Street Fighter 6 sells five million copies, on track to be best-selling Street Fighter ever


Capcom has announced that Street Fighter 6 has sold over five million copies, just as the game has been released on the Nintendo Switch 2. At this pass, the game is on track to be the best-selling game in the series.

Celebrating the achievement on social media with a lovely bit of custom art, the company wrote: "Street Fighter 6 has now sold over five million copies! What a way to celebrate our 2nd anniversary! Thanks to all our fans out there around the world and to all the prospective fans in the future!"

Street Fighter 6, released on 2nd June 2023, is catching up the series sales leader at a faster pace than its predecessors. According to the Capcom Platinum Titles page, which tracks the company's best-selling games, Street Fighter 5 is holding the top spot for now. It's sitting pretty at 7.8m units sold since its release on 16th February, 2016. By comparison, Street Fighter 6 has sold five million copies in just over two years.

Street Fighter 2, which you may have assumed was the best-selling game in the series due to its prevalence in popular culture and influence on the genre, has sold 6.3m. It is worth noting that this Capcom list only tracks console sales, we also know that over 200,000 Street Fighter 2 arcade cabinets were sold during the golden era of arcades.

Okay, so why is Street Fighter 6 on track to surpass Street Fighter 5 in sales? Well, it's still receiving plenty of updates and has a flourishing global community of players. Its third season of DLC characters was just announced at Summer Game Fest, and includes plenty of returning favourites like Sagat and Alex. These, plus a recent port to the Switch 2 will help tempt older fans back into the fray.

The game has also had a far faster start in terms of sales than Street Fighter 5. If you don't remember, the launch of Street Fighter 5 was a disaster. The PC version was a technical mess, online netcode was poor making it hard to play matches online. Yoshinori Ono came forward and discussed all its issues candidly too, explaining that the team underestimated the appetite for single player content in a barebones release.

Street Fighter 5 rose up the ranks of Capcom's best-sellers due in large part to continuous support over the years. The game was tied heavily to the game's competitive scene, promoting FGC events and Capcom Pro Tour tournaments through in-game stage advertisements and purchasable cosmetics. The game essentially regained the love of fans over time.

Street Fighter 6 never had this problem. It launched in a great state, with good online infrastructure and a sizable amount of single player content with the World Tour mode. What's left is ongoing support for the game on Capcom's part. Funnily enough, here the game has the opposite problem to Street Fighter 5. While previously there was no shortage in character cosmetics to buy, Street Fighter 6's community has been frustrated at the lack of character packs released during its life cycle.

Nonetheless, the game has a popular competitive scene that continues to encourage new players to hop in, it has been supported heavily by community efforts like the Sajam Slam and TwitchRivals, and popular content creators continue to dip their toes into the waters of Street Fighter 6 to entertain their fans.

Street Fighter 6 may not be around during the height of esports like Street Fighter 5 was, largely due to many of the speculative investors running away with empty pockets upon realising esports is a burning money pyre, but Capcom continues to offer a million dollar top prize for its annual Capcom Cup finals event. This has kept top players interested, and an aura of excitement alive.

How long will it take for Street Fighter 6 to surpass Street Fighter 6? Who can say. If I may make a prediction, I believe it'll pass the milestone around the end of 2026. Sales will slow down due to a deluge of newer fighting games releasing and snatching interest, like 2XKO and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. Regardless, it's safe to say the game has proven quite the success for Capcom.
 
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Video Game Fireball GIF by CAPCOM
 
It is funny how MK1 hitting those numbers is considered a failure while SF6 hitting those numbers is considered a success. They are both failures in my eyes from a gameplay perspective.
 
I've played less 6 than 5. I've played more 4 than any other SF put together.

At some point we will get a SF4 remaster or some shit in a collection so I'll just have to grab that.

SF6 isn't a bad game, but the flow of combat just isn't as exciting or addictive as 4 or 3S.

I will play this again if Dudley or Makoto make it back in.

Capcom still supporting large tournament payouts to me is wild.
 
Nice. I haven't double dipped on it yet but I will eventually. I had second thoughts on the Switch 2 version after seeing it was 50gb. Not ready for that kind of storage commitment.
 
It's going to take a while to come close to smash ultimate. At least that game has SF content in it, so some honor is shared.
 
I downloaded the Switch demo and thought it was pretty bloody ugly looking.

It doesn't seem to have an iconic aesthetic and has a very forgettable Unreal Engine sterile look about it.

Seems built for the western gaze. And I don't mean tits and arses.
 
All I asked is why do you, yes YOU, think SF6 is better, you're coming at me with sales, like who gives a fuck, it's about long-term longevity and fanbase.
Not writing a paragraph to explain why it's better.
SF6 will be the best selling SF.
People love it
You don't think people will stay with it long?
Good for you.
 
I want to like this game but the artistic design is really putting me off, ugly music, ugly flashy colors, and DEI consulting sweating from every pore of it.
Not criticizing gameplay, I didn't even got there yet, but very off putting first impression.
 
I'm glad it's selling but it's probably the worst mainline Street Fighter game for me.

SFV seemed horrible at the time but I think that's because SFIV was incredible for so many reasons.

I haven't played SFV in years but I think SF6 may actually be worse.

Also, one "major" patch per year is horrible for any competitive game.
 
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SF5 was great but it took a couple years to get there.

Why do you people who think SF6 is better say so?

I dropped SF5 in the first year, but as someone who's put a thousand+ hours into both SF4 and SF6, SF6 is better for being a game that lets you do more stuff. Starting each round with a maxed and auto-refilling resource you can use for everything from EX moves to dashing at enemies, extending combos, and even defensively to try getting someone off you during block strings is a lot more fun than gradually poking away, building resource.

The game's more actively managed and balanced too by a team that really knows what they're doing. - there's been a ton of system changes each season that have worked out well imo (drive reversal on block, directional perfect parries, regaining resource on throw techs, to name a few). I think there's a little bit of deliberate overtuning of the newest characters (especially this season - all the new characters except for Terry have been very strong at launch and then toned down) but it's nothing compared to the mess of SF4. Ultra was infamous for this - Rolento is annoying as shit to fight with his back hops giving him invulnerability, Decapre's fake-out air dashes are very frustrating to deal with in locking her down, Elena's healing ultra became immortalized as a meme and that's overlooking the reach and potency of the rest of her moves otherwise. Sagat was dominant off pure power in vanilla, and the Yun/Yang twins were intentionally made strong in Arcade Edition (although this is coming from Yoshinoro Ono and the man does love trolling). The balancing team took forever to fix basic shit - Sagat's Ultra 1 was bugged on FADC in the corner until the last version of the game IIRC.

A lot of basic system mechanics we are much better without. SF4 is a game with crouch teching, the easiest and most brain dead option select there is. Backdashes put you into an airborne state, making basic frame traps much less effective than they should be (except at the highest levels where you'd see OS sweeps or w/e). This is also a game in which you can get crossed up anywhere including the corner, and some of them are nasty. Ibuki vortex is obnoxious - I think the saying was that not even the Ibuki player always knew which side the kunai was hitting on. It was a not uncommon occurrence overall to block an aerial hit on one side in this game and then have to block the other way for a grounded attack (which still happens in SF6 but is not as common). I think we're better off with more input lenience now (no more 1 frame links), and SF6 has better netcode.

I'm sure I could think of more. I loved SF4, but it doesn't compare to SF6. There are elements to SF6 I don't like but nothing as bad as the worst stuff from 4.
 
I want to like this game but the artistic design is really putting me off, ugly music, ugly flashy colors, and DEI consulting sweating from every pore of it.
Not criticizing gameplay, I didn't even got there yet, but very off putting first impression.

This isn't the first time I've seen this opinion on GAF and I have no idea where it's coming from. Would you be more specific? I've put tons of time in the game and don't see this at all.
 
I'm glad it's selling but it's probably the worst mainline Street Fighter game for me.

SFV seemed horrible at the time but I think that's because SFIV was incredible for so many reasons.

I haven't played SFV in years but I think SF6 may actually be worse.

Also, one "major" patch per year is horrible for any competitive game.
same tekken 8 kicks sf6s ass so hard,
 
You couldn't pay me to seriously play SF4 again; it was a very important moment for the revival of fighting games, but it's loaded to the brim with so much nonsense and a larger spread of unbalanced matchups it just feels painful to play now.

Good to hear SF6 is doing well, but I feel like moving to only 4 characters a year was a major step backwards.
 
This isn't the first time I've seen this opinion on GAF and I have no idea where it's coming from. Would you be more specific? I've put tons of time in the game and don't see this at all.
It's got the "newer audience" esthetic, with vomit inducing flashy colors, no sex appeal in the character designs as NeverYouMind NeverYouMind said, and seemingly forced inclusivity, which feels off for the context of the game.
 
This game just has no sex appeal for either gender.
It's got the "newer audience" esthetic, with vomit inducing flashy colors, no sex appeal in the character designs as NeverYouMind NeverYouMind said, and seemingly forced inclusivity, which feels off for the context of the game.

This is why I asked you to be specific. What 'forced inclusivity' are you talking about? This is Street Fighter, a game about fighters of all shapes and sizes from around the globe duking it out. It's always been that, unless you have a problem with the idea of Street Fighter itself. Which is your opinion to have, but which do you mean, and if it's this game specifically, what's off about it (preferably versus previous iterations)?

As for sex appeal, again, this is something I've heard and I don't see how. I'm not going nuts but here are a couple of shots. Maybe they don't do anything for you.

pdrFUKal.jpeg


The upshot of Cammy's butt on her victory fanfare.

Sexy Video Game GIF by CAPCOM


Everything from the lip swipe to the sexy stare. Although you could work with just about anything Mai does (or says) really.

Maybe you're not a fan of the new outfits? The classic ones are in the game.

I'm more interested in this 'DEI' label though. Is there really some artistic compromise you're seeing that I don't, or... is it just a buzzword for 'thing I don't like'? (which I just kinda see a lot of)
 
This is why I asked you to be specific. What 'forced inclusivity' are you talking about? This is Street Fighter, a game about fighters of all shapes and sizes from around the globe duking it out. It's always been that, unless you have a problem with the idea of Street Fighter itself. Which is your opinion to have, but which do you mean, and if it's this game specifically, what's off about it (preferably versus previous iterations)?

As for sex appeal, again, this is something I've heard and I don't see how. I'm not going nuts but here are a couple of shots. Maybe they don't do anything for you.

pdrFUKal.jpeg


The upshot of Cammy's butt on her victory fanfare.

Sexy Video Game GIF by CAPCOM


Everything from the lip swipe to the sexy stare. Although you could work with just about anything Mai does (or says) really.

Maybe you're not a fan of the new outfits? The classic ones are in the game.

I'm more interested in this 'DEI' label though. Is there really some artistic compromise you're seeing that I don't, or... is it just a buzzword for 'thing I don't like'? (which I just kinda see a lot of)
This is the kind of stuff you would see in a gym or a festival performance bereft of all sexuality. Mai in KoF XV for comparison:
vK-Iyb.gif


What they did to Terry is the real travesty though:
Street-Fighter-6-Terry-Bogard-scaled.jpg
 
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Funny how when games release on Switch those same games are later followed by "New milestone record sales". It's almost as if Nintendo gamers actually buy games released on their system 🤔
 
Funny how when games release on Switch those same games are later followed by "New milestone record sales". It's almost as if Nintendo gamers actually buy games released on their system 🤔
If they are made by Nintendo or are launch titles (because there is practically nothing else to play).

Steve Harvey Wow GIF by NBC
 
If they are made by Nintendo or are launch titles (because there is practically nothing else to play).

Steve Harvey Wow GIF by NBC
Nier Automata, Dragon Quest XI, The Witcher 3 (and more)...none of these were launch titles nor made by Nintendo yet saw Huge sales boost after releasing on Switch.

Nice try, though 😅
 
It's because the Switch 2 just came out and not much new and/or 'good' software is available for it.
 
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Half way to that 10 million.

EDIT: Deadass @ still people complaining about sex appeal of characters when Mai and Cammy exist. The overly fixation on it is crazy status.
 
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