Over the past couple of weeks, Super Street Fighter IV was announced, which was immediately proceeded by a multitude of announcements/rumors concerning the new game. One particular announcement/comment which was quite unexpected came from an interview with Yoshinori Ono, Street Fighter 4’s producer, where he said that an arcade release of the game was not going to happen. Many people in the community had mixed feelings concerning this announcement; some felt that it would finally even up the playing field with Japan since they would not have a head start by getting an arcade version before a global console release, while others felt that the lack of an arcade release would be detrimental to the Street Fighter community in general, not just Japan’s arcade scene.However, just about a day later, a blog post on Capcom’s official SSF4 website by “Nakky”, an assistant producer, appeared to retract the definitive statement of “no arcade release at all”. She seemed to say that an arcade release was dependent on fan demand.

As if the mixed signals from Capcom’s producers/project managers weren’t enough, an article on ArcadeHeroes indicated that Capcom’s announcement garnered complaints from “amusement operators and loyal fans” alike. Capcom’s arcade division also addressed the situation in the form of an internal memo, calling Ono and Nakky “unprofessional” for their comments concerning an arcade release for SSF4, also claiming that they have “no independent knowledge” of the market.

If anything, this debacle should be proof that the global arcade scene is still relevant, and that Japan won’t be the only place impacted by a nonexistent arcade release of SSF4.