Street Fighter 6 Devs: Franchise Would Have Died by 2026 Without a Major Shake-Up

Did you know Street Fighter was almost knocked out for good? According to Street Fighter 6 producer Shuhei Matsumoto and director Takayuki Nakayama, the iconic fighting game franchise was on life support before they stepped in to save it.

The duo recently opened up about the dire situation, recalling how Street Fighter 5 launched in 2016 in rough shape. After Capcom veteran Yoshinoro Ono left in 2020, Matsumoto and Nakayama took the reins on a new Street Fighter project. They realized something drastic had to change. "When the two of us were talking during Street Fighter 5, we realized that if we didn't do something about Street Fighter, the Street Fighter IP would probably die in 10 years," Matsumoto told Karin Ohira (via IGN).

The problem? The player base was aging. Matsumoto noted that Street Fighter 5 players were roughly 35 to 45 years old. "In 10 years, these people will be 60," he said. "It’s difficult to sustain the franchise if we only rely on that group." Without fresh blood, the series was staring down extinction by 2026.

So, how did they turn it around? They approached Street Fighter 6 as if it were a brand-new game. Instead of leaning on legacy, they designed the Modern Control scheme to level the playing field, added the World Tour mode, and brought the fighting game community closer into development. The result? Street Fighter 6 launched in 2023 and became a massive hit.

It's now arguably the fighting game of the decade, with a healthy audience, post-launch content, and modern controls that continue to attract newcomers. It's a remarkable comeback for a series that, back in the late 2000s, was credited with reinvigorating the entire fighting game genre with Street Fighter 4.

Street Fighter 6 also fits into Capcom's recent golden age. Since Resident Evil 7 nearly a decade ago, the company has churned out hit after hit. This year alone, Capcom released four critically acclaimed games: Resident Evil: Requiem, Pragmata, Monster Hunter Stories 3, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Plus, Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie adaptation was a big hit, and a new live-action Street Fighter movie is set to arrive later this month.

What do you think? Were you part of the aging Street Fighter 5 crowd, or did Street Fighter 6 bring you in? Let us know in the comments!