Some Street Fighter 6 fans think the game should be free to play

With Street Fighter 6, Capcom is looking to push the fighting game genre forward. Luke was considered a representation of that when he was first added as Street Fighter 5 DLC, and he was the face of the first teaser alongside veteran Ryu. Some Street Fighter 6 fans have a pretty radical idea of what the future of fighting games means: going free to play.

The idea was proposed in a new video from fighting game YouTube channel Hold Back to Block. “Street Fighter 6 needs to be free to play, or at least some aspect of it should,” it begins. The video cites several examples of successful and established franchises making the free-to-play turn — Destiny 2 and Final Fantasy XIV are named in particular. The thesis hinges on a very simple argument. Why spend money on a whole game if you just want to try it out to see if you like it? Fighting games have additional gatekeeping because of player skill, so going free-to-play removes at least the monetary barrier to entry.

That’s actually a huge reason why Warner Brothers’ upcoming platform fighter MultiVersus is free to play. The developer wants to “remove as many barriers as possible” for new fighting game players, price included. In an accompanying ResetEra forum poll, the idea of a free-to-play Street Fighter 6 has some support. A number of fans voted for some level of free, whether it’s the full game or a part of it. It’s worth pointing out that the majority of votes were cast in favor of keeping the game regularly priced, however.

Whether it’s a fully priced game or a free-to-play title, Street Fighter 6 is coming next year. It’ll be on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S — the first time a new Street Fighter has been on Xbox in over a decade. There’s no specific release date beyond the broad 2023 window at this time.