February 14 is for lovers, but February 16 is for fighters.
Capcom announced today that it’s releasing Street Fighter V for PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16 in North America and Europe. The company announced the launch plans alongside Sony at the Paris Games Week fan event in France, which is happening right now. This will kick off the next generation of the popular fighting franchise, and the competitive scene could benefit from the rise of esports and game streaming on Twitch and YouTube.
In addition to the date, Capcom also confirmed that the original Street Fighter II character Dhalsim joins the roster of 16 playable combatants.
Above: He’s back.
Street Fighter V follows Capcom’s many iterations on Street Fighter IV, which originally debuted in arcades way back in 2008 and on consoles in 2009. Since then, the publisher has regularly updated the game in 2010 with Super Street Fighter IV, in 2011 with Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, and 2013 with Ultra Street Fighter IV.
Instead of continuing that update path, Street Fighter V will reset the franchise with new systems, meters, and characters. But Capcom is definitely prepping the game for future updates. The company has already said that it will launch six new characters as downloadable content in 2016 to bring the roster to a total of 22. You can buy those fighters with real cash or the in-game “fight cash” that you can earn with daily challenges.
If Street Fighter V catches on, we can probably expect that DLC model to continue for the next several years.
Of course, Street Fighter V is notable because Sony has inked a deal with Capcom that will ensure the game does not end up on Xbox One. Street Fighter V is only coming to PlayStation 4 and PC in February, and it will never hit a Microsoft system. Although — who knows what that means for Super Street Fighter V.