Speaking during an interview with Famitsu magazine (via Siliconera), Street Fighter V Producer Yoshinori Ono explained the reason behind the absence of some notable fan-favorite characters in the hotly anticipated fighting game sequel.
Specifically, the likes of Sagat and Blanka, who have become staples of the Street Fighter roster for years now, will not be included in this latest instalment in the series. However, while fans have been disappointed by this revelation, Ono-san explained he made this decision to avoid repetition in Street Fighter V’s roster.
"It’s because there are many characters that perform similarly. For this launch and its next update, we wanted to have a good balance of characters. Since we didn’t want to just blindly increase the number of characters, it was a bitter decision that had to be made," he said.
“I understand that there are also many who wish to see other characters besides Sagat, such as Blanka and more. There’s a possibility that we may add more characters in some form later, so please look forward to that.”
The Street Fighter boss previously commented that Capcom has a five-year plan in place for the upcoming sequel, so presumably we’ll see plenty more content released in that time, possibly even some classic characters added into the mix.
Street Fighter V is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 and PC in February 2016. The game will remain exclusive to Sony’s current-generation console indefinitely, with Capcom stressing that it will not be coming to the Xbox One at any point. In fact, Ono-san has suggested that those of you who want to play Street Fighter V should simply go out and buy a PS4. The game will ship with a total of 16 playable characters at launch, including four all-new combatants, with more rolling out throughout 2016.
The Street Fighter franchise launched in 1987 and has gone on to become one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, selling 35 million units worldwide to date. Street Fighter II remains the series’ best-selling entry to date, with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) port moving 6.3 million units, making it Capcom’s most successful game up until 2013, when it was surpassed by Resident Evil 5.
Street Fighter made its PS4 debut last summer with the release of Ultra Street Fighter IV.