Capcom's Campaign for Casuals: Can SFV win back the mainstream?

Street Fighter V
1

We are fast approaching the end of CPT, and the end of the year. All our eyes will be on Capcom to see what will they make of SF5. But beyond a balance patch, can Capcom ever win back the casuals after the abysmal launch SF5 had?

I think an SSF5 type of release is too soon. Such a ‘definitive’ disc that would have to be packed enough to attract casuals is at least 1 season off (+12 characters).

I’m not even sure a F2P ‘Starter Edition’ will be strong enough to win back good will.

Is SF5 the new SF3? Casually/commercially speaking?

2

I don’t think there is any way that Capcom can recover from such a disappointing release. However, I still think that it’s possible for them to attract casuals and possibly more money.

Suggestions

  • expanding the character roster year-to-year
  • more cinematic story releases (yearly?)
  • Arcade mode
  • Costumes, costumes, costumes
  • Maybe an achievement trophy or something special for ranking each fighter up to level 100
  • Extra mode (when is it coming?)
  • Costume/hair edit

I think the key is to give players a goal for us to accomplish other than to increase your league point total. Since not everyone is gonna be a good as Daigo or Infiltration, give us casuals something that we can play for the long term

3

they should need to lower the base game price significantly and add the game in a humble bundle to get some more casuals into the game on pc.

4

The only way I can see the casuals coming back is if Capcom releases a F2P version. It was successful for DoA5.

5

Roster - Aren’t they doing this?
Story - Isn’t the story finished already? Unless you want to create brand new stories that include the new characters.
Arcade - This really seems to be a big hang up and I’m becoming more and more of a believer that Arcade mode is a HUGE DEAL. They need to add this. How hard could it possibly be? The content is already there.
Costumes - They are doing this. They know it’s easy money, but I don’t think you can just release a zillion costumes for everyone. It’ll get diluted.
Throphies - Can’t hurt. Although level 100 for every character is insane. Maybe level 30 or 50.
Extra - Idk what this is, but it’ll help.
Costume edit - It’ll never happen in a million years.

I didn’t feel this way 6 months ago, but a lack of Arcade mode is what hurt the most. They screwed it up bad. If they would’ve copied the tired and true formula of fighting 6 - 10 CPU opponents (not 2 or 3) plus a BOSS, with cut scenes sprinkled in and real character endings, it would’ve gotten much better press.

They also need more unlockables. Even if it’s just obvious shit like music or artwork (like 3s online had). People love unlocking shit.

They just need more. It doesn’t matter if it’s bad or good. More, more, more.

6

Roster: Oh yeah they are, but I feel that with more coming fighters could attract more people to play the game. Especially if there are some people who feel their favorite fighter got left out.
Story: I do mean new stories. Like if SFIII features gill and the illuminati, how about a cinematic story mode that showcase their rise to power? I feel that the lore of SF just has so much to explore.
Arcade: Agreed
Costumes: Yeah, i see your point about having too many. I believe that capcom is gonna release a costume pack titled “nostalgic pack” which would give a few SF characters their original (iconic) costumes
Trophies: Once again, agreed. I mentioned level 100 because it’s the max level for everyone, so if you do accomplish this and “master” every fighter, you should get some kind of reward for your dedication. (why did they make leveling up fighters such a grind?)
Extra: it’s supposed to be a new single player mode in which you fight the likes of shadaloo soldiers, or “bosses” for a reward. I believe they were going to add that to the “Challenge” mode
Costume edit: I know, but it would be a welcoming and fresh change. I watch on youtube many of the great mods and costume edits that look sometimes better than the original. SO i felt that Capcom could embrace the artistic side of costuming

Agreed with you once again about unlocking stuff. Especially for casuals. Since the competitive scene is mostly driven on being the best and raising their rank, the casual scene would be driven on unlockables and content. So giving more stuff to play with and unlock, and more rewards could bring in more casuals. After all, I personally get more excited with unlocking all of Chun-Li’s colors costumes via survival mode, and even playing though story mode multiple times than I do beating someone in ranked match.

7

I dunno, SFV is being 3S on steroids so far. Super strong competitive scene with esports and streaming to push it even further, but far to be a commercial hit and a lot of negative press that scare off casuals.

I don’t really think the game caters to the traditional esports crowd either like Capcom seems to have planned. I feel that, if you don’t really enjoy fighting games, SFV is not going to change your opinion. My brother is 14, big fan of mobas and overwatch and he is not interested in SFV at all, even with my influence.

Capcom will likely folow KI route and release a S1 bundle on disc next year for 40 bucks, maybe with S2 included for 60. I don’t really think there will be a F2P version though.

Patience guys, CPT finals is less than 2 months away.

8

They could’ve easily made character story’s prologues into an arcade mode.

Those 2-3 fights in the prologue can be spaced out with an extra 6 random fights before and after the first prologue fight. The first prologue fight would be a mid boss, then the sub boss, then your final fight is your character’s boss. Like Alpha 3.

Arcade mode should have been ridiculously easy to create I feel because most of the content is THERE. What I really wanted is an even harder difficulty settings for the character stories and general story. I didn’t feel the AI was up to standards in this department.

They are coming up with Extra Battle mode soon which is meant to be a series of dramatic boss-like battles, like arcade mode but not quite.

9

Arcade mode they should have added it via a patch, like 2 days after the launch. It’s appaling if we’ll get an arcade it will have to be two years after the launch.

http://i.imgur.com/tl8Ap.jpg

10

A Humble Bundle for a new game? lol. And the game goes regularly on sale for 35 bucks now.

11

Battleborn was apart of a Humble Bundle two months after it’s release. SFV could use one once February rolls around.

12

The casuals have been sacrificed for eSports. It has been written

13

You know I think it was the Mayans who were indulging in mass blood sacrifices to save themselves towards the end of their civilization. Didn’t turn out out so well for them…

14

In SF4, I played through the Arcade mode with every character, just to be a completionist, which a lot of gamers are. As trite as it seems, I was into unlocking their titles and seeing everyone’s cheesy little ending. There are people out there who don’t want to fight a human all of the time. They are happier playing against a CPU. It’s hard for some people here (and obviously Capcom) to understand that, but it’s 100% true.

They also need to add some spice to their weekly challenges. “Perform a throw 10 times”…who thought of that, a 9 year old? Again, I’ll bring it back to 3s online. Give us something like they had in their Trials mode, like “Beat Akuma on Expert difficulty with 1% health” (or whatever that challenge was).

15

Yes, let’s try do defeat an input-reading AI with only 1% of health.

16

Here is what they need to do in my opinion.

1- Come straight out and apologizing.

This is crucial in my opinion, the problem right now is one of trust more than is it one of content or how the game is shaping up.

2- DO NOT release a definitive version.

Releasing a Super SF5 or anything of this sorts will do nothing but add more damage in my opinion. This will push the casuals even further and the Super duper ultra arcade amazing edition jokes will ruin it even more.

3- Smart Advertisement.

They need to advertise this game through big Youtubers like Pewdiepie and the likes while also focusing on sites like IGN and whatnot.

4- Make a PS plus edition of the game.

This will sort of be a big demo like what Drive club has done. This edition could include 8 of the original 16 characters with option to unlock the rest via FM. It would include the trial and the story mode, couple of stages and ranked and casual online.

This version could be free with an option to upgrade to the full version by paying 10$ - 15$ like what Driveclub did. Driveclub eventually made it to over 2 millions copy and that game had the most disastrous launch of all time. For a new IP in a niche genre, that is quite admirable.

I think this idea could do wonders with SF5.

5- Release Season 2 with more fan favorites and content and just stick to your word on supporting this game.

I believe that the series has long legs and that in time the game will reach decent enough sales but working on the trust issues with people is the key thing here.

17

No. Next question.

18

Recreate a successful launch?
No, too late for that

Do stuff to make some/many casuals buy SFV, increasing $$$ gained and future DLC buyers base?
Sure

If i was them i will do this

Realize a giant ass update, but DON’T call it Super or whatever.
Call it “Super” will make them lose -more- credibility after all shit they said, EVEN if will be free for current users… average audience is too retard to understand the difference, and will just go “i wait Ultra or something”

Call it just “Season 2” or “Chapter 2” making publicly clear that’s not a new game but a fuckton of free cool DLC stuff for original SFV.
Doing that contact big sites like Ign or some other shit giving exclusive news (and promise future ones), asking unofficially to re-review the game.
Basically create the conditions to make him write to his casual/mainstream sheep audience something like “The SF you was dreaming is finally arrived!” or some shit on that vibe.

Once a big site re-review it, others will feel the need to do it too

The message should arrive as “you was smart to not buy it back then, but you will stupid don’t buy it now”

What to do:

[list]
[*]ARCADE Mode.
This shit is easy. Don’t do random stupid like was in SF4, give each char a related stage.
Aside that the usual stuff, give the run a scheme: intro, fights, bonus stage, fights, bonus stage, fights, rival fight, Boss, ending.
Intro and ending can be even just Bengus designs (not high cost anime or cg), just tell him to don’t do sketchy shit because average buyer don’t understand stylization and just take it as cheap and ugly.

[*]SEASON 2 Characters.
I don’t know wich was theyr plan, probably had a conservative attitude to keep popular chars for years… given the bad start probably will be better adapt to the situation and make Season 2 be a lil bit more hype.
Sagat-Sakura-Cody-C.Viper-Sean-Q-Akuma-NEW
NOT my ideal picks , some i don’t even want (sakura/akuma), but will sell very well
Keep the montly release but start with 2 DLC char avaible day one, i will pick Sagat and Sakura (and i hate Sakura, but make sense).
Also give to new buyers some FM help to allow them to unlock fast Season1 DLCrs (or turn them 50k each).
Of course new characters mean some new stages too:

[*]2ND Critical Arts.
Probably they already want do it at some point, i just say that they should introduce these already in S2.
Potential buyers probably already seen most/all current CAs on youtube, 2nd ones will add some new flashy stuff to show them

[*]COLOR EDIT Mode.
Casuals love edit stuff. And tbh many many existing color schemes suck bad.
Somebody said that SFV colors are programmed in a way that make easier do a color edit mode (i remember read that is like in SFxTK).
They should do it with an option that allow the opponent to NOT see our shitty edits.
“Color Edits: OFF” simple as that.
So basically it make happy who want it (i’m in that group), but don’t change anything for who hate the idea.
It also give them one more chance to sell stuff (single colors or group of colors)

[*]FIX UGLY SHIT AND HALF-ASS MAD STUFF.
It’s not big deal and we almost got used to it, but it will help the image of the product.
Fix clipping, Ken/Alex crap face, 30fps NPCs, complete adding stage transitions… stuff like that[/list]

19

They’ll only get casuals back if game review sites (IGN, Gamespot, etc.) re-review the game and relaunch the game with SFV 2017 Edition or whatever.

Casuals don’t follow developer updates and shit, you have to put all of the improvements on a new disc.

20

If Driveclub somehow managed to turn its luck around then any game can. Sony had to publicly apologize because of it and look at it now. They have reached their milestone and received mild success overall.