Street Fighter V wasn't exactly the smash hit Capcom hoped it would be.
The company expected to sell more than 2 million units of the game during this fiscal year. So far the title has only sold around 1.4 million. Not a great start for the new game in one of the company's flagship franchises.
If nothing else, Capcom appears to know where it messed up. Street Fighter V didn't feel like a finished product, with online issues and a severe lack of content holding back what was otherwise a great fighting game. Capcom agrees, and says it will be allowing its games more development time in order to ensure that the games are of higher quality.
"[It]'s best to spend a little more time in developing and running a high-quality title that will perform well globally," Capcom said in a recent earnings briefing (via Polygon). "For example, some aspects of Street Fighter V needed more polish, such as the lack of content and server issues at launch. Accordingly, we feel it's better to give a little more time to development than before, and have made slight adjustments to our portfolio. Profits may take one or two years longer to stack up than initially expected, however we will be firmly strengthening our brands."
That's good news for future Capcom games, but it remains to be seen if Street Fighter V will ever fully meet Capcom's sales expectations. Two DLC characters for the game (including Guile) have been released so far, with a free cinematic story mode expected to arrive in June.
A number of smaller improvements have also made their way to the game, including improved matchmaking, better methods for punishing quitters and more. That could bring some fans back to the franchise, but Capcom certainly has a long road ahead.
For more Street Fighter V, be sure to check out our full review. We praised the title for its more newcomer-friendly mechanics while lamenting the game's total lack of things to do outside of online versus. You can also check out our beginner's guide to the world of Street Fighter V here.
