Capcom released Street Fighter V in a condition which they were happy with. The general public disagreed. The original game, upon release, was pretty underwhelming. Frankly, it felt unfinished. The SFV Season 1 DLC was Capcom’s response to their player’s dissatisfaction. Did it live up to the hype from the Street Fighter community? If you’ve clicked on this article, you already know the answer
Too early to say?
Yes, it is technically too early to tell whether or not the season 1 DLC is completely horrible. The final character, Urien, has not quite been released to the public, so maybe I’m exaggerating…
I’m definitely not exaggerating.
Sure, season 1 is not over yet in both releases and professional play. That does not mean it’s too early to draw conclusions. Let’s be honest, the season 1 DLC was extremely underwhelming. Yes, it does make the game feel more complete, but Capcom would have been better off just finishing the game in the first place before release.
Season 1 DLC characters
There have been six characters added as DLC since the release of Street Fighter V. Many of the characters were pandering to players. Fan fare is no reason to bring in a character. It’s not like a customer is deciding whether or not to buy the game based on whether or not Balrog is included in the roster.
Speaking of Balrog, he is a huge part of my main problem with the new characters added the season 1 DLC. All the ‘new’ characters are from older Street Fighter games. Most of them have a pretty large fan base. Balrog is, by far, one of the most popular characters from the recent SF games. So naturally they include him to the delight of fans.
Here’s where it gets crappy:
The characters are moved to SFV, but they are not built to fit into the game. The playability and viability of nearly every character in the season 1 DLC is secondary to just saying “SFV now has Balrog!”
Capcom, that is terrible game design procedure.
How to fix it
Capcom could have fixed the entire issue by delaying the release of the game and actually including all the features and game modes they originally promised. There is no need for players to pay full-price for an unfinished game. Then the players are expected to download and patch the game over and over just to experience the full game. Ridiculous!
Yes, delaying the game would have been costly, but the positive reviews would quickly melt any bad press the game received pre-release. Get it together Capcom.