Valve is taking responsibility for the leaking of three new major DLC character additions to Street Fighter 5’s roster by issuing a public apology.
On a Steam post, a Valve representative “TomG” explained that a trailer which went live ahead of schedule and ruined a supposed surprise announcement was caused by a “mix-up in the publishing process.”
On July 31, the controversial trailer prematurely revealed three fighters are joining the roster including E.Honda, Lucia and Poison. While Capcom has confirmed a bit early the additions of the iconic fighters, it was actually uncertain at that time how it happened.
The original plan was for the game developer to make a big splash on the Evo fighting game tournament happening from Aug 2 to Aug 4. After the characters were leaked, it has published the trailer on its own Youtube since there wasn’t much else that could be done.
Some Capcom employees, Evo organizers, and Street Fighter fans expressed on Twitter and other social media platforms their disappointment over the unexpected reveal. Some speculated that someone from Capcom accidentally posted it on the game’s forum.
E.Honda is a sumo wrestler in the classic Street Fighter II, while Lucia and Poison are major characters in Final Fight 3. Lucia is a policewoman while Poison is a maybe-trans fighter.
“We are fans of Street Fighter ourselves, and we’re sorry for the error,” Tom G said while noting that what happened was ‘regrettable’ and ‘unintentional. He ensured that Valve is taking steps to prevent this mistake from happening again.
Street Fighter 5 is now available on PC and PS4. The three new characters are available for purchase beginning Aug 4, during the conclusion of Evo 2019. Each will be individually sold for 100,000 via in-game currency or $5.99 via cash. Capcom will also release Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition – Summer 2019 Character Bundle containing all the three of them for $14.99 on Aug 5. The bundle includes their battle costumes and alternate colors.
For those wondering what the game is all about, Street Fighter 5 is offering a free trial until Aug 11 to coincide with the Evo event. It highlights all launch and characters of the Season 3, except E. Honda. For those wishing to buy the game, this is probably the best time as its price is currently 60% off.
