By Brandon Williams / December 5 2023
Capcom has finally released the Outfit 3 bundle for the entire Street Fighter 6 roster. The anticipated costumes include Zangief’s slick suit, Juri’s pajamas, Luke’s updated SF 5 gear, Marissa’s wedding dress, Blanka’s Blanka suit, and more.
The costumes look stellar with intricate levels of detail and 10 color variations. Unfortunately, the prices are demoralizing.
3rd Outfits for Street Fighter 6 Roster
The new outfits for 18 fighters are locked behind the game’s premium currency, Fighter Coins. Each costume cost 300 Fighter Coins. Comically, players can’t buy this exact amount of coins. The game’s minimal options force the consumer to spend more than necessary.
| 250 Fighter Coins | 4.99 |
| 610 Fighter Coins | 11.99 |
| 1250 Fighter Coins | 23.99 |
| 2750 Fighter Coins | 49.99 |
The player has two solutions. They either have to buy the cheapest bundle twice or the second lowest bundle once. Either method will raise the new costume’s price to at least $10.
Some players have an insatiable need to get everything in a game. If the player desires to get every costume, the total amount is 5400 FC. To buy every costume, players must pay for the game’s highest bundle twice. Outfit 3 for the whole roster costs $40 more than the base game’s price.
The total price does lower depending on the game’s edition/content. Owning the SF 6 Ultimate edition ($104.99) will lower the total to 4800 FC. Anyone who bought the game’s lower editions can upgrade with the Ultimate pass ($49.99) The Ultimate version includes Outfit 3, though only for the year-1 DLC characters. The only available DLC are Rashid and A.K.I. while Ed and Akuma are still in development.
Street Fighter Expensive Collaboration
This wasn’t the first monetization offense Capcom has made for Street Fighter 6. In August, they collaborated with Nickelodeon’s TMNT by releasing four ninja turtle costumes for player avatars. Players can dress like Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
The major issue with the collaboration was the pricing. A turtle costume costs 750 FC while the ninja masks were 250 FC each. These prices forced the players to pay at least $17 for a complete costume or $5 for a headpiece. The whole brotherly turtle set was 3000 FC in total, which required at least a 2750 bundle and a 250 bundle. This outrageous amount is about as much as a fully complete game, like Street Fighter 6.
Capcom’s Rising Greed
Street Fighter 6 launched as a fine, complete fighting game. However, that status has been wearing thin with recent additions supporting corporate. Outfit 2 was monetized, though each costume was only 50 FC. Additionally, players could unlock it for free by grinding in World Tour mode. It would’ve been great if the same happened for future content like Outfit 3, though the price is so high.
It’s welcoming for a developer to bring support and new content for their game. The issue is they manage a fully priced game similar to managing free-to-play games.
It’s great that Capcom made a complete, balanced Street Fighter, though the support has been very anti-consumer. As Capcom continues supporting Street Fighter 6, it feels devoid as future content gets locked behind highly expensive paywalls. This makes it even harder for anyone trying to keep up with the rising game launch prices.
Developers shouldn’t use this monetization practice for full-priced games. Forcing consumers to buy over the required amount for locked content is very predatory to satisfy corporate greed. If this monetization practice gets enough support, more developers will follow. This will make future games more minimalistic and business-heavy than compact with fun.
