Street Fighter 5has not been the most well-received entry in the long-running fighting game franchise, to say the least. WhenStreet Fighter 5first launched, it did so as one of the most content-deficientStreet Fightergames ever, and while Capcom rectified that over time with regular updates and re-releases, that still left a sour taste in many players' mouths. The other big controversy surroundingStreet Fighter 5has been its online multiplayer issues, which persist to this day and recently received renewed attention thanks to the comments of pro player Victor “Punk” Woodley.
Punk was able to qualify for theCapcom Cupthis year and was interviewed by commentators Vicious and UltraDavid in a livestream after earned his spot in the tournament. Punk was asked how he was going to prepare for playingStreet Fighter 5in the Capcom Cup, and he responded that he was just going to playGuilty Gearinstead. Punk’s main issue withStreet Fighter 5is the laggy online multiplayer, which “tilts” him and so he’s not going to force himself to play it to prepare for the Capcom Cup.
RELATED:PlayStation Announces the Evo Community Series Tournament
During the stream, Punk clarified that he lovesStreet Fighter 5as a game, but that the online “is just not good.” With such a public condemnation ofStreet Fighter 5’s online multiplayer functionality, it will be interesting to see if Capcom takes any steps to rectify the ongoing issues or if it will just focus its efforts on the inevitableStreet Fighter 6instead.
Street Fighter 5’s poor online multiplayer connectivity has been an issue for years, and before Capcom made any real attempts to fix it, fans actually had to step up and address the problems themselves. A fan-madeStreet Fighter 5patch tried to fix the online multiplayer issues, but then Capcom created its own version of the patch to mixed results.
Street Fighter 5’s lackluster implementation ofrollback netcodehas long been a point of criticism and it seems like it will continue to remain controversial, especially in the competitive scene. Meanwhile, other fighting games have been earning praise for their use of rollback netcode, likeGuilty Gear Strive, the game that Punk is seemingly wanting to play instead ofStreet Fighter 5. Even the upcomingNickelodeon All-Star Brawlhas proper rollback netcode, a fact that has been used by the fighting game community to poke fun at major, triple-A titles that lack it for whatever reason.
Street Fighter 5is out now for Arcade, PC, and PS4.
MORE:The next Street Fighter Could Learn a Lot From Guilty Gear Strive
