The Street Fighter community was more than excited to hear on Wednesday that Capcom is planning to soon roll out a balance patch update for Street Fighter 6 on December 2, potentially bringing even finer tuning to the experience.
The excitement was cut a little short for some, however, as the ensuing revelation that the Capcom Pro Tour 2024 World Warrior: US-Canada West Regional Final event would be taking place just two days later on December 4. Such potentially drastic change just before a crucial, scheduled competition seems like an oversight, but looking at Capcom’s history in 2024 alone, it clearly is not.
Street Fighter 6 has seen a handful of significant updates this year, the majority of which were characterized by the release of new DLC fighters added to the game’s roster. Ed rolled out with a major season 2 adjustment patch just after Capcom Cup concluded, which is probably the most optimal time for such changes to be introduced.
Fast forward a few months to May and the release of the next DLC character: Akuma. Akuma dropped on May 22, just two days before the start of one of the biggest, longest-running, and most consistent major tournaments the FGC sees play out every May: Combo Breaker.
Combo Breaker was not a Pro Tour event this year, but as a household name tournament that draws international competition, the idea of launching a brand-new character (along with tons of balance tweaks for the rest of the cast) seemed peculiar, to say the least.
Those supposing this was a one-time oversight would be fooled twice just one month later when M. Bison was released with a character balance patch on June 26, just two days before the start of one of the few yearly majors that’s been running even longer than Combo Breaker: CEO 2024.
This December update marks the third instance this year that Capcom is making major changes to Street Fighter 6 just two days before the start of a significant event, and this time it’s one of their own that has been on the schedule for months. The writing seems clearly on the wall at this point: Capcom is not prioritizing the spirit of competition.
There has already been much concern expressed about the way this year’s Capcom Pro Tour is being executed. Compared to previous iterations of the Pro Tour, 2024’s has lacked the point systems and intuitive structure that encouraged fans to excitedly follow the action throughout the year.
It was BST|Daigo who noted how the lack of points disincentivizes top players from traveling as much as they have in the past, as you can only qualify for the Cup by winning first place (also second in the case of Super Premier events). This contrasts with previous approaches in that those offered some progress for placing in the final brackets thanks to the fact that even a top 32 finish would net you a few CPT points in the past.
There is a point system housed within the regional qualifiers, meaning there are 24 different point pools to keep track of, none of which are global to all participants across the Tour. If you’re already confused, you’re not alone, and we haven’t even gone into the questionable prize payout structure that encourages players to win and not return.
As far as the World Warrior Regional Finals that are now playing out, some have already completed while others have whittled down to top-8 brackets. The US/Canada finals will take place two days after the upcoming patch, though Germany’s will conclude the day before the patch.
China, Taiwan/HongKong, Macau, Mexico, Spain/Portugal, Europe Northeast, Middle East, and US Midwest will play out three days later on December 7, and then France/Monaco and Europe West will play out on December 8. Had Capcom delayed this patch by one week, all of these finals would be played across the same version of the game.
Capcom has clearly put massive effort into evolving both Street Fighter and the competitive atmosphere around it, moving through trying periods of exploration and growth, hopping along the stepping stones of failure en route to success.
Street Fighter 6 has seen a lot of that success come to fruition in ways its predecessor clearly did not, but perhaps this all came at the expense of attention and care for the Pro Tour.
Do we need patches and newcomers? Absolutely. Is a Pro Tour hard to plan, fund, balance, and execute? Of course. Is rolling out both things simultaneously and in constant harmony a challenge? No doubt. Still, one might hope this kind of thing won’t happen quite so frequently in the future.