Street Fighter V is a 2016 fighting game created by Capcom and Dimps and released by Capcom for PlayStation 4 and Windows. It is the next game in the Street Fighter series after Street Fighter IV (2008) and was made using the Unreal Engine 4. At first, the game was only available on Sony’s PlayStation 4. Like earlier games in the series, Street Fighter V uses side-scrolling fighting gameplay and includes a new feature called the "V-Gauge." When it launched, the game had 16 characters, four of which were new to the series. Additional content, including a main story mode and 30 more characters, was added later through updates and downloadable content.

When the game was first released, it received both positive and negative feedback. Critics liked the graphics and gameplay but pointed out the game had limited content, few characters, and technical problems. Initially, the game sold fewer copies than Capcom expected. However, by March 2023, it had sold 7.2 million copies, making it the most successful Street Fighter game on home consoles, surpassing the original Street Fighter II. In 2018, an updated version called Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition was released by Taito. This version included more single-player content and a new Arcade Mode. In 2020, another update named Street Fighter V: Champion Edition was released. It included all fighters, stages, and most costumes from the first four seasons of the game. Street Fighter V was followed by a new game in the series, Street Fighter 6, which was released in 2023.

Gameplay

Street Fighter V continues the 2D fighting style of earlier games, where two fighters use attacks and special moves to defeat each other. The game includes the EX gauge from Street Fighter III, which fills as the player lands attacks. This gauge can be used to power up special moves or perform powerful combo attacks called Critical Arts. However, the Focus Attacks from previous games are no longer available. A new feature in this game is the "V-Gauge," which fills when the player takes damage. This gauge unlocks four new abilities: V-Skills, V-Reversals, V-Triggers, and V-Shifts. V-Skills are unique attacks for each character, such as Ryu’s ability to block attacks or M. Bison’s power to reflect projectiles, which can also fill the V-Gauge. V-Reversals let players use a part of the V-Gauge to counter attacks while being hit. V-Shifts use a section of the V-Gauge to dodge and possibly counter incoming attacks. V-Triggers use the full V-Gauge to perform special abilities, like increasing the power of Ryu’s energy balls or adding extra hits to Chun-Li’s attacks. The Stun Meter, which has been in the game since Street Fighter III, is now visible under health bars. This meter fills when a player takes repeated attacks and can cause them to become stunned if full, encouraging players to attack when their opponent’s meter is nearly full. The game also includes an interactive arena that shows special animations when a player is defeated at the edge of the screen.

At launch, the game had 16 characters, four of whom were new to the series. After the game’s release, additional characters were added through updates divided into several "seasons." These characters and other post-launch content can be purchased with real money or "Fight Money," earned by playing the game. Characters making their first appearance in a Street Fighter game are shown in bold.

During the game’s season passes, several new characters were introduced, including Final Fight characters Abigail and Lucia Morgan, and Rival Schools character Akira Kazama. Other new characters include:

• Laura Matsuda, a Brazilian fighter and older sister to Sean Matsuda, who uses Brazilian jiu-jitsu and electricity in her moves.
• F.A.N.G., also known as Fang Fei in Street Fighter 6, who leads M. Bison’s Shadaloo organization and uses long-range attacks, slippery movements, and poison abilities.
• Necalli, an Aztec-like warrior who seeks the soul of a strong opponent.
• Rashid, a Middle Easterner who controls wind and searches for a missing friend kidnapped by Bison and Shadaloo. Later in the game, it is revealed that F.A.N.G. killed her.
• Kolin, a Russian assistant to Gill, the leader of the Illuminati. She uses systema and cyrokinesis.
• Ed, a young man who was taken as a child to replace M. Bison. Raised by Balrog after Street Fighter IV, he uses boxing and Psycho power to fight remnants of Shadaloo. He initially uses kickboxing but switches to pure boxing in Street Fighter 6.
• Menat, the Egyptian apprentice of Rose, who fights using sphere projectiles. Her weapon, the "Left Eye of Lion," is linked to a location from Red Earth called Sangypt.
• Zeku, the master of Final Fight character Guy, who can switch between his older and younger forms. He founded the Striders group, and his younger form resembles Strider Hiryu from Street Fighter Alpha 2.
• Falke, a woman taken as a child to replace M. Bison. She works with Ed in Neo Shadaloo and uses a staff to focus her Psycho power.
• G, who claims to be the "President of the World."
• Kage, the personification of Ryu’s Satsui no Hado, which was destroyed by Ryu after he purged it.
• Eleven, a failed prototype of Street Fighter III’s Twelve. Its body was used to revive Charlie Nash.
• Luke Sullivan, an American military mixed martial artist who wants to be like his late father, Robert. He is friends with Ken Masters and Guile, with the latter serving as his mentor. Luke also appeared in Street Fighter 6’s prequel manga, Luke Rising.

Plot

The story happens after the events of Street Fighter III and before Street Fighter IV. Years after Charlie Nash was killed by M. Bison, he wakes up in a tomb. A young woman named Helen tells him he must get an item from his old friend Guile to help destroy Bison. At the same time, the Shadaloo organization starts "Operation C.H.A.I.N.S." by launching seven artificial satellites called the "Black Moons." These satellites are meant to spread fear and despair, which is the source of Bison's Psycho Power. Shadaloo plans to take in this energy to make Bison and his forces unstoppable.

Rashid tries to enter Shadaloo's headquarters to find a friend who was kidnapped. He is discovered and defeated by F.A.N.G. F.A.N.G. takes a chess piece-like item from Rashid and uses it to blow up one of the Black Moons. This causes a powerful electrical burst above New York City.

Guile and Chun-Li try to stop Bison and his forces in New York but fail. They are attacked by Charlie, who tries to take items sent to them before running away. Charlie reunites with Helen, who convinces Rashid and Juri to join her in retrieving the items. Helen explains that the items are keys to control the Black Moons, which were sent to certain people to stop their use. Karin Kanzuki also calls warriors from around the world to help gather the items before Shadaloo. All of them answer her call except Ryu, who stays behind at Ken's suggestion to train more and keep his dangerous power, Satsui no Hadou, under control.

As the warriors search for the items, they are attacked many times by Shadaloo's minions, Dolls, and the ancient Aztec god Necalli, who wants to eat the souls of the strongest fighters. During a battle, Cammy defeats her sister Decapre, who was brainwashed by Shadaloo. Cammy refuses to give Decapre to the police and takes her away with Juri's help. After gathering all the remaining items and more allies, the warriors attack Shadaloo's base and successfully turn off the Black Moons. However, they fail to defeat Bison's forces and must retreat. F.A.N.G. threatens Li-Fen, a young girl who was kidnapped and forced to help create the Black Moons. He demands she change their course so they will fall on Earth, hitting six major cities in 24 hours to cause chaos and generate the Psycho Power Shadaloo needs.

Ryu returns from training and defeats Necalli in battle. He removes the Satsui no Hadou from himself and forces the god to leave forever. He joins his friends for a second attack on Shadaloo's base. Rashid learns his missing friend was killed by F.A.N.G. long ago but uses a hint his friend left to completely stop the Black Moons. Charlie fights Bison but fails to defeat him. He sacrifices himself to weaken Bison, allowing Ryu to destroy him once and for all. Chun-Li takes Li-Fen, and the warriors leave Shadaloo's base as it is destroyed. The brainwashed Dolls regain their senses, and Rashid receives a pre-recorded message from his now-deceased friend, thanking him for helping save the world and telling him to move on with his life. Meanwhile, Helen returns to her master, Gill, who says he will restore order to the world and asks Helen, who is actually Kolin, to follow him.

In a post-credits scene, Ryu and Ken have a sparring match. Afterward, they agree that their journeys will never end and promise to keep moving forward.

Development and release

Street Fighter V was created by Capcom and Dimps. The game was first shown in a YouTube video on December 5, 2014, but the video was quickly removed. It was officially announced the next day at the 2014 PlayStation Experience event in Las Vegas. At that time, the game was said to be made only for PlayStation 4 and Windows. Although it was initially planned for Linux through SteamOS, it was never released. Valve’s Steam Deck, which uses SteamOS 3.0, can run the Windows version of Street Fighter V through Proton. The game was developed using Unreal Engine 4 and supports cross-platform play. Capcom selected the song "Survivor" by Man with a Mission as the game’s image song.

On June 12, 2015, Capcom confirmed the game would not be released on competing consoles due to a partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment. Capcom’s Matt Dahlgren explained that the partnership aimed to grow the fighting game community and enable cross-platform play for the first time. Starting in July 2015, the game was playable for a limited time at Six Flags parks in the United States. On July 23, 2015, Capcom launched a beta program for players who preordered the game on PlayStation 4 in North America and European players who signed up on the PlayStation Network. However, the beta faced major server issues and was taken offline early. It was briefly reactivated in August 2015 for testing before returning on August 28, 2015. Street Fighter V was officially released for PlayStation 4 and Windows on February 16, 2016.

According to director Takayuki Nakayama, the game was originally planned to include six seasons of downloadable content (DLC) but was reduced to five. In January 2016, Capcom announced a post-launch update featuring a single-player story mode called "A Shadow Falls," which was released for free on July 1, 2016.

A PC update caused a driver named "Capcom .sys," which acted as a rootkit, to be installed. This driver allowed applications to run with high-level permissions and temporarily disabled a security feature called supervisor mode execution prevention. It was re-enabled after the application finished running. This was done to prevent cheating, but the driver did not check which applications used it, allowing potential malware to exploit it. Capcom removed the update and reverted to an earlier version of the game.

In May 2016, PS4 players discovered the game had an 8-frame input latency, which affected high-level play. Capcom apologized in June 2016 for poor communication about updates and future changes.

During the beta stage, certain animations were changed to reduce sexual content. For example, a camera angle in Cammy’s intro was adjusted, and a scene in R. Mika’s critical art was modified to hide the slapping action. Reactions to these changes were mixed, with some criticizing the changes as unnecessary censorship and others praising them as appropriate. Capcom did not comment on specific changes, stating the game was still under development.

On October 5, 2017, Capcom announced Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, released on January 16, 2018, in the United States and Japan, and January 19, 2018, in Europe. The update included all DLC characters from seasons 1 and 2, new gameplay modes, updated graphics, and a new cinematic opening. It was available as a free downloadable update for original owners and as a retail game at a reduced price. The Arcade Edition uses the NESiCAxLive system.

A second update, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, was released on February 14, 2020. It included gameplay and balance changes, such as adding a second V-Skill for each character. These updates were free for all versions of the game. Like the Arcade Edition, Champion Edition was sold at a discounted price. The retail package included all characters, stages, and costumes from seasons 1 through 4, excluding certain content. Existing players could purchase a digital upgrade kit to unlock all included content.

On May 27, 2020, Capcom announced a fifth season, "Season V," which added five new characters and three new stages. In February 2021, they confirmed a sixth character, Eleven, would be included with the season pass.

A physical release called "Champion Edition – All Characters Pack," containing a voucher for the Champion Edition upgrade kit and all previously released DLC fighters, was announced during the Pro Tour 2021 Tournament. It was released only in Japan for PlayStation 4 on December 9, 2021.

At Tokyo Game Show 2018, Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono announced a physical arcade version of the game, named Street Fighter V: Type Arcade, exclusive to Japan and released in 2019. This version includes USB ports for custom controllers, online support, and features like Arcade Mode and Training Mode. In June 2020, a new mode called "Boss Rush" was added, featuring battles against characters like Shadow Nash and Gill. The mode was a timed event lasting several weeks. The first event ran from June 24 to July 8, 2020.

In March 2024, Capcom announced that Street Fighter V: Type Arcade would stop operating after April 2024 to make way for Street Fighter 6: Type Arcade.

Starting on December 11, 2018, in-game advertisements were added to loading screens and stages. This change caused criticism from journalists and sparked debate among fans.

Related media

The web mini-series Street Fighter: Resurrection introduces the events of the game and follows Charlie Nash as the main character. It was shown on go90 from March 15, 2016, to April 5, 2016.

A pachislot version of Street Fighter V was released only in Japan on July 17, 2018. It includes the story from the "A Shadow Falls" cinematic DLC and some scenes that were not part of the DLC. By September 2018, Capcom had sold 3,300 machines to pachinko parlors.

A pachislot sequel titled Street Fighter V: Path of the Challenger, based on the Champion Edition of the game, was released in Japan on May 20, 2024. It tells the story of Ryu's journey and includes all the characters from Seasons 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the game.

Reception

The PlayStation 4 version of Street Fighter V received mostly positive reviews from critics. A website called Metacritic collected scores from 80 reviews and gave the game a score of 77 out of 100. The Windows version had more mixed reviews, with a score of 74 out of 100 based on 33 reviews. Critics praised the game’s graphics and gameplay but pointed out problems, such as not enough single-player content, limited characters, and online issues when the game first launched. Many players on Steam also reported problems, with 54% of their reviews being negative. Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono apologized for server problems, and in May 2016, Capcom’s CEO, Kenzo Tsujimoto, admitted the game had “a lack of content” and needed more improvements. In November 2016, Ono said the game was not complete when it launched and called it a learning experience.

Despite these early issues, some reviewers praised the game’s core fighting mechanics. GamesRadar said the game’s fighting system was strong and easy for new players to learn, but warned that limited content might discourage some players. They called the game “still brilliant” at its core. IGN said the game was “excellent” but missing many features. They praised how it balanced old and new fighting game ideas but were disappointed by missing features on launch day. The Daily Dot gave the game a 4.5 out of 5, noting better graphics and sound than the previous version but also pointing out some glitches. Edge magazine said the game’s mechanics were great but its structure was poor. Metro compared it to Splatoon, saying the game had strong gameplay but not enough content. They hoped future updates might improve the score. Some critics were harsher, like Slant, which said the game ignored many players due to missing content. The Guardian refused to give a score, calling the game “unfinished” and a “speculative gamble.” Famitsu gave the game a 35 out of 40.

At launch, the game had many players quitting after only a few matches because there were no penalties for leaving. About 75% of players stopped playing after 12 matches. Capcom fixed this issue in March 2016. One reason for the game’s February release date was to align with the Capcom Pro Tour.

The “Shadows Falls” update was poorly received. Destructoid gave it a 4 out of 10, calling it a disappointment. Kotaku’s deputy editor called it “ridiculous,” and the Financial Post gave it a 6 out of 10, saying the story mode was weak. Some DLC updates were criticized for being too expensive. Eurogamer said Capcom’s pricing for stages and costumes seemed misguided. Professional commentator David “UltraDavid” Graham called the game the “worst fighting game release in modern history” and said it needed a re-release. Adding loot boxes in June 2018 also faced criticism from players and journalists.

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition received a Metascore of 87 out of 100 from 36 critics. Reviews from IGN, GameSpot, Hardcore Gamer, and Electronic Gaming Monthly all gave it a 9 out of 10, calling it a major improvement from its unfinished state. Critics praised new content in Arcade Mode, the ability to use a second V-Trigger, and features like Team Battle mode and frame data in training. Push Square gave it an 8 out of 10, saying it felt like a major update but was still a good time to start playing. 4Players and the NY Daily News said it was the game fans had always wanted.

The Arcade Edition was nominated for “Best Fighting Game” at The Game Awards 2018 and “Fan Favorite Fighting Game” at the Gamers’ Choice Awards, but lost both to Dragon Ball FighterZ. It was also nominated for the Raging Bull Award for Best Fighting Game at the New York Game Awards, losing to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In 2019, it was nominated for “Best eSports Game” at the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards, losing to Fortnite. In 2020, it was again nominated for “Best Fighting Game” at The Game Awards, but lost to Mortal Kombat 11.

Sales

In May 2015, Capcom said they expected the game to sell at least 2 million units worldwide by the end of the company's financial year. In Japan, Street Fighter V reached number four on the sales chart, with 42,000 units sold in the first week. The game reached number one on the UK PS4 physical sales chart but did not reach the top spot on the multiformat chart, where Call of Duty: Black Ops III was ranked first. It also reached number five on the US PlayStation Store download chart but did not enter the top 20 in Europe. According to the NPD Group, the game was the seventh best-selling retail game in the US in February 2016.

The Arcade Edition reached number 12 on the Japanese sales charts and number 23 on the UK physical sales charts. The Champion Edition appeared on the Japanese sales charts for two weeks, starting at number 11 and falling to number 24 in the second week. It reached number 37 on the UK charts. The "Upgrade kit" season pass reached number 5 on the US DLC chart but did not appear on the European chart.

By February 2020, Capcom announced that Street Fighter V had shipped a total of 4.1 million units across the PS4 and PC platforms (including digital downloads), surpassing the first version of Street Fighter IV. By May 2020, the game had shipped 4.5 million units, surpassing Monster Hunter 4 and becoming one of Capcom's top 10 best-selling games of all time. As of September 2025, Street Fighter V has sold 7.8 million units.

In popular culture

Street Fighter V was part of a challenge during the 2017 season of the reality television show The Amazing Race 29, which took place in South Korea. A contestant had to learn how to play the game from a coach and then defeat a professional eSports player in one round to continue in the race. If the contestant could not win in ten rounds, the professional player would use one hand to play. After another ten rounds, the player would wear a blindfold. The game is also shown in the 11th episode of the anime Tonikawa: Over the Moon for You.

Professional wrestler Kenny Omega uses a move named "V-Trigger," which is inspired by a mechanic in the game.

In 2016, Street Fighter V set a record for the most participants in a single game at the Evolution Championship Series, with more than 5,000 registrations.