Street Fighter 6 is promising tons of post-game support between its Passes and new characters hitting the game like Rashid. However, fans might have a while to wait if they want to enjoy an altered meta for Street Fighter 6. According to the devs, in a new interview, the Street Fighter 6 update schedule is once a year for balance patches.
Fighting games get updates which add new features and characters fairly frequently when they’re supported. Balance patches which actually alter how fighters play are always a bit different though. It seems like SF 6 is taking a less is more approach and really, really, spacing them out. Although, with small fixes coming more frequently this might not be as bad as it seems.
Street Fighter 6 Update Schedule Means Yearly Balance Changes
Devs speaking in a recent interview have addressed how often they’ll be balancing the game. The interview with SF 6 director Takayuki Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto has gone into detail on when we get expect to see new SF 6 patch notes.
Source: Capcom
They’ve clarified that we can only expect to see full balance patches once a year. On top of that, they’ll be avoiding dropping these around major tournaments. We can’t expect our next balance patch until after the Capcom Cup. That’s positive considering they’re dropping a new tournament-legal character right before Street Fighter 6 at EVO 2023. Although, it does mean players are locked into the meta for a long time, even if flaws are found. The Street Fighter 6 update schedule could mean characters are left underpowered for far longer than in other titles.
On the brighter side though, they’ve clarified that fixes will be quick. Just like patching out the throw exploit in SF 6 recently, they’ll be fixing unique problems or moves whenever they pop up. This does soften the blow a bit. It really just comes down to whether problems with characters in the future are considered a balance issue or a direct problem to be hotfixed. A more stable build around tournaments is always a welcome sign for fighting game esports though.
A lot of the other best fighting games have much more frequent patch notes. Although, we’ll have to wait and see if SF 6’s approach turns out to be the right choice in the long term.
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