News - Capcom Walks Back Pay-Per-View Street Fighter 6 Livestream After Backlash

Capcom Cup 12, with its finals scheduled for March of next year, is set to be the first pay-per-view livestream for a major Street Fighter tournament. On Friday, however, the Japanese publisher might change how much it charges players to watch it. That’s in response to a furious backlash from fans and competitive pros alike to what would be a controversial milestone for professional esports. "Currently, we are considering price adjustments for the paid live viewing," Capcom announced on X earlier today, according to the platforms’ auto-translation. "We plan to make another announcement regarding the pricing of live viewing tickets, as well as the background and intent behind it, by late October." ＜カプコンeSportsイベント 有料チケットに関するお知らせ＞本日より「CAPCOM CUP 12」「ストリートファイターリーグ: ワールドチャンピオンシップ 2025」の国技館の会場観戦チケットの抽選販売受付を開始いたします。 ▼詳しくはこちら▼https://t.co/UdNZJzoxUf… — CAPCOM eSports (@CAPCOM_eSports) October 10, 2025 While fans can pay to attend the tournament live in-person, they’ll also have to pay to watch it live online. Right now the ticket price is $40 for two days of matches. That’s as much as it currently costs to buy Street Fighter 6. While some fans are against Capcom charging at all, others might be satisfied if the publisher simply lowers the price, or rolls the ticketing into a broader package that also includes in-game cosmetics. Capcom’s retreat comes a week after Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama confirmed on social media that the development team was not consulted about the pay-per-view pricing for the more than $1 million prize pool event. "It may sound strange, but it’s true," he wrote. "Revenue targets and assigned tasks differ fundamentally by department. Even the development team was surprised by this announcement. (At least Matsumoto and I were shocked at the venue). That said, since this matter occurred within the same company, we are currently discussing it. We apologize for any concern this may have caused." For example, the initiatives we implemented in the previous title. That was a proposal from the development team—it was tough but fun. Since then, the organization has grown significantly, and various departments have been established. My main responsibilities now are improving… — TAKA-nakayama (@takaNakayama) October 2, 2025 He also confirmed that there was no discussions about including tickets for the livestream in add-on content for the game, like a World Championship costume set. Nakayama even added that he’d delete his post if he got "scolded at work" for it. That clearly hasn’t happened. "We kindly ask for your patience until then," Capcom told fans today. "We sincerely appreciate your continued support for Capcom eSports events."