“Just as Surprised as Everyone”: SF6 Director on Capcom Cup Paywall

A simple post by Capcom developer Takayuki Nakayama has turned into an unexpectedly insightful discussion, shedding new light on the controversy surrounding Capcom Cup’s pricing model.

Nakayama, director of Street Fighter 6, shared a social media post praising an artwork by Fukumori-kun and expressing hope that it would be turned into merchandise. But in that post, he revealed something significant: the Capcom development team is completely separate from the esports division. While his team handles in-game artwork and content, it is the esports division that manages promotional material and tournament operations.

This revelation comes just days after Capcom stunned fans by announcing that the final stages of Capcom Cup 12 and the Street Fighter League World Championship would be placed behind a paywall. The decision sparked widespread criticism, particularly outside Japan.

Nakayama clarified that neither he nor the development team had any say in this move. In fact, when asked directly by Brian_F, a popular content creator in the fighting game community, Nakayama admitted that the dev team was “just as surprised as everyone else.”

He explained that because the dev and esports teams have different goals and priorities, their strategies don’t always align. On the suggestion that DLC could once again be used to help fund major tournaments, Nakayama recalled that this approach had been proposed during the Street Fighter V era by the dev team itself. However, with Capcom’s growth since then, internal structures and decision-making have changed significantly.

Nakayama even joked that he might get “scolded” for sharing so much and warned he could end up deleting his tweets. Still, his comments strongly suggest that the new monetization strategy originates from the esports division, a group perhaps less attuned to the needs and expectations of the FGC compared to the developers.

As of now, Capcom has not issued an official response. Whether this backlash will push the company toward a more consumer-friendly policy remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that the pay-per-view decision has left a bitter taste among international fans.