After the controversial inclusion of sponsored content in Street Fighter V, the in-game ads appear to have been removed from the game temporarily. The in-game ads were originally implemented into the fighting game to push other Capcom properties and events, but they sparked a lot of fear over the future usage of such mechanics among fans. The decision originally provoked plenty of controversy within the fighting game community, and the games industry at large.
And it got even worse from there, as it’s only been a few months since a randomized loot box system was introduced to the popular title. Capcom runs a lot of risk of running afoul of the games industry with these choices, so it’s pretty smart to temper their outlook and tone down the presence of these controversial mechanics. And look, I get it, they need to make money, but it’s not like Capcom doesn’t also have stupidly popular titles like Monster Hunter World to fall back on. Did they really need to sully one of the most popular fighting games with this stuff?
And with rumblings about a renewed focus on the fighting game property, possibly a new SFV League of some kind, it seems like Capcom got the message and understands the damaging potential their moves could have on the public image of their games. The game also consistently tops at the biggest tournaments, including EVO, so having more ads all over those kind of events could go down poorly with fans and TOs.
The change was noticed in a report by EventHubs, pointing out that several of the “Ad Style” costumes had been removed from the game. Although it appears as though the change is not permanent. As per an explanation from Capcom, the style switch is temporary and likely due to there being no advert placed in that slot on the style selection.
Capcom explained, saying that ads will “change intermittently” and “if a sponsorship is not available at the time and you selected any colors from 3-10 of the Ad Style outfit in your battle settings, you will be forced to use colors 1 and 2.”
Street Fighter 5’s producer, Yoshinori Ono, released a statement following the conclusion of Capcom Cup 2018 thanking the community for their feedback about the system too, so it seems like Capcom is at least listening to fans.
Street Fighter V is available now on PS4 and PC.
