Capcom explains Street Fighter X Tekken dev separation

Capcom and Namco Bandai are each developing their halves of the Street Fighter/Tekken crossovers, but the two aren't looking over each other's shoulders. In a new interview, Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono explains why keeping out of the way of the companies' respective visions will ultimately pay off for both games.

Street Fighter x Tekken

"We get in touch to share information prior to making an announcement, but for the most part we don't share many of the details," Ono said in a Capcom developer interview (via Joystiq). "We're reading the strategy guides and get some particular notes and advice about things to keep in mind, but we don't share any of the character models or motion data. We don't even exchange any information about which characters will actually appear in the game."

Ono says there would be "no point in developing a game separately" if the two were interacting more. "For example, if we checked the work Namco had done on Ryu, we definitely want to tweak things ourselves," he said. "The same is true for Namco. There's no point in mutually checking each other's work, for it would diminish the individuality of each party. It has to be 'Capcom does Tekken' and 'Namco does Street Fighter'.

"Both of our companies have been big players in the gaming industry for a long time. We respect and trust each other, and are genuinely looking forward to seeing the work put out by the other side. That’s why we promised to eliminate the mutual checks and pour our hearts into creating an amazing game, and to promote it in the best possible way."

Whatever process is being used between the two camps, Capcom seems to be working faster. Street Fighter x Tekken is due March 6, 2012, while Tekken x Street Fighter is still nebulously set for sometime in 2013.