Capcom took their marketing game to a new level this year at the WWE Royal Rumble. Queen of the Ring, Zelina Vega, made her entrance into the ring done up as Juri. Her cosplay was spot on and next thing we know we have a giant Street Fighter 6 logo floating above the ring.
You absolutely know the social media world was on fire talking about Zelina and Street Fighter 6. Well done, Capcom.
I always had a sneaking suspicion that this was not going to be the last marketing surprise we saw from them. But, then, we had the Grand Finals of the Capcom Pro Tour come and go without a sneeze of anything new with Street Fighter 6. Even the playable demo they had at the finals was the same old beta from before despite having unveiled so many more characters.
So, What Was Capcom Waiting For? This…
Capcom had another ace up its sleeve for its promo efforts. And that in fact was with Lil’ Wayne playing host to a newly announced Street Fighter 6 Showcase.
How does this even make sense? Should we even care? Does this matter?
Well, if you want Street Fighter 6 to do well, bring in a whole new audience, and continue to inject life into one of the most popular fighting game franchises of all time…then yes, it does make sense, we should care, and it does matter…a lot.
Bridging the Gap
Years after year commercials for the Modern Warfare series have always been synonymous with celebrities. Essentially a bunch of celebrities performing live action stuns interspersed with Modern Warfare gameplay. And, it worked…
Nowadays Street Fighter as a video game may be pretty close to a household name, but there’s one issue here… We are about to launch Street Fighter 6 this year and whenever anyone thinks of Street Fighter they think of Street Fighter 2. It was an iconic time in video games and Street Fighter 2 changed the landscape of what fighting games could be and are today.
So, what needs to happen with Street Fighter 6? Well, not just be another entry in the Street Fighter series. It needs to be an entry that replaces Street Fighter 2 in the minds of the masses. It needs to have a launch that completely removes the sour taste of what Street Fighter V launched with. And, it needs to breathe new life into a community to bridge the gap from casual players to pro players.
Games like Counter-Strike and League of Legends have insane skill ceilings. But, as far as appeal, they have the most casual of fans to pro player wanna-be’s catching the streams and filling the lobbies.
What does something like that look for Street Fighter? With two million dollars in prizes up for grabs next year for Capcom Cup are we going to see something that Fighting Game Community has never seen before? Maybe… Time will tell.
When and What Time is the Street Fighter 6 Showcase?
If time will tell, one of the best glimpses of said future will be the Street Fighter 6 Showcase on Thursday, April 20th. The show is set to kick off at 3pmPST and is absolutely hosted by Lil’ Wayne, Weezy F Baby.
PLUS, there will be a special preshow recapping everything Street Fighter 6 at 2:30pmPST hosted by Jirard the Completionist and Suzi the Sphere Hunter.
If you’re doing the math… that’s an hour (or more!) of Street Fighter 6 goodness with the main show said to be over 30 minutes long.
- StreetFighter 6 ShowCase hosted by Lil’ Wayne
- Thursday, April 20th, @ 3pmPST
- Special Preshow @ 2:30pmPST hosted by Jirard the Completionist and Suzi the Sphere Hunter.
- Thursday, April 20th, @ 3pmPST
Hope you all will be watching. I know I will be. It’s going to be a great year for fighting games.
If you plan on watching, let me know in the comments below and come connect with FightRise on Discord and Twitter.