Nintendo NX. With that said however, the series hasn’t touched Nintendo since the release of Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, which served as a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, so that’s probably inconsequential either way.
It would appear that Sony’s deal with Capcom is thus a lot more hardline than the similarly controversial exclusivity deal that Square Enix inked with Microsoft over this Fall’s blockbuster game release, Rise of the Tomb Raider, which will first launch as a timed exclusive for Xbox One and Xbox 360. Xbox head, Phil Spencer directly stated that the exclusivity deal with Square Enix is temporary as well, with Rise of the Tomb Raider free to release on other platforms, namely PC and PlayStation 4, after the exclusivity period lapses. No such luck with Street Fighter V though, it seems.
While this news will probably be heartbreaking for many in the West, fans of Capcom and Street Fighter in their native Japan are no doubt shrugging, and would probably all be picking up the PlayStation 4 version anyway. Japan has continued to turn their nose at the Xbox One completely since its ill-fated launch in the Land of the Rising Sun, where its sales are hovering around a pathetic 50,000 units at present. Ouch. The PlayStation 4 has been a slow seller in Japan as well, despite the PlayStation brand being embraced there in a way that the Xbox brand has never been, but the PlayStation 4 still made it to a million units amongst the Japanese recently, even if that’s still half the number of Japan’s lifetime Wii U sales.
Are you dismayed that Street Fighter V will even be skipping Xbox One with its special editions? Were you preferring to play on PlayStation 4 or PC anyway? Do you not care about Street Fighter one way or the other? As usual, your comments are welcome below.
Street Fighter V will soon be showcased at E3 2015, where it will join Resident Evil Zero HD, Mega Man Legacy Collection and Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition at the expo’s Capcom booth. At this point, its Capcom’s only fully original game at the show this year, barring any surprises.
Keep Sheng Long’ing Eggplante for all news and updates on Street Fighter V, and other developments with Capcom and the Street Fighter series.