Capcom Stupidly Learned Nothing From Past Fighting Titles With ‘Street Fighter V’ When It Comes To Rage Quitters

Fighting fans waited eight years, but the game they wanted finally arrived. On February 16, 2016, Capcom finally released Street Fighter V. Built by the promotional hype of beta plays, pre-release trailers, and other released news, the fifth installment in Capcom’s flagship fighter series got the attention of the gaming community. Not to mention, this installment is the first game in which, we, Street Fighter Series fans, actually see our beloved characters, like Ken, Birdie, and M. Bison, actually show redesigns. Summarized, there were many positive improvements Capcom made for Street Fighter V.

Unfortunately, there is one issue Street Fighter V has that can be deemed as an “unforgivable sin” for Capcom. It is not the lack of an arcade mode because they replaced it with a decent story mode. It is also not the server issues for ranked matches because any new game with online capabilities usually has such. Besides, Capcom has made it clear they are working on fixes for them. The “unforgivable sin” Capcom has transgressed on is their lack of punishment of rage quitters. The fact that the video game company synonymous with fighting games since the early 90s has not been able to deal with rage quitters effectively proves they stupidly learned nothing from their past fighting titles.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the act of rage quitting is when an online player leaves an online game prior to its completion. The reasons are often selfish in which the act usually prevents losses from being recognized which in turn keeps their online records and rank intact in their favor. Since online play, specifically ranked match, in Street Fighter V uses a ranking system, it is plagued with rage quitters because players who do it do not get punished, as reported by Eurogamer. And to be honest, gamers knew there would be rage quitters in the game, especially those who played the beta. Maximilian Dood, one of the biggest authorities when it comes to fighting games on YouTube, made it known Street Fighter V had rage quitters through videos on his channel, especially the one attached below.

Capcom has since said Street Fighter V players can expect a change when it comes to punishing rage quitters. They provided the following official statement through a spokesperson.

“I can confirm that it is something we are going to be addressing to make the gameplay experience one that all fans can enjoy and be rewarded fairly for.”

But one must question if Capcom’s promised words are worth their weight. As mentioned earlier, the gaming company stupidly learned nothing from their past fighting titles on the matter. Starting with Street Fighter IV back in 2008, Capcom made other fighting games including Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Street Fighter X Tekken. Three fighters in a span of eight years doesn’t seem like much, but add in all the released upgraded versions, including the three from Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, it is easy to say Capcom has been busy with the genre.

Within those eight years, however, Capcom has done little to nothing on the issue of rage quitters on any of those fighting games. Even their one attempt to punish rage quitters in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was pathetic. According to Games Radar, Capcom installed a “Rage Quitter Hell,” a method in which rage quitters would only be paired up to fight other rage quitters. The idea sounds fantastic if it only worked. Many online gamers complained that the so-called “Rage Quitter Hell” did not exist, that Capcom simply mislead gamers to think they were doing something.

Capcom’s inability to add in measures to punish rage quitters is peculiar because it seems to be an easy addition for other gaming companies that make fighting titles. The punishment doesn’t even have to be overly harsh either. NetherRealm Studios, the company behind Mortal Kombat X, punished rage quitters with the “Quitality,” as reported by Polygon. The none-quitter is awarded a flawless victory to their record while getting to see his or her’s opponent’s head explode in gory fashion. NetherRealm Studios did state “Quitality” was incorporated to “glorify the winner” more so than punish rage quitters. Therefore, rage quitters are no punished with a loss on their record.

Ultimately, we can only wait and see if Capcom will actually do anything dealing with rage quitters. However, this is coming from the same company who made gamers buy DLC for content already on the game disc (Street Fighter X Tekken), buy the real ending of one of their other games (Asura’s Wrath), and many other practices that lowered their Better Business Bureau rating.

[Image via Capcom/Street Fighter V Promotions]