Capcom outlines plan to make Street Fighter 5 online play much better
Faster loading times! Better matchmaking! More!
Street Fighter 5 is a great fighting game, but it's not a great online experience. Today Capcom outlined plans to change that.
On Capcom Unity Capcom said it's rebuilding the Capcom Fighters Network (CFN) from the ground up. Improvements include faster load times and matchmaking.
Let's dig a little deeper.
Street Fighter 5's current rage quit system displays a Player Profile Icon for the worst offenders and the most honourable players. Here's Capcom: "These icons are working correctly now and matchmaking logic now takes into account your online behavior and frequent disconnectors will be matched with similar opponents."
Now onto loading times, which it's fair to say are pretty brutal. Capcom again: "We understand many players were not happy with the load times when entering online matches. There will now be a shorter transition when going into a Ranked or Casual Match."
Matchmaking is getting a tweak. "It should now take less time to find an opponent in online matches. We've also added logic which avoids frequently being matched with the same opponent repeatedly."
Here's a useful one: you can now add friends and follow them on CFN, and now blacklist players.
I also like this: "Training Mode settings are now saved and will carry over to the next time the mode is accessed."
But perhaps this is the best improvement, to the in-game announcer voice: "The in-game announcer will give you stats on both you and your opponent using data pulled from the server."
"We understand that Street Fighter 5's server performance has been a less than optimal experience for many of our players," Capcom said.
"The improved CFN experience is the result of rebuilding it from the ground up to address the most pressing issues that will ultimately result in a better online experience."
There's a new CFN PC beta test due to begin on 28th March at 9pm UK time. This ends on 3rd April and will be limited to Steam users only. The cool thing is the beta is free to existing and new users. PC Beta Testers get a sneak peek at the Season 2 Balance Adjustments, too.
Once the test is over, Capcom will make a few adjustments before the full release on PlayStation 4 and PC.