Street Fighter V's Announcement Trailer Is A Giant Love Letter

An early look at Ryu from SFV.

In the early hours of December 5, 2014, the announcement trailer for Street Fighter V was leaked early over Youtube and various social media platforms. While there's plenty to talk about regarding the corresponding news, I'm much more taken with the video's composition. There would have been plenty of buzz even over a few seconds of cinematics and a logo, but whomever put this together took a much more involved and loving approach.

While it does contain brief glimpses of new gameplay and availability info, Street Fighter V's announcement trailer shares the spotlight with footage of the franchise's previous titles, fan artists, collectors, cosplayers, and competitive scene. SF might be a household name, but it's still a bit niche in the grand scheme. While I'd love to see it become even bigger, I'm glad to see those in charge of producing and promoting the series putting forth so much effort in honoring its past and the passionate existing fanbase.

Update: You can check out the trailer yourself below:

According to IGN and a heavy helping of common sense, it's assumed the official announcement was meant to be part of the coming weekend's PlayStation Experience event in Las Vegas. After all, the trailer's "juiciest" tidbit is that Street Fighter V is set to be a PS4 and PC exclusive. I can imagine Xbox loyalists being let down, but Capcom's history of sometimes releasing console exclusives on other platforms down the line (as with Resident Evil 4) may be of some comfort.

The trailer doesn't contain any sort of tentative release information, but I can imagine it being a good ways down the road. Ultra Street Fighter IV (the final edition of the game's predecessor) is a fairly new release, and Capcom is still supporting it through balance changes, additional bonus features such as Omega Mode, and even more crazy-ass DLC costumes. USFIV has been one of the bigger successes for the company as of late, and I'm sure they're eager to give it as healthy a lifespan as possible while SFV is in development.

SFV's logo and tag-line.

As with the initial Tekken 7 teaser leak, I feel bad that Capcom's intended Street Fighter V announcement has been somewhat compromised. I'm seeing a good bit of positivity among the initial reactions however, so the obvious upside is that the early hype train is already in effect. Between Capcom's efforts to make the community as big a part of USFIV as possible through the likes of tireless open beta tests and Combofiend's Capcom Unity blog, competitive scene love-fests like the Moment 37 Reloaded tournament, and the confirmation that the series will indeed be continuing on, it feels like a pretty good time to be a Street Fighter fan right now.

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