With 2023 coming to a close, Japanese gaming news outlet 4gamer sat down with several developers at Capcom to ask them a few questions about some of their favorite things from this year and goals and aspirations for next.
Among the people interviewed was Street Fighter 6 producer Shuhei Matsumoto, who noted that he’s been really into playing Dave the Diver this year. More importantly, though, Matsumoto spoke about some of his aspirations for next year, and in regards to Street Fighter 6, the developer stated that there will be “a lot of collaborations and events” in 2024.
After asking a variety of different questions, including what the most memorable piece of entertainment he experienced this year was, 4gamer prompted Matsumoto with the following request: Please tell us your aspirations for 2024 and a message for 4Gamer readers.
While the interview was conducted in Japanese, Google Translate offers us the insight on what Matsumoto had to say on the matter.
“I’m really happy that so many people have been playing Street Fighter 6 since it was released in June. Thank you so much!” Matsumoto began. “We are preparing a lot of collaborations and events in 2024, so I would be happy if you could participate and have fun!
“And then Ed and Akuma are coming, so be sure to check them out! Street Fighter 6 will continue to move forward, so please support us,” Matsumoto concluded.
As it stands right now, Street Fighter 6’s year 1 DLC character pass consists of four characters: Rashid, A.K.I., Ed, and Akuma. The former two are already in the game, and we already know that the other two will be joining next year.
However, we didn’t previously know that 2024 would be host to a lot more collaborations. Street Fighter 6 has already seen collaborations with several outside IPs and has implemented special content into the game as a result.
One of the coolest (and most infamous) collaborations came in the form of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes for your avatar, which looked cool, but came along with a steep price tag per turtle. We have also seen Street Fighter 6 cross paths with major anime/manga series such as Baki The Grappler, and more recently announced, Spy X Family.
With these collaborations, fans are often given the ability to pick up new avatar gear, in-game titles, artwork, and more that features the crossover between the two IPs. What fans really want, though, is new costumes for the playable characters on the roster, and we can only hope that these collaborations in 2024 might also include something similar to the crossover costumes we saw back in Street Fighter 5.
Capcom had a long run during Street Fighter 5’s lifespan in which they would release costume packs for different fighters that featured “crossover costumes” — outfits that pulled inspiration from their other franchises and essentially made fighters on the roster look like other characters from other Capcom games. We haven’t really seen anything of the like in Street Fighter 6 just yet, but the concept of crossover costumes was always well received and we can only hope that they make a return in 2024.
Street Fighter 6’s next DLC character will be Ed, and he is scheduled for release sometime in the winter months that occupy the early part of next year. Akuma will follow in Spring, and the game also has a big balance update that fans are very much anticipating, though we don’t have any official word on when it might be released.