Say what you will about Capcom’s strategy of incessant re-releases for their fighting games (Street Fighter IV has gone through the indignity of five releases- Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, Ultra Street Fighter IV), but at least the games are top notch; essentially, the release of a new Street Fighter game can often single handedly usher in a new generation of fighting games.
Therefore, fans who are eagerly waiting for Capcom to just get on with it, get done with the Street Fighter IV rehashes, and release Street Fighter V already, are probably going to be disappointed to know that if it ever does come, it’s not coming for a fair few years. Half a decade, in fact.
“Game development is a long and arduous process,” producer Tomoaki Ayano told VG247. “If you look at the history of the series, it took six years to go from Street Fighter II to Street Fighter III, and nine years to go from Street Fighter III to Street Fighter IV. Purely based on that it would probably take us until the year 2018 before Street Fighter V comes out. So I hope everyone will play Ultra Street Fighter IV for a long time.”
Yeah, but people who wanted to play Street Fighter IV or any of its variants probably already have by this point. I understand not wanting to impede sales of their upcoming game with the announcement of a true next generation Street Fighter, but all this is doing is losing more goodwill for Capcom.