The Capcom Cup started in 2013 with Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition as the Japanese publisher sought to professionalize and take more direct ownership of its hit fighting franchise’s competitive scene. It expanded into multi-month tours leading up to the big finals, with all of the biggest matches streamed for free online. And it’s continued that way, until now. Capcom announced this week that the 2026 finals for Street Fighter 6 will be a pay-per-view event, and fans are not happy.
Capcom Cup 12 Finals will take place on March 14, followed by the Street Fighter League World Championship on March 15. Both will take place live at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena in Tokyo, Japan, where front row seats will cost roughly $135. In a major break with the past, however, even virtual viewership will be ticketed this time around. The pay-per-view ticket price will be roughly $40 for both days. Anyone who doesn’t want to pay will have to wait until a week later to stream the matches online for free.
The move caught many competitive Street Fighter pros by surprise. Next year’s Capcom Cup sports a $1,282,000 prize pool, unchanged from the prior year, despite the new income stream. It’s also unclear how the PPV requirement will impact the rest of the competitive scene’s content creators who traditionally co-stream events. Fans are equally bewildered, pointing to all of the local events that feed into the Capcom Pro Tour but aren’t directly financed by the publisher.
