Street Fighter 6 director says he was ‘shocked’ at Capcom’s decision to charge fans $40 to watch tournament final streams

The director of Street Fighter 6 says he was “shocked” to discover that Capcom would be charging fans up to $40 to watch online streams of upcoming tournament finals.

It was announced during last week’s Tokyo Game Show that the finals of Capcom Cup 12 and the SFL World Championship would be streaming live via pay-per-view.

Fans who wanted to watch the tournament finals online will have to pay ¥4,000 ($27) to watch the Capcom Cup 12 Finals on March 14, 2026 and another ¥4,000 ($27) to watch the SFL World Championship on March 15, 2026. Alternatively, a bundle is available for ¥6,000 ($40) that allows them to watch both finals.

The announcement was met with backlash from Street Fighter fans angry that they were being charged up to $40 to stream an event that should be bringing the community together, especially when merchandise for such events is often sold at the venue and online.

Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama has now revealed on X that he had no idea about the decision to charge players to watch the streams, and that he and producer Shuhei Matsumoto both found out about it while they were at Tokyo Game Show itself.

The countdown begins. Tickets for #CAPCOMCUP12 drop soon on Oct. 10!

Starting this season, CAPCOM CUP 12 Finals (Mar.14) and SFL: World Championship (Mar. 15) will stream live via Pay-per-view. Free replays will drop Mar. 21 (CC12) & Mar. 22 (SFL:WC). *Pay-per-view tickets will… pic.twitter.com/CrPI1EzXSq

— Capcom Fighters (@CapcomFighters) September 28, 2025

Replying to a follower who asked whether he thought it was strange that Capcom’s esports division and development teams were seemingly so disconnected on such matters, Nakayama replied: “It may sound strange, but it’s true.”

He added: “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.”

Capcom’s initial announcement that its tournament finals would be pay-per-view streaming events was met with widespread criticism by the fighting game community.

“Isn’t the whole point of Capcom Cup, the Capcom Pro Tour and the prize pool supposed to be… y’know, marketing for the game?” asked X follower Jero. “Why would you PPV-gate that?”

It may sound strange, but it’s true. 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…

— TAKA-nakayama (@takaNakayama) October 2, 2025

“Cool of you guys to price out South America exactly one year after the biggest story of the Cup was a Chilean prodigy surprising everyone,” added user Raxyz, referring to 15-year-old Chilean player Blaz who finished in second place in this year’s Capcom Cup.

Others pointed out that paying for streams of video game related events isn’t necessarily uncommon in Japan, but that by doing the same for its Street Fighter tournaments Capcom risked alienating its Western audience.

“They did this for SFL Japan finals last year and this seems to be a normal/accepted thing in Japan,” X user DubC said. “Unfortunately the rest of the world does not have Japan’s culture. This will be the biggest PR nightmare for your brand. Good luck with that.”

X user Emezi Okorafor added: “I know Street Fighter 6 in Japan is huge, and they will happily pay per view (and have been doing so for years, actually). But Street Fighter cannot survive on Japan alone. The rest of the world needs to be catered to as well, and this will hurt the growth and reputation outside of Japan.”