I dont know anything about the hardware being used for arcade SF4 but I bet this has something to do with the technical and/or financial hurdles involved in current arcade owners of SF4 upgrading to SSF4. If it was simply pulling and replacing a cart or a cart/CD like Sega NAOMI I bet they would do an arcade update.

I thought for sure that since arcade SF4 didn't get console characters at least Capcom would release Super in arcades, even if it was released simultaneously with or even after the console version because many in Asia play the game in arcades. It was a shock to me to see this interview with Ono flatly saying no to arcade version.

Upgrading shouldn't be an issue since I believe the Taito TypeX2 board (basically a PC) is easily upgradeable.

Also, I believe that Ono said something in the official blog about talking about the arcade release later on (and not flatly saying no to it) so the video seems to be a mistranslation.

I think that Ono and Capcom are basically saying that arcades are offically dead not only in north america but in Japan. I think this is a good thing for us because the japs dont play console so maybe we can finally be better then them in a street fighter (not counting the versus games)

We need consoles to support a kiosk mode for games like this. That way arcades can just throw an xbox in a cabinet. But seriously, the arcade scene is dead. It's up to the hard core community to organize things now.

not releasing the arcade version of this is whats killing arcades...
As for TaitoX2... just swapping hard drives and security dongle to get should get a different game running.

making an arcade version should be simple...insert coin, player select menu, FIGHT!
no need to make differnt modes...online, training, challenge, option menu and whatever extras...

From someone thats been playing SF2 since the day it came out...

Look where you live, of course you are going to arcades all the big names are around you, you guys fly to japan for tournaments, etc. Now realize that 49 other states are not California, once that sinks in do the same for the rest of the world that capcom sells SF in. Look we'd all like to be knee deep in arcades and competition but the arcade here that has SF4 plays for a dollar a game, who wants to "learn" on a dollar a game? Lets assume that we all have the cash to do it but now think how many real SF machines are in the states.
California is a great state, but come on, you want to have arcade releases so that you guys can keep the competition up when people in Tennessee, Florida, Washington, i dunno North Dakota etc have zero access to local competition/arcades.
As you said the truth is a majority of people now just dont care about arcades. I live in Austin and have a large amount of competition close by at Arcade UFO and still don't go since after a hard day of work I can log in, play online and still talk to friends without popping a dollar in per game.

I agree with Haunts. Why can't we have both?

It's all about the money.

The console market dwarfs the arcade scene, so it seems obvious they'd put their focus there. I mean, I have no idea the amounts of money that have to be invested for arcade releases and such, but I'm sure Capcom doesn't exactly "make bank" off them these days.

I get the feeling the biggest reason SF4 ever saw an initial arcade release was because Capcom really had no idea how a new Street Fighter would be recieved--they needed to test the waters, so to speak. The arcade was almost a beta run.

With that said, however, I'd honestly be amazed if no arcade form of Super made it out. I would imagine we'll see one post console release. I hope.

Here's hoping this doesn't end up being yet another nail in the coffin.

@ Bayn

I'm a new player to the fighting game scene but I started out from an arcade, luckily I'm a student that goes to a university with SF4. So I was one of the few people that paid that silly 75 cents to learn a game, and I honestly wouldn't compare offline to online, being a player from the SF2 days you should easily understand that.

/rant..how much do arcade cabinets cost? Like for the arcades to buy? Couple grand right(if not WAY more)? I'm sure a PS3/xbox is cheaper. Arcades just need to start making their own custom cabinets (couple hundred bucks) with PS3's in them...isn't that basically what they've been putting into the newest cabs anyways? So what are arcades paying all the extra for? Fancy stickers?

"Man, we don't have a KOFXII cabinet...oh, how about instead of shelling out a couple grand we just pop in the $60 PS3 version into our PS3 custom cab." They fill up the majority of the arcade with custom PS3/XBOX cabs, link them in pairs by LAN connections, and taadaa, same ish. One time cost for the cab, but you can use that same cab for any fighting game available on the console. Way cheaper for the arcade, way cheaper for the video game companies, way cheaper and more attractive to consumers. Check this out, the arcade during the week is full of all kinds of games, but then on the weekends there's always a huge turnout for SF4 tournaments, so instead of the tourny taking 9 hours because there's only 2-4 cabs, you pop SF4 into MOST of the custom cabs and the tourny time is fractions of what it was before. How convenient.

Do they need to pay the companies like royalties or something for people playing their games? Sure, whatever but that's easy paperwork. But i'm assuming after buying the cab, arcades don't pay any royalties or anything to Capcom or whoever in which case I see no reason why this isn't being done already.

Then just make arcades a monthly membership instead of "pay per game" (which is complete crap in the first place). Members get a lanyard ID or a swipe card like at dave and busters. The way arcades are set up right now is illogical, hence them being pretty much dead everywhere. They're too expensive, and not up-to-date with what's cheap and effective business-wise or technology-wise. I don't go to arcades, but I wish I did. I just don't have money flowing out of my pockets to spend on a game/s I can play infinitely at home for free (after the initial $60 anyways). There's just a better way to do the arcade thing, and until they update to a more logical way of doing things, then I have no sympathy for arcades dying because at the end of the day it's just bad business. Can't wait for SSF4 on my PS3.

...sorry for the wall.

to have them both are the best action to do.but on the other hand i think that Ono and Capcom have decided right.
we Europeans mostly we take the games later than anyone else.since some countries they luck of arcade scene i think its wise this time we can get THIS version of SF4 first at our home consoles (PS3&360).
i think its more fair.
but like i said at my first line i dont mind if we have at the same time Arcade version and console version of Super Street Fighter 4.

I agree with edg3. Arcades don't need to die. They just need to evolve with the times. I absolute love the arcade scene as well (when there used to be ones around where i live.). Going to the 'cade, meeting new people, hangin out with old friends havin a good time playin the game you all love to play. Stacks of quarters on the cabinet marking your turns, as you discuss strats amongst other things.

I could go on, but my point is back in the day when arcades were big in the U.S. They were big because they offered something you couldn't get at home. Even when consoles first came out the quality of the hardware wasn't as good as the arcade cabs. Nowadays they are basing thousand dollar cab hardware off of consoles you could get for 400 or less. Doesn't make much sense to me either.

Arcades are places where you can gather without having to worry about you home. Anyone can walk into at their own will to find the scene in that respected area. That is something arcades still have that you cannot get at home. They just have to find something else to keep players there and not completely depend upon paying for their cabs. And evolve.

Sorry, it was pretty late and I don't think I was being very coherent.

I do understand the culture at an arcade, its great and i've met some great players and friends there. There is NO substitute for local arcade play. Case in point none of my local friends play SF so I have ZERO local play unless I head to the arcade but I think thats the reason why I understand that they might not release the game in arcades.

The amount of money/testing to release on both is obviously going to be more than just a console release. New artwork for the cabinets, player cards etc has to cost SOME money not to mention the cost of printing new cartridges to replace the old ones. And the truth is (as I was trying to alude to in my previous post) is that there may not be enough demand to cover the costs of it. Sure one can argue the publicity of large touranments that can host them is like free advertisement but it still may not be enough for the effort to re-release an arcade game considering very few places, except lucky spots in cali and a few other states can even host these tournaments.

I'm not wishing arcades go away, nor that SF the series dies off, but with broadband internet the cost of per-game playing at local arcades and the ability to host tournaments on consoles anyway I can see why the arcade release doesn't seem to be much of a concern for capcom.

Now if its "right" or not I don't know but except for the few in the areas where they have access to such competition I can see why may people in the poles think arcade releases don't matter much.

The cost of hardware/software/cabinets isn't the only reason arcades are dieing. You need a high traffic area to pull people into arcades as well (i.e. Shopping Malls, City Street Corner.) Rental costs for said places have gone higher than any arcade owner can truly afford, unless they want to charge $2 per game. Honestly, how many of you are willing to pay $2 per game?

Second point: Not everyone cares about being a part of a community and just want to play the game against other people. Most of us here do care, but honestly, at least half of those who play SF4 don't.

I'm curious if it's disinterest from Arcade owners that killed this coming to arcades? It's really the only logical reason I can think of right now. That or Capcom shopped around some crazy estimated price and were given the proverbial bird.

Why don't arcades just use ps3's and 360's. An update comes out they can keep up. We are in a new time and have to realize that arcade players are only a SMALL percentage of hard core players. I couldn't even write a proposal to get street fighter in my bowling alley due to the price.

How do you justify a 15,000 dollar machine in a recovering economy ?

Arcades are dead and a petition won't bring them back, sorry to burst your bubble !

The more I think about this, the less sense it makes to me. What reasons would Capcom have for not releasing this version in the Japanese arcades? I can only think of 3.

1. Not enough arcade vendors would be interested to make an arcade run profitable.

This doesn’t hold much water. If there’s an arcade version, players will want it, for sure. Especially in Japan, where the console versions are still to this day not thought of as the “real” versions of the game.

2. Arcade vendors will be angry that a new, expensive revision has come so soon.

This isn’t the case either. Remember that in Japan SF4 has been in arcades since July. It’s been almost a year and a half, plenty of time to not only pay off the initial investment, but make some good profits from it too. Add on the extra 6 months until spring, when Super SF4 will be out, and that’s two years of the game making profits for them, which is really long, by modern arcade game standards. On top of that, just as they promised the console releases will not be full priced games, there’s no reason they can’t make the update kits reduced price as well. All they consist of are a harddrive, a usb dongle, and some artwork.

3. This is an unfinished product, like SSF2 was to SSF2T.

Which means while we don’t see an arcade version yet, we’ll see one announced pretty soon.

It’s my hope that it’s case #3, or it was a slight mistranslation. And even for people who hate arcades out there, as long as there’s a console version, an arcade version doesn’t HURT you, does it? So why not try and support it? :)

Here in Miami, Fl. we got an "arcade" in a mall and EVERYONE goes there to play, wanna know what it is? a bunch of plasma tvs in the walls and in each plasma TV you get SF4, BLAZBLUE, HD REMIX and all this amazing games. you pay 10 dollars you play all day. you pay 2 dollars you play an hour. ALL the TVs have tournament sticks and if you dont want to you can be a pad warrior and connect it. it works just like the EVO and its fantastic. its JUST like an arcade... so if the hardcore fans want to have arcade scene, they have to build it themselves like we did. its up to YOU to keep SF alive. Capcom's only obligation is to MAKE the game and profit from it. its a harsh reality but its the truth.

I haven't been to the arcades in like almost 8 years (I live in Greece, the country that BANNED arcades) and think that this sucked, from a fan's point of view. I don't have anything to add to that you guys haven't already mentioned, I completely agree with the article and the views in the comments above.

However, I've been reading the arcade rankings over at Versus City and it seems that SFIV is rarely, if ever, at the top 5. I'm not sure what this means as far as money-making is concerned, but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that it does seem that SFIV is not generating that big a revenue. With that in mind, it kind of makes sense, from a financial point of view, that Capcom would focus entirely on the console market.

It still sucks, though.

Winder is my hero.

Like I was saying, and like Winder brought to reality, the arcade owners and gamers that want to game outside of their home need to help the arcade scene evolve. I could see arcades getting big again if they just updated their approach to business. Japan needs to do this too.

If developers only had to worry about one version of the game, then they have more time to get in what they REALLY want. Tell your local arcade to start getting into a setup like Winder has in FL, or help them make custom cabs if you want that real arcade feeling. That's really the only way you can bring back the country-wide arcade scene.

I can't see them not releasing this game in arcades. It just might be like Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper and Hyper Street Fighter II, getting an arcade release after the home versions come out.

to thxyoutoo:

but ANY COMMUNITY can have an arcade scene! we did it here, sure its improvised and its not exactly "Arcade" but the arcade enviroment is there! we have tons of fun and get better every day at the game. read my previous comment and you'll see what I mean.

" 1* A full console release means that everyone...
2* Who cares if the Japanese wont play it? It wont stop ...
3* This is a harsh reality -- get used to it along with online play...
4* Immediate access to training mode will allow players to more quickly..."

It's hard not to get emotional about this discussion, but here goes. Each and every one of these arguments is BS, and what's more, any person that makes them is not worthy of respect. Oh, and "those who don't care about an arcade release?" Please. From the tone of many commentators, more like "those who don't want any damn arcade release."

1 - The "misery loves company" argument. Why does a delay of a few months matter in any way? Only to people who feel that they are at some "competitive disadvantage" due to not being able to play the game right when it comes out. This is a lame excuse, the best players have been able to make up for this supposed disadvantage time and time again (look at the EC, who had much less access than socal players early on, yet have come back to be at least as good as the WC players).

2 & 3 - These arguments show no respect for the role of arcade play in the American SF scene, and expose a major rift that most do not acknowledge. We now have the "haves" in the SF scene, who play mostly in the arcade, and the "have nots" who play mostly on console with their friends and in gatherings organized on SRK. Of these two separate communities, which one organizes the biggest tournaments in the US? Which one produces the best players? Which one is, in short, more dedicated and more passionate about competitive gaming? It really is not a contest.

These two groups play the games for different reasons and have very separate goals for the community. The SSF4 debacle confirms what these console players really want: to hasten the elimination of the Arcade scene, so they can have a "level" playing field and get some wins with their inferior skill level, because the arcade players ultimately won't play as much or be as motivated anymore. Why not? Because, as many top players have stated, they would not be playing fighting games without the social and competitive environment provided by arcades. That environment is what provides and feeds the motivation to be the best, moreso than the games themselves.

4 - Pure speculation. I would argue that competitive play is the best way to test out strategies. That's why they do loketests. This also smacks of the first argument, in that we are only talking about a small delay in discovering stuff that would be discovered inevitably, either by arcade players or when the console versions drop.

For all we know, what Ono said might have been lost in translation, or capcom may have a future plan for SF4 arcade up it's sleeve. But seeing many members of the console scene show their true stripes has hopefully made this all worthwhile. Hopefully arcade players wake up and recognize just how under attack their culture and scene is, and hopefully take measures to protect what they value. Arcade players need to stop giving in to this "way of the future" bullshit pushed by console players, and need to defend their turf...or be destroyed! ;)

to be honest for the arcades upgrading the sf4 to ssf4 only involves changing the hardisk and a usb dongle its quite easy money for capcom to make, of course what u have to keep in mind is that the arcade market is nowhere near as big as the console market, however it still dosent convince me that capcom would not like to make extra money by releasing the arcade version, home version will not sell less if the was an arcade version and vice versa. therefore to me from reading what capcom has said about releasing an arcade version eg "we have not forgotten about the arcade" , "we are pushing hard for an arcade" seems to make me think that ssf4 will be an home version that wont make it to arcade but the arcade may get a new version sf4 that is different to the home version. lets put it simple capcom is still a company that wants to make money so i dont c them not wanting to make money from both arcade and home versions while they sf4 is still a money making title they wanna keep alive.

I also was thinking that capcom might be releasing a slightly different version of SSF4 to the arcade, kind of like what SNK did recently with KOF 2k2 UM. As long as the differences aren't too dramatic (SNK did a good job, just omitting the broken boss characters and removing some infinites in the arcade version of 2k2 UM), then I think everybody could go home happy. If so, its ironic that now companies are delaying arcade releases of games released on console to protect sales, when it used to be the other way around for years.

Well i'm hoping they'll do something about it. there are still a lot of SF arcade fans out there.

Hmm it seems to me that the only people who support an arcade release are the people who actually have an Arcade to go to. I just don't see why those people are shutting down the notion of Arcades evolving. Try to be open-minded here and don't just think about your own situation. I do support an Arcade release but i'd rather see Arcades evolve.

It definitely is hard not to get emotional about this... It is very unfair to say that people who play in Arcades are more dedicated than people who organize console sessions are "two different communities"...think about that for a second man. Try to put yourself in someone shoes. I believe that every area has people who are equally as passionate as "top players" in other areas. The difference is that areas just have it better than other areas.

In my area. We used to go to the cade's every freakn day to session, talk strats, and just hang out. But what do you know five or six guys going to the Arcade everyday isnt enough to support it these days especially with the cost of cabinets these days. So every arcade closed down or only has gimmicky games and got rid of their fighting games. So what do we do now. Organize sessions on SRK or TZ and session on consoles. The same passionate people who would go to the Arcade if they could. We just have to make due with what we have.

So to say that people that do that are not as "dedicated or passionate" is just flat out ignorant and wrong.

Oh, somebody actually responded to the novel I wrote way back when.

"Hmm it seems to me that the only people who support an arcade release are the people who actually have an Arcade to go to. I just don't see why those people are shutting down the notion of Arcades evolving. Try to be open-minded here and don't just think about your own situation."

This is false. Numerous players have said they want to support the japanese arcade scene, even if they don't have an arcade of there own. While possible, I don't think the evolution you have in mind is practical. At the very least, there are virtually no successful examples in the us of this business model supplanting arcades. The examples I'm aware of have a console setup on the side along with a game store, or an existing arcade (e.g., for free play nights). With such a small market (fighting game fans, for the most part), I can understand why few people have taken the leap to developing these "evolved" arcades. Nobody yet has demonstrated that this business strategy is viable, and its kinda ridiculous to believe business owners will go out on such a limb for just one game, even if it is SSF4.

Re: dedication and passion, I think Tai makes a fair point. Some console players have had things taken out of their hands to an extent with the closing of arcades in their area. In an intangible sense, they may have as much passion for SF as people who still go to arcades. But that doesn't change the fact that the best players and main organizers of fighting game tournaments come from arcades, which is tangible evidence of having more "passion and dedication." If you were an arcade player yourself, you should recognize this and support arcades, even outside your area, because if those arcades are successful, the arcade business model may come back to your area. Not having an arcade release of SSF4 is a blow to arcades everywhere, especially in japan/asia, but also in the US. If you ever were a fan of arcades, then the only way to see this is as a terrible thing.