I can definitely see Asura as DLC at some point. Maybe 1st newcomer pack?
I have ANOTHER theory, however it treads the line between sanity and conspiracy theory.
[Crowd moans]:
What if this .zip leak was created and shared by someone within Capcom? Ever since Ryce's leak and until this "leak" surfaced, people have been downing the game for such a shitty and small roster. Obviously, they're not going to directly deconfirmed or comment on the Ryce leak because if it ends up being true (which I believe it is) then they'll get called out for lying upon release. If it's partially true and they publicly said that then they've just spoiled a good chunk of future reveals that I'm sure are already grinding away in the PR machine to build hype for the months up until release. If it was false then they most certainly would have said so as they had no issue with commenting on the "No DP" leak.
Characters not on the launch roster that are in these files could be used to give us false hope for a bigger roster which would confuse us and regenerate hype (which it so clearly has). It leaves us to believe in the small possibility of a larger starting roster, pulling us back in. If the .zip leak is BS then it wouldn't matter and Capcom wouldn't catch heat about that specific leak as its validity is still in question.
Yes I've gone off the deep end. That's all, folks.