Capcoms has acknowledged the leaks surrounding its next fighting game Street Fighter 6 following its full reveal at Sony’s State of Play Livestream on Thursday. Capcom went full force in its first official Street Fighter 6 gameplay reveal, showing off new characters, mechanics, features, visuals, and much more, while fans got the first detailed glimpse of a title that may just have had the rest of its contents spoilt with a leak.
Based on a list leaked by Reddit for Street Fighter 6, the new effort is going to feature 22 characters, including eight of the world’s original fighters, as well as, of course, more returning and new characters. If leaked character concept art is accurate, this means that we now know the 22 characters who are likely to be part of the Street Fighter 6s main roster, or who are coming into the game at some point.
All told, the Street Fighter 6 leaks have pulled the curtain on nearly 20 separate characters, including series veterans such as Ken, Zangief, Dhalsim, E. Honda, Blanka, Guile, Cammy, and Dee Jay, Rashid, Juri, Ed, and Akuma Kammy. These types of leaks are not entirely surprising for a major title like Street Fighter 6, which is naturally locked into a character roster that provides plenty of opportunities for character-based leaks, but the fact they are happening so shortly after the game’s grand reveal has gotten peoples attention.
Several characters appeared in new trailers revealed on Thursday’s PlayStation State of Play Live stream who did not make it into these materials, including Birdie and an unnamed student of Chun-Lis that could have been Lee-Fen, from Chunners ending of Street Fighter III. While these characters were formally revealed in the latest trailer, concept art for the game leaked soon after, showing off the rest of the cast.
Most of the new characters seen in the images match up to a seemingly leaked image posted months earlier, where Redditor DasVergeben described their looks. All five characters featured in the teaser appeared in leaks, lending them a certain amount of credibility, along with character artwork matching a previous leak from several months earlier.
As residents of Metro City, we’ve all seen things we weren’t supposed to see, but we're all in this together. We appreciate all the positive reactions. Thank you for the support!
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) June 4, 2022
Capcom has now acknowledged the leaks, in a tweet saying “We all saw things that were not supposed to be seen”, and the way that Capcoms is grateful for all of the positive reactions, apparently validating the pictures, including more leaked material including gameplay footage from a closed alpha.
Fans have a selection of fan-favorite characters from the entire series, including Akuma, Cammy, Dee Jay, Juri, Ed, Rashid, and Luke, the latter being a late-draft character added in street fighter V. These characters were typically those that saw the most drastic overhauls, with each character maintaining their iconic elements while sporting new, fresh take that suit Street Fighter V. I am not sure if Capcom and outside contractors at Capcom were up to the task of translating those amazing designs into 3D, solely on the basis of how odd some characters look in Street Fighter V but consider me cautiously optimistic for the franchise for the first time in years.
Capcom formally announced SF6 in February of 2022, with a 40-second teaser trailer featuring Ryu, a veteran fighter, and Luke, who is a rookie. Capcom stated that Street Fighter 6 would have a new Option Control Type, simplified inputs, as well as the new Drive System, a new meter used to execute five different techniques which improve the player’s ability on offense or defense.
Some fans are theorizing that Capcom is behind the leaks, and it is a move designed to generate further hype and suspense. This leaked list has spread across the Internet like wildfire, and a few images on Twitter were removed because of a copyright claim, probably on Capcoms instruction. Capcom took to Twitter to discuss both the Street Fighter 6 character list leak, as well as RE Engines usage for games.
