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Capcom discusses how Street Fighter IV brought fighting games back
A portion of an MTV interview with Capcom's Tomoaki Ayano...
Multiplayer: The fighting genre’s never really gone away, but it came back so seriously with the return of SFIV. Why do you think that was?
Ayano: Fighting games can be seen as tools for competition that are utilized by players. Much like chess and poker, players build their own gameplay experience by acting freely within the designated rules sets. The fighting game genre exploded in popularity in the 90’s with Street Fighter II, and almost every gamer out there played a fighter at one time or another. However, from the end of the 1990’s to the early 2000’s, a lot of the fighting games that were released became more and more complex in their gameplay systems, which turned away a lot of the more casual users, and especially beginners. It was hard to just “jump in” to many fighting games at that time because the myriad of systems had begun to overshadow the core gameplay.
With the creation of Street Fighter IV, the most important design concept Capcom had was to “return to the beginning,” and get back to that early 90’s feeling, where all gamers – both casual and hardcore--could play the game and enjoy it. This concept resonated with a lot of new and old fans of the genre alike, and we were able to attract new players, which reinvigorated the scene.
Finally, the advent of stable online netplay and online streaming was also a huge boon to the genre as a whole. Players can now go online to find competition no matter where they live, as long as they have a decent internet connection.
Full interview here
Multiplayer: The fighting genre’s never really gone away, but it came back so seriously with the return of SFIV. Why do you think that was?
Ayano: Fighting games can be seen as tools for competition that are utilized by players. Much like chess and poker, players build their own gameplay experience by acting freely within the designated rules sets. The fighting game genre exploded in popularity in the 90’s with Street Fighter II, and almost every gamer out there played a fighter at one time or another. However, from the end of the 1990’s to the early 2000’s, a lot of the fighting games that were released became more and more complex in their gameplay systems, which turned away a lot of the more casual users, and especially beginners. It was hard to just “jump in” to many fighting games at that time because the myriad of systems had begun to overshadow the core gameplay.
With the creation of Street Fighter IV, the most important design concept Capcom had was to “return to the beginning,” and get back to that early 90’s feeling, where all gamers – both casual and hardcore--could play the game and enjoy it. This concept resonated with a lot of new and old fans of the genre alike, and we were able to attract new players, which reinvigorated the scene.
Finally, the advent of stable online netplay and online streaming was also a huge boon to the genre as a whole. Players can now go online to find competition no matter where they live, as long as they have a decent internet connection.