Street Fighter producer says fighting genre will avoid repeating 1990s 'burst'

With Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and DLC for Ultimate Marvel Capcom 3... isn't Capcom afraid of over-saturating the genre? "I don’t think we will see the bubble burst like the way did in the ’90s," Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono said.

Oh really?

Capcom produced nearly a dozen Street Fighter games in the 90s, only to put the series on hiatus, eight years after the release of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Today, the company has greatly expanded its fighting portfolio and faces competition from Soulcalibur, The King of Fighters, and Mortal Kombat, just to name a few. Comparisons between the 90s and now can easily be drawn, so why does Ono feel so confident the bubble won't burst like it did back then? Siliconera asked about over-saturation and Ono responded:

Yeah, you can say that about a lot of genres too. For first person shooters, you have Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, and other games. It would be awesome to get fighting games that big. I don’t think it will ever get quite that far, but I think it is possible for fighting games to thrive, you can see how long the FPS genre sustained itself without collapsing, and I think we can do the same this time.

Ironically, in light of recent controversial decisions, the Capcom head said that "the key is not just attracting new fans, but keeping current fans satisfied... As long as we treat the fans right and cater to them, I think they will stick with us for the long haul."

Mega Man is kicking in his grave.

There are a number of high-profile fighting games still in the works, with Street Fighter x Tekken the next big thing from Capcom. However, Ono hopes to resurrect a few more niche fighters, such as Darkstalkers (teased at Comic-Con, pictured above). "I’d love to do Darkstalkers next. Rival Schools is a possibility. Power Stone​ is a possibility, we get a lot of requests for that. Right now, we’re still in the process of making sure the ground work is laid, then we can begin on bringing the lesser known fighting game titles back."