Street Fighter 6 producer explains why fighting games had to get easier to survive

We got the chance to quiz Street Fighter 6 producer Shuhei Matsumoto about the current state of fighting games and the changes Capcom has made to its older titles, which led to some intriguing insights on the company’s view of the genre as it stands today.

Fighting games with easier controls lead to more players, says Street Fighter producer

Matsumoto is the Producer for Capcom’s Fighting Collection 2 and one of the key figures behind Street Fighter’s desperately-needed rejuvenation after the divisive Street Fighter V era. Under his and director Takayuki Nakayama’s careful supervision, Street Fighter 6 absolutely nailed a balance between complexity and simplicity. It reintroduced leveled super attacks and brought in perfect parrying, while also allowing for ‘modern’ and ‘dynamic’ control schemes for players who aren’t interested in spending hours practicing combos.

Given his experience in fighting game production over the years, we asked Matsumoto if he felt players have lost anything in the direction modern fighting games are going with elements like simplified core mechanics and comeback systems.

According to Matsumoto, modern fighting games must have simpler systems in order to reach a broader player base. Fighting games are famous for their difficulty and high barrier to entry, and for a long time, the competitive community around them was extremely niche. Now, more people than ever are attending tournaments like Evo, and even the world’s top streamers are playing Street Fighter 6 in online competitions.

While Matsumoto has a clear love for the classics and wants to bring them back, he feels that the direction fighting games have gone is a huge net positive.

“Some of the fighting games included in Capcom Fighting Collection 2 had short input windows and many complex commands,” he told us. “Additionally, there were numerous systems and UI elements shown during the gameplay, requiring players to pay attention to more than just the fighting aspect.

“To deliver the game to a wider audience, it is essential for modern fighting games to have systems that are easy to understand and intuitive controls. With those systems, players haven’t lost anything, but rather gained an environment where they can focus more on their matches.”

When asked why Capcom wanted to revive these historic games in the first place, Matsumoto admitted that the Fighting Collections were created to appeal to old-school players — but noted that, thanks to Terry and Mai’s inclusion in SF6, newer players are also getting interested in what CvS2 has to offer (and getting a crash-course in painting the fence, in the process).

“The Fighting Collection series is aimed at those who have played those past titles, but characters like Terry and Mai from the Fatal Fury series, who also make an appearance in Street Fighter 6, have introduced many new players to Capcom’s fighting games.

“I hope these players can learn about what kind of characters they were in past games and how they were received at the time through Capcom Fighting Collection 2.”

The reason for removing roll canceling

In addition to this, Matsumoto revealed that no adjustments were made that changed the balance of CvS2’s original iteration, explaining that they merely implemented bug fixes and added systems to make the game easier to play.

One of those ‘bug fixes’ included the removal of roll canceling — something that instantly sparked debate within the community when it was discovered. Matsumoto admitted that the development team viewed the technique as a glitch, but also believed that it drove newer players away from the game.

CAPCOM / SNK

One of CvS2’s classic mechanics, Roll Canceling, was actually a glitch that became a staple technique for players.

So, in order to fix that, roll canceling was axed… but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever.

“First and foremost, the development team considers the roll canceling technique as a ‘bug,’” he explained. “However, I fully understand that roll canceling is a legacy technique in CvS2. On the other hand, I believe that the existence of roll canceling has also driven some players away from the game.

“Given my deep understanding of the community’s history in CvS2, this decision for utilizing the EO version for ranked matches was very difficult, but we made this decision so players can enjoy CvS2 ranked matches without needing to learn this technique.

“That said, I understand that roll canceling is a traditionally practiced tactic in CvS2, and we will continue to explore what can be done in future developments.”

Will we get a new Capcom vs SNK game?

Although fighting games are in their so-called ‘golden age’ thanks to recent titles like Street Fighter 6, City of the Wolves and Tekken 8, older installments are also seeing a lot of love — thanks in no small part due to viral moments like Hayao’s hilarious physical antics playing Third Strike at Evo 2024.

With the release of the Capcom Fighting Collection 2, these old-school games are once again getting some time in the limelight. While newer fighting games are defined by patch schedules with constant changes and new content, 2024’s best fighting game moment was someone playing a “bad” character in Third Strike and using a “bad” move to get one of the best Evo victories ever. To Matsumoto, there’s a certain beauty to releasing a game and letting players solve it, rather than releasing regular balance patches.

“It’s common for the development team and players to have different opinions on character tiers. It’s gratifying for the development team and fun to watch any character achieve results on a big stage. Winning is important, but more than that, it’s beautiful when the result of playing with a character you love leads to victory,” he said.