Heading into Road Fighter 6, Capcom was in a really completely different place from the one it had it discovered itself in within the lead-up to Road Fighter 5’s launch. When the latter launched in 2016 and was met with blended responses and loud backlash from a good portion of the participant base, it was simply one other sport in what had been a protracted line of disappointments over a chronic time frame for the once-proud Japanese large. Quick ahead to 2023, and when Road Fighter 6 was met with widespread acclaim from critics and gamers alike, it was yet one more notch within the belt for a resurgent firm that had loved a number of current years of roaring important and industrial success with quite a few video games 12 months over 12 months.
However Road Fighter 6 is, by its very nature, not a one-and-done kind of sport. A brand new fighter releasing in 2023 was clearly all the time going to have a look at its launch as not solely the tip of 1 lengthy journey, but additionally the start of one other lengthy street. Constant ongoing dwell service is implied with any main new fighter, particularly a brand new mainline Road Fighter game- so with Road Fighter 6 approaching its one-year anniversary, how precisely has the most recent entry in Capcom’s flagship preventing franchise fared. Has the sport completed a superb job of capitalizing on its common preliminary success, or has it as an alternative fumbled and tripped over a collection of errors? Effectively, as all the time, there’s no black or white reply right here, with the reality falling someplace within the center, however all issues thought-about, it’s honest to say that issues have gone fairly properly for Road Fighter 6 in its first post-launch 12 months.
There have, after all, been some factors of competition during the last 12 months that the fanbase has been vocal with its displeasure about. Chief amongst them, maybe, is the aggressive monetization mannequin that Capcom has adopted with the sport. For no matter cause, the preventing style is rife with bafflingly aggressive microtransactions for in-game cosmetics, and identical to different current releases like Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8, Road Fighter 6 goes a bit overboard on this space. Costs for cosmetics are ridiculously excessive, particularly if you’d like outfits for the whole roster, and issues are solely made worse by the truth that Capcom solely enables you to purchase the in-game foreign money in increments that don’t match the worth of the purchases you’ll be making within the in-game retailer, which implies you’re usually prone to find yourself spending greater than you wanted to on foreign money.
The place microtransactions and cosmetics are involved, Road Fighter 6 employs quite a few textbook, scummy strategies designed to push gamers into spending extra of their cash, which is one thing that the sport has rightfully attracted loads of loud criticism for. Whether or not or not that is one thing that Capcom will look to repair sooner or later stays to be seen, however to date, a 12 months into its mild, it’s secure to say that Road Fighter 6’s microtransactions have been a noticeable blemish on its in any other case sturdy popularity.
After all, the sport does have some points past its microtransactions, however none of them have essentially been too controversial with the neighborhood. As is the case with just about each fighter on the market, not each change or tweak that Road Fighter 6 makes with its patches and updates proves to be a well-liked one, whilst you’ll additionally discover a not insignificant quantity of people that’ll let you know that the cadence of post-launch DLC releases for the sport has been far slower than what would have been ideal- however all issues thought-about, Road Fighter 6’s post-launch interval has been a hit in all different main methods, past its monetization points.
For starters, although the sport’s cadence of post-launch updates hasn’t happy everybody locally, it has nonetheless added its justifiable share of content material following its launch, from cosmetics to new fighters. To this point, 4 new fighters have been launched within the type of Rashid, A.Ok.I., Ed, and Akuma, whereas the sport has additionally had collaborations with Exoprimal, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Monster Hunter, along with having added a number of new units of outfits for all of its characters, new music tracks and choices, and extra.
Suffice to say that post-launch assist for Road Fighter 6 has, on the very least, been adequate. May it have been a bit extra plentiful with new content material, particularly compared to one thing like, say, Road Fighter 5? Certain, it completely could possibly be. However then once more, Road Fighter 6 began out in a considerably stronger place than its predecessor did, so it isn’t shocking that its post-launch efforts haven’t been as aggressive as its predecessor’s were- as a result of, plainly put, they don’t have to be.
Which brings us to our subsequent point- that each one of this post-launch stuff is clearly constructed on the stellar foundations of the bottom sport itself. 2023 was an unbelievable 12 months for video games and has already gone down in historical past as having one of many medium’s strongest ever annual lineups of all-time classics. Road Fighter 6 is, with out a shadow of doubt, excessive in that record of video games. With a Metacritic rating of 92, the sport is nothing wanting a important darling, whereas it has loved loads of acclaim from its wider participant base as properly. On Steam, as an illustration, on the time of writing, its consumer opinions ranking on the platform during the last month is marked as Largely Constructive, with 76 % of the opinions in that interval having been constructive. Its total consumer opinions ranking on the platform since launch, in the meantime, its Very Constructive, with 86% of its 24,000-plus consumer opinions on Steam up to now being constructive.
Along with its important acclaim, the fighter has additionally been a industrial success for Capcom to date. As lately revealed by the corporate, as of March 31, being a handful of months shy of its one-year anniversary, Road Fighter 6 had bought 3.3 million models worldwide throughout all platforms, which is a strong begin for the sport. Capcom’s video games (particularly the properly acquired ones) additionally are inclined to have extremely lengthy tails, so if Road Fighter 6 follows that sample, its gross sales are probably going to proceed to climb within the coming months and years.
After all, that’s constructed on the idea that assist for Road Fighter 6 isn’t going to decelerate anytime quickly. Capcom lately wrapped up the sport’s Yr 1 DLC with its fourth addition to the roster within the type of Akuma. Earlier within the 12 months, nevertheless, the corporate additionally confirmed that it was engaged on 12 months 2 DLC, along with extra Battle Hub occasions, gameplay options, and extra. Unsurprisingly, then, new content material for Road Fighter 6 is in growth, so the query now could be how lengthy it’ll be earlier than we all know extra about that in an official capability.
The approaching weeks and months can be bringing with them a collection of main gaming occasions and showcases, together with Summer season Video games Fest, the Xbox Video games Showcase, and, as per leaks, a PlayStation-focused occasion, so there’s a superb probability that Capcom finally ends up selecting any a kind of because the stage to announce its plans for what the following 12 months of Road Fighter 6 goes to seem like. Hopefully, the corporate isn’t going to take its foot off the gasoline anytime quickly, as a result of the fighter has adopted up on a superb launch with a largely strong first post-launch 12 months (marred by some points, chief amongst them being the aggressive microtransactions). Hopefully, Capcom will comply with up on that with a second 12 months that’s, on the very least, simply is nearly as good, if not higher.
Observe: The views expressed on this article are these of the creator and don’t essentially signify the views of, and shouldn’t be attributed to, GamingBolt as a corporation.
