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Street Fighter V March update finally adds new character and an in-game store

Mike Epstein
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SFV: March Update Overview
Capcom will activate some of Street Fighter V‘s unavailable features in a pair of patches that will go live at the end of March, the publisher announced Thursday. The long-awaited “March Update” will deliver some, but not all, of the features the company promised in that announcement, as well as a temporary make-good for players who have been asked to wait for access to them.
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Prior to launch, Capcom announced that many of the Street Fighter V‘s core features, including multiplayer lobbies and its in-game store, would not be ready in time for the game’s February 16 release. The lack of expected features, as well as other infrastructure problems, have marred the game’s reputation since launch. Capcom has been manually addressing some of these problems, such docking as individual players fight money for rage quitting in ranked matches.

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The first patch, which will push to players on March 28, will activate Challenge Mode, eight-player multiplayer lobbies, and rematches for online battles. Challenge Mode, the game’s tutorial content, includes two separate options: “Demonstrations” will include three sets of general tutorials and a character-specific guide for each fighter. “Trials” will task players with completing increasingly tricky, character-specific combos. The patch will also include general bug fixes and balance adjustments.

The second patch on March 30 will activate the in-game shop, and release the game’s first downloadable character, Alex. Capcom announced that it will hold one feature back from the update: the ability to purchase items in the store with real money. Players will be allowed to spend the game’s internal currency, Fight Money, to buy characters and costumes, but will not be able to use Zenny, a currency players can purchase with IRL cash.

To compensate players for the delay, Capcom said it would unlock Alex, as well as Ryu and Chun-Li’s story costumes for all players until the Zenny store is activated. Players will still be able to purchase those items with Fight Money during the DLC “trial period,” which will allow them to hold onto the items after the trial ended. Players who purchased the Street Fighter V Season Pass, and therefore already paid for Alex, will also be allowed to keep the premium costumes after the trial.

Street Fighter V is currently available on PC and PlayStation 4.

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Mike Epstein
Mike Epstein
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…
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