Street Fighter 5’s DLC Costume Sales Rescued The Game From Its Deathbed

According to popular YouTuber Maximilian Dood, the sales of alternate skins in Street Fighter 5 actually saved the game, and the franchise, from fading out. As the streamer unveiled, Capcom was able to fix the game and continue its development only because purchasable costumes were selling in heaps. Therefore, the Chun-Li thirst trap skins inadvertently prevented the fighting series from dying after the fifth game underperformed. 

While speaking on an episode of his Triple K.O. fighting podcast, Maximilian Dood uncovered this surprising piece of info. The streamer revealed that someone from Capcom directly told him how important the revenue from costume sales was. Apparently, the high sales of alternate skins were the only reason the studio could release the post-launch content for Street Fighter 5 during the disappointing few months after its release.

I was told directly from someone at Capcom in the first six months of Street Fighter 5 when the game was doing incredibly poorly that the entire reason they were able to continue development of the game was because costumes were selling at their real money premium.”

Hence, Capcom was only able to fix the many issues in the game because the 20+ Chun-Li skins were selling at a real premium. As Dood says himself, if the developer did not start selling costumes from the get-go in Street Fighter 5, the franchise could have died. The podcast also gives due credit to legendary designer Akira Yasuda, AKA “Akiman,” who was a guest alternate designer in the game for characters like Chun-Li.

As you might know, the popular Street Fighter alum had a couple dozen alternate skins which many fans labeled as “thirst traps.” But, it looks like these costumes might have helped Capcom continue the series and bless us with Street Fighter 6. Even in the newest entry of the franchise, the skins are pretty good but Capcom probably won’t need it to save the game this time around.

Because costume sales were high, they were even able to budget out the remaining parts of the game to get it fixed. So, if they didn’t sell costumes in Street Fighter 5 immediately, we might not have been in the same situation right now. Street Fighter might be dead.”

Unlike its sequel, Street Fighter 5 was a PlayStation console exclusive that didn’t get the best reception from the community. Critics and players alike criticized the fighting title with its lack of content and buggy nature being the main areas of concern. Even though Street Fighter 5 is now the best-selling game in the franchise with over 7 million copies sold, it massively underperformed in its first year.

Capcom’s 2016 game only sold 1.4 million units in its first year while internal expectations predicted at least 2 million copies. But, the failure of the fifth game also resulted in a shake-up with Yoshinori Ono, one of the main forces behind the franchise, leaving Capcom in 2020 giving Takayuki Nakayama, the director of Street Fighter 6, the reigns of the franchise.

The universally positive reception of the new entry and its record-breaking sales are enough to prove how successful this change was. You can play the new Street Fighter 6 right now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC.